Yes, we’ve been remiss in updating this blog. Things have been busy, but to be honest, I think we’ve just lost sight of this. Nevertheless, things have been happening, and we’re very excited about the BIG DAY. Which, in fact, is a mere four days away. (Even though the stupid countdown timer says 3 days.)
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone!
Since both of us have terrible memories (me more so than Tina), it’s super important for us to have great pictures and video from the BIG DAY. Given who we’ve hired for photography and videography, we’re very confident that the images will be great. (If not, I will break their necks — just kidding.)
First, for photography, we’ve hired modern day Renaissance man, Albert Cheung. Albert is a friend from church, and he’s also a relatively newcomer to wedding photography. When we first spoke with Albert about doing our wedding, he had just started. That was a great break for us, because we got someone who takes awesome pictures at noob prices. 
Albert uses the photojournalistic style. I won’t try to describe his work too much. Check out some of his pictures below and you’ll get a sense of his talent.
Copyright, Albert Cheung Photography
Copyright, Albert Cheung Photography
Copyright, Albert Cheung Photography
We’re also really excited about our videographer – Wes Jones at Film Jones. Wes mixes in Super 8-edited and HD digital footage to create wedding films. I’ll be honest — most of the videographers vetted during the process were less than inspiring. Before I found Wes, I was in anguish thinking about how we were going to pay good money to get crap back. Thankfully, we found Wes, and I’m sure we’re going to get something back that we’ll watch many times over. (And, if you plan on visiting after we’re married, you can expect to watch the film as well. After all, Wes ain’t cheap, so we’re going to get maximum return for this investment! )
Like I did above, I will do Wes’ talent most justice by pointing you to his work. Unfortunately, grabbing videos off someone’s site is a bit more difficult than photos, so my first recommendation is to visit FilmJones.com. Two of my favorites are on the second tab — Kathy & Evan’s ceremony (bottom row, left-most) and Diane & Neal’s ceremony (top row, right-most). I think the music he uses is key to what he creates.
Also, if you want to watch an entire (albeit older) video of his, then check this out:
Bridgette & Frank’s entire Brooklyn Botanic Garden wedding video from BridgetteRaes on Vimeo.
A lot was accomplished today! We met with the bakery that’s going to make our cake, and we also met with a videographer that we think we’ll hire.
First, we had our cake tasting and ordered our wedding cake. If you’re a fan of food shows on TV, you may have heard about “Cake Boss” on TLC. And if you have, you’d appreciate this even more because, guess what – Buddy’s making our cake! Well, maybe not Buddy specifically, but his bakery is.
Buddy’s the short one in the pic (man, it feels good to be taller than a TV celebrity), and the big guy on the right is Mario, his right hand man. These guys are pretty loud on their show, but during the meeting when we discussed our cake, they were so professional and low-key. Definitely gives credence to the thinking that reality TV isn’t reality at all.
Anyway, the process went like this. We went to the bakery at 11:30 for our appointment. When we got there, we saw a huge line outside. Ever since the launch of “Cake Boss,” celebrity gawkers flock to the shop on weekends (it’s much emptier on the weekdays I’ve been there), and it was no different on the day we went.
After we got past the bouncer (no joke), we had to fight our way through a mass of people to get to the “waiting area” for people who had consultation appointments. Turns out there was a group ahead of us, so we had to wait.
While we were waiting, a bunch of kids tried getting autographs from some of the chefs and staff there. Here’s a pic of Joe and Grace, taken poorly with an iPhone.
We flipped through a couple of binders with wedding cakes, and after a bit longer, we finally got called to go up. So we went, up the “famous” stairwell where they dropped some big cake, and through a hallway into an office where Buddy was waiting for us.
He was really gracious, and was pretty sincere in apologizing for making us wait. We shook hands, and he gave us another binder with cake options that were included in our hotel package. As we started looking through the binder, he walked up to the window of his office, which looked down to the people lined up outside. When the crowd saw him, they screamed. He thanked them for coming out, and then, because someone in the crowd asked him to, he said, “Fondant.” That was pretty cute.
He then stepped out, and his assistant came in with some cake samples. There were maybe 8 or 9 different slices of cake for us to taste. Surprisingly, given that Tina AND Kelly were there, we didn’t finish everything. While there were quite a few really good tasting options, it wasn’t too difficult for Tina and I to choose what we wanted for our cake.
