Engagement Pictures - Laguna Beach, CA

These are just a few of the many pictures that we took in Laguna Beach, CA for our engagement pictures with Jesse from JM Foto. It actually was a 3 hour session with Jesse which didn't even seem like it. Time flew by and we totally felt comfortable. It took a little warming up and trying to act as if Jesse wasn't there.

Can't wait to sit back and relax and sip a drink out of a coconut!

After talking with friends and family about where to visit for our honeymoon, we finally made a decision today on Sandal's Whitehouse. Let me just say, it was very hard to make this decision, as Sandal's resorts have many locations that are just amazing, according to the pictures and websites. We decided on this location due to the reviews on tripadvisor.com regarding this resort compared to all of the other Sandals resorts. Receiving 4.5 stars out of 5 stars and the number of people that actually have attended the resort, we felt this was the best match to what we were looking for.

We also got some feedback from our friends that just recently got back from their honeymoon at one of the Sandals resorts in Jamaica. They said they had a great time and wished they could have stayed their longer.

The all inclusive I think was what really sealed it for us compared to other locations around the world. We just didn't want to have to worry about how much money to bring, how much to tip, etc... This made it plane and simple, no figuring out anything. We will of course be bringing some extra cash for gifts, extra activities, etc....

We are looking forward to having a relaxing and wonderful time here. Wish us luck and a safe voyage! :)

 

Don't touch me, I'm smoken HOT!!!!

This is the suite that we picked out. It's a Calvin Klein black suit with two buttons on the jacket with matching pants.

 

Not to my liking, we (Suzanne) picked out an Ivory shirt to go with the Calvin Klein suit. While I am not crazy about the color as I always prefer pure white, something about it just looking so clean and crisp, the shirt is made of this really nice Micro Fiber material that makes it very soft and enjoyable to wear. The major reason we are going with Ivory for the shirt color is due to Suzanne picking an off white or Ivory color dress. Don't get me started on that one, thats an issue all in itself. She of course won't tell me anything about the dress other then a vague description of the color. I don't see a big deal about knowing or seeing her dress before hand, but whatever it's her day! It's all about making her happy! :)

The above image is more then likely the color vest and tie I will be wearing on the big day. No bow tie for this groom, I like the classy and simple look of the regular tie. It seems to be the trend right now for regular tie's and out with the bow tie's. The vest and the tie both are in a silver color to math the colors that we are using in the wedding. The groomsmen will be wearing the same color vest, the tie will be slightly different in coloring. The base color of the tie will be black with the silver stripe.

 

Matching cufflinks and buttons accompany the shirt. While you won't see the buttons for the shirt since it will be covered by the tie and the vest, the cufflinks will certainly show and match very well with the black, and silver theme for the suit's.

While I wanted to go with Brown shoe's (I can see Suzanne getting mad right now for just saying that), we went with the classic black shoes. Just kidding by the way on the brown shoe's, I just like giving Suzanne a hard time about going with such fashion no-no's. I wanted to go with square tipped shoes as I think they look a little more classy then the normal pointed shoes. This particular shoe is an upgrade from what the tux company offers with the package. I went with these as they are way more comfortable then their standard choice. More then 4 hours on your feet, I want to make sure that my groomsmen and myself are not complaining of sore feet by the end of the night!

Photographer picked

This day in age, it's hard to locate good photographers. With digital camera's and computer software for touching up photo's, everyone is claiming to be photographers and wedding photographers. It's hard sometimes to weed out the beginners and find the expert's. If you are lucky to find an expert in this field, a heft price tag normally follows.

Another thing when looking for a photographer that is important, that we didn't realize until after our initial meeting, was that energy and passion for their work is one of the most important trades that a good photographer can have. If the photographer is good, then he or she will be able to follow the mood and energy of your event, and the pictures will reflect just that.

We found just a photographer that was and expert, very decently priced, and had lots of energy along with being completely professional. His name is Jesse, and his company is JM Foto, he is located out of Newport Beach / Costa Mesa, CA area. You can certainly tell that Jesse absolutely loves his job and gets so excited about every new project that he faces!

We are so happy to have found Jesse and we are excited to see how the photo's from our event will turn out.

The following is some of Jesse's work that you can find on his website (www.jmfoto.net) as well as his blog (www.jmfotophotography.blogspot.com).

Here is his contact information:

JM Foto

Jesse

(949) 689-8014

Location picked, date set!

We finally locked in the location and the date for the wedding. After many weekends of driving back and forth between Pasadena and Orange County, and looking at many locations, we finally found the perfect spot to have our wedding!!!!! I can't tell you how much of a relief that is and how much stress that takes off of us both. 

We have decided to do Castle Green in Old Town Pasadena, CA. We both made a guideline that the place we would decided on would have us saying, "WOW" after leaving the location. Castle Green certainly did just that. You would think with a place that makes you say wow just because of the beauty and everything else that attached to that would also have a bill that would make you say, "WOW" and not in a good way. :) To tell you the truth, the pricing was not bad considering all of the other locations we looked at and most forced you to use their caterer with no exceptions, which also meant spending way to much.

You can see by the photo's just how amazing this location really is.

You can't really see past the green bushes surrounding the property, which is nice from a privacy perspective, but there is a long beautiful green grass area just on the other side of the bush wall surrounding the property. We are planning on having the ceremony outside on the grass area and there is a little pond / water fountain that will serve as the back drop for the ceremony.

This is the ballroom where the reception will be held. Where the person is standing, taking this picture, is where the dance floor and the DJ will be setup.

After the ceremony, guests will be escorted to this location which is a long patio area before entering into the building. Guests will get hors d'oeuvres and cocktails and be able to sit, walk, talk and congregate while we take our wedding pictures. We are also thinking of having on this patio in the back corner (behind the person that took this picture) a cigar bar for those guys that don't want to dance or just want to relax with a little Whiskey and a cigar.

After entering into the building, this is the lobby area that greets you. The table standing in the middle of the room will more then likely have the guests seating arrangements on it along with a guestbook and whatever else we want to put on there. To the left there is a sun room and two additional rooms that give guests and area to sit, talk, and congregate before the reception begins.

This is one of the rooms that are off to the left of the entrance and lobby area. What's cool about each room is that each have their own look and feeling.

It's really over all just a really cool place, and Suzanne and I are very excited to be using this location for our special day. We hope you all enjoy it as well.

On another note, while walking through the Castle Green location, I couldn't help but wonder if this location had been used for any old classic horror films. Since the building and the property are historic land marks, you can't help but get that feeling. I asked one of the property managers about this, they told me that supposedly The Shining was filmed here with Jack Nicholson. "Here's Johnny!!!!!!" LOL

So when you are here at the location with us, just make sure the people you are talking with, are actually real! :)

 

Save the Date Magnet finalized

Suz and I have been going back and forth on designs for our Save the Date magnet. I personally had never heard of such a thing, although I don't really stay up on trends for weddings.

So, we decided to do one, we look at hundreds of examples and we narrowed it down to ones that Suz liked, and ones that I liked. Neither of which were any matches, but thats ok. I decided to add my own little flare to it and of course I have to match and work with all of the other collateral we have created thus far for the wedding. Take a look and let us know what you think. 

These should be going out in about a week or so, so be on the lookout for these special magnets.

Thank you for signing our guestbook

Thank you to everyone for signing our guestbook. We have had an overwhelming show of love and support for our engagement and up coming wedding. We appreciate everyone taking the time to shower us with their love and warm wishes.

Thank you again to everyone!

Love,

Josh and Suzanne