Invitations!

Invitations went out today! Keep your eye on the mailbox . . .

Everything else is going pretty well and getting planned up. Hope everyone is getting excited for October 24th. I know I am!!

Hotels Near the Reception

I just got an email from a future wedding guest (and one of the very few readers of this blog, hi Rachel!) asking about hotels near the reception site. Luckily, Marina Village, where the reception will be, has an excellent website and lists a bunch of hotels that are either nearby the reception itself or that are located very nearby. The first two listed on the below webpage, The Dana and the Hyatt Mission Bay, are both located on the same block as the reception. The others are within a 5-10 minute drive.

Go here: Marina Village Overnight Accommodations

Engagement Photos!

Just wanted to put up a quick post to direct you to our engagement photos, if you'd like to take a look. We had them done by Goodnickels Photography here in San Diego, an awesome husband and wife team that will also be doing our wedding photos in October.

The photos are a bit unconventional, but exactly what Brandon and I were looking for. We couldn't be happier with them! They were done in a little hidden away nature-y area up in Encinitas.

You can find our Gallery here: Engagement Photos

Hello, everyone!

So, people are probably starting to show up here and check it out, since we got the save-the-dates in the mail last week. There's not much content here yet, but I promise there will be lots more as the wedding approaches, so please come back and check us out again once you receive your invitation!

Anyway, welcome! October seems very far away right now, but I'm sure it will be here before I know it. Hoping to see a lot of you in San Diego in about six months!

Registry Information

Wow! You want to buy us a gift? That is so thoughtful of you! We are registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Crate & Barrel. Here are the links to our gift registries, filled with a variety of awesome things. We'd absolutely love to have anything on these lists!

Bed Bath & Beyond: Gift Registry
Crate & Barrel: Gift Registry

General Wedding Information

Here, I thought I'd post some general wedding information. I may come back and expand on it later.

Wedding Date: October 24, 2009
Location: San Diego, California

Ceremony Information
Place: Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church, located at 1675 Garnet Ave., San Diego, CA 92109
Time: 4:30pm or 5:00pm (not totally sure yet, will come back and update final information)
Note: The parking lot behind the church is quite small, but the church staff says that the Staples parking lot across the street is fine to park in and then cross over to the church.

Reception Information
Place: Marina Village, Bayview Room, 1936 Quivera Way, San Diego, CA, 92109
Time: After the ceremony, likely from 6:00/6:30pm to 10:30/11:00pm.
Note: Get excited! The menu is Mexican -- we'll be dining on delicious tacos and other Mexican food accessories, washed down with beer, margaritas, or soda! Plus cake, of course, and a little bit of champagne for toasting. There will also be a DJ, so knock back a couple drinks and get ready to dance it up!

I will try to put up a post with directions from the ceremony to the reception site at some point, including a map, because finding Marina Village is a bit tricksy. But there's the basics for now!

How We Met

I thought it might be fun to share with everyone a few fun stories about Brandon and I, for those that haven't been able to witness our relationship so far. I figure the best way to start is the story of how we met!

Brandon moved to San Diego in late summer of 2006 with his friend Mike, basically on a whim and because the weather was nice the weekend they came down to check out the area. I had been living in San Diego since August 2005, and had moved down here from Los Angeles to attend law school at the University of San Diego. I was part of a twenties ministry group called 29:11 organized through College Avenue Baptist Church.

Brandon and Mike showed up one Thursday night at 29:11 - I'm not actually sure where they heard about it. When I noticed that new people were there, I made sure to go up and introduce myself since we didn't get a lot of new visitors in the group. I'm not sure what kind of first impression I made, but I remember having a fairly drawn out discussion about ketchup, so probably not a great one.

Brandon and I both continued attending 29:11 over the next year and a half, but he was so busy settling into his new life in San Diego, and I was so busy being in law school that neither of us were really looking to date anyone. Well, I know that's true for me -- I like to joke that Brandon was just looking around to see if he could find anyone better before he had to settle for me, but hopefully that's not really the case! Regardless, we hung out at a lot of group events and always enjoyed each other's company.

In March of 2008, I attended Brandon's 26th birthday party. It was a lot of fun and we both had a great time. A few days after his party, he called me up and asked me on our first date! I'm still not sure exactly what prompted this decision, it seemed really out of the blue to me at the time. I remember when he asked me out to dinner, I was so confused that I replied, "Like on a date?" It ended up working out great, though! We've definitely proven the idea that friends first is a great way to go when it comes to relationships.

Welcome!

Welcome to the official blog for Elizabeth and Brandon's wedding! We'll use this space for getting out information on various areas of interest both related and semi-related to our wedding. We hope you'll find this useful in the months leading up to October 24, 2009.

Watch this space! More to come. Elizabeth is very chatty.