As for the design of the cake, Mario helped walk us through that. We found a design in the binder that fit the “feel” we were going for, and then made some customizations. Changing things up cost us a few more dollars, but in the end, it’s going to be fine since the cake design is exactly what we want, and shoot, it’s pretty cool that a bakery that’s on TV is making the cake.
Oh, one other thing — we got to go into the kitchen as well. Mario wanted to show us an example of the design/style we were discussing. It was pretty cool to go in, since it looked exactly as it does on the show. Plus, we also saw this HUGE cake that was going to a wedding that day. It was pretty elaborate, and sized to feed 300 people.
So, we’re pretty excited about our cake. Make sure you eat your slice when the Big Day comes!
(Notes about the videographer to come separately.)
A big sigh of relief, as we recently booked our florist. I was a bit worried that we had waited too long, and wouldn’t be able to find someone good who’d be available. However, it seems like NO ONE gets married on 3/20, so we had no issues.
The overall process wasn’t too long. In fact, most things we’re doing these days are streamlined (aka not too extensive). I don’t know if it’s burnout from the early days of planning, or if we’re just better at knowing what we want from the outset.
Anyway, we ended up meeting with two florists. The first was the one downstairs from my building. I’ve bought flowers from them before for Tina, and they have done weddings at some nice locations. When we met with them, they had some good ideas, and we felt comfortable that we’d get a proposal that was on target with what we were looking for.
While we were waiting for the proposal, we met with another florist. This one was based in Hoboken, and while they don’t really advertise much, they were referred by some of the nicer venues that we had checked out early in our planning process.
Right when we walked in, we noticed some stark differences. The shop in Hoboken was much bigger and more spacious. The florist herself was really engaged, and she even took out flowers from the fridge to put together sample bouquets to help us visualize things. She was a lot friendlier than the florist downstairs, and she spent a ton of time with us talking about different options. The best thing was that she was giving us ideas and recommendations that were based on what we thought we wanted, but also within our budget.
When we left that appointment, we were very hopeful that the proposal would come close to our budget. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far off, and even better, the Hoboken shop was able to give us much more than the florist in Jersey City. After some negotiating, we were able to get almost everything we wanted at pretty much exactly the cost we wanted to spend.
We’re excited/relieved that this important aspect of the wedding is in good hands with the florist. Now, let’s hope she doesn’t mess it up! 
p.s. Women really shouldn’t subject their men to meeting with florists. When it came time to decide on boutonnieres, Tina and the florist asked me what I had in mind. I didn’t say it at the time, but what I had in mind was, “the cheapest thing that didn’t look bad.”
Our honeymoon is booked!
After a long (seemingly) process, we’re very happy to say that we’ve made our dream trip a reality (at least in terms of paper tickets). It was a long process because it took a lot of maneuvering to make the financials work.We used a lot of Starwood points and airline miles, as well as negotiating with the travel agent, and we were all ready to book the trip last week. However, after starting the booking process, I realized that if I used my miles in a slightly different way, we could save more than $1k off the total cost. So, I had to wait a few extra days for points to transfer, miles to post, etc., but today, I’m freaking ecstatic to say we’re 99% booked.
We’re going to Tokyo and then Bora Bora. That’s right – Tokyo and Bora Bora.
Our first destination is Tokyo. We leave the day after our wedding, and fly direct from Newark to Narita. It’s a shame that we have to fly Continental, but still, it’s a non-stop flight, so that’s great.
We’ve both been to Tokyo before (me more so than Tina), but we really love the city, and want to go back. We’ll spend five nights in Tokyo, and then on March 27th, we leave for Papeete in Tahiti. Right after we land, we jump on another plane to go to Bora Bora. We’ll spend five nights there. We plan on chilling out most of the time there, but we already have one excursion planned – sharkfeeding and snorkeling. Neither of us swim, so please pray that neither of us drown.
After Bora Bora, we’re in Tahiti for one night, and then it’s back to Tokyo for one more night.From Tokyo, we fly back to Newark, again non-stop. We’ll be tired, to be sure, but man, we’re so psyched!
P.S. We’re 99% booked because we still haven’t figured out where we’re going to stay in our final night in Tokyo. We’re thinking of spending a bit of money to stay a nicer-than-what-we’d-normally-pay-for-type place, it being our last night and all. Any suggestions?
