Saving

Saving up for your own wedding is very stressful and rewarding.  It sucks to not have that regular income that your used to, but in the end you know that the outcome of that savings is going to be GRAND!!!  Although we think that even after the wedding that saving is actually going to be apart of our regular monthly duties.  For our future and all.

The planning is still moving along well, we're beginning to purchases the items we need and do the necessary payments for services as well as we count down to less than 3 months.

I, AJ, am very excited as we get closer to the date.  Everything is coming together, and I want to commend Jelly so much for all that she has done with the planning.  She has such a creative mind and firm goals,if she wants it, it will happen.  So I know that our wedding will be legen.....DARRYYYY!!!

4 months and counting...

We have little less than 4 months until June 13 and it seems there is still a lot more to grasp but we believe we are moving forward at a good pace.  We got our flights and hotels, majority of our vendors are selected and locked down, now just all the small details in putting them together and making it work.  We've also been getting RSVP's in the mail which also makes it more exciting.

Tickets to the Islands

FINALLY the prices dropped for the airline tickets! Honestly, I was getting worried that the prices were not going to drop at all since June is close to Hawaii's prime season. But thanks to Trinh, we were able to score get a great deal on our flight to Oahu, Hawaii. We got our flights for $170 flight from LAX to Oahu and $240 coming back. I understand it was more expensive coming back since its basically the prime season in Hawaii. It came out to be under $900 for both of our round trip ticket. SCORE!
I know flying out from LAX may prove to be a little bit inconvenient because we have to find a ride there but it's totally worth the money. There's so many options how to get to LAX from San Diego: 1. Get a ride from someone 2. Take amtrak and a flyaway bus shuttle 3. Get dropped off a hotel near LAX and take a shuttle.

Next step - Hotels =)

 

Meet n Greet 1.8.2011

The Meet n Greet was a success...very similar to our engagement party, we didn't expect as many people to come as we thought.  But it was good to see every one and see the excitement from others.  The main goal for the meet n greet was for the wedding entourage and sponsors to meet each other as well as give them some info that Jelly :) worked so hard on.  Basic info such as the theme and colors of the wedding, the day of, and a chance to answer questions face to face.  Some of the particular moments that stood out were....Jason opening up a twist off bottle with a bottle opener and Jasper straight calling him out in front of everybody.  So that kept the night going...also a failed attempt of a bonfire because of damp wood.  But we made the most of it as we yet again finished a bottle of Henny and expressed our emotions. 

We would like to personally thank everyone who made it out as well as my parents for putting there house up for the event.

Engagement Day

It took a lot of preparation time for me, AJ.  I had to leave in the morning for work to open the restaurant and get them started, then I was on my way to the ask the big question.  As I left, a million thoughts in my mind but of course I was trying to remember my little paragraph of what I was going to say when I propose.  I had already written it on my phone, and still have it now, but wanted to memorize it.  So when I get back to the hotel, Jely was ready to get up and go, she had received the flowers, THANKS ALLEN'S FLOWERS, and then we were on our way.  We got breakfast at Richard Walkers then headed to our spot, Sunset Cliffs.  I had originally asked Jely out there 10 years ago that same day.  So we had our breakfast in the back of truck bed.  Unfortunately I had a flat tire the night before so there wasn't to much room in the back, but the flat tire in the bed actually worked perfect and it served as a mount for the vase of flowers that I sent over that morning.  So it had a nice little romantic picnic feel to it.  Wish the weather would have been warmer but it's always windy at the beach.  Then we headed down the cliff to exchange our gifts.  And then it was time....After we exchanged gifts, we ooed and awed.  Then it was my turn,. I was so nervous, I totally forgot about my whole little paragraph that I was going to say...  Jelly knows me so well, she was trying to leave but I was like no, wait... just couldn't get it out of me like usual when I'm nervous...then I tried my best to scrap what I could remember and went out and said it... then the rest was history and she said YES!  Excitement and happiness gleamed off of us.  Then we were finally on our way.  From there we got ice cream, then headed to watch the Lakers, a dozen phone calls made to tell others of the news and how it went.  It was a great day that I will always remember, even though the Lakers lost that day, I still came out a winner and landed me a once in a lifetime partner, companion, and love of my life....Jelynna Velarmino Gomez soon to be Fontecha...oh yea!!!

The adventures of finding an Officiant

Having a destination wedding has its many challenges. One of such challenges is choosing a Catholic Priest to marry us. One major issue is that we're not getting married in a church. It takes out about 99.9% of Catholic Priest to officiate our wedding. Another major issue is that we're in the mainland looking for a priest in the islands. We can't ask our priest here to fly all the way to the islands just to marry us.  Let me rephrase that. We can't afford to ask our priest here to fly all the way to the islands just to marry us.
So it seemed like we have two options: 1. Just get an non-denomination officiant (easiest way) 2. Look for any priest that can do a traditional Filipino Wedding.
Of course we opted for option two. What kind wedding would this be without a little challenge?
With the help of our wedding planner, we were able to find one priest to do our ceremony. Now our only issue is the Pre-Cana classes to get our certificate of counseling completion.
Now this is the tricky part of it all. We couldn't register for the Pre-Cana classes earlier because we didn't have a priest to give us the forms and recommend classes for us.  Also in San Diego, you can only get the forms to register for Pre-Cana classes from your priest. Now that we have a priest, we're not sure if we have enough time to go through the process.  Honestly option one is looking so much better right now. But we will continue on and see what can we do to make this happen. If there is one thing you need to know about me is that I usually find a way to make things happen. (Key word there is usually)  - Jelynna

Sparklers

Since we can't afford fireworks on our big day, we bought the second best thing instead - SPARKLERS!! Now we just got to get it to the islands =)

Wedding Tip: Make sure to check your venue and local laws if they are allowed before you purchase them. For example, for Hawaii they are allowed on the island (and our venue) but getting them there is a bit tricky. We have to ship them by boat only and get the flammable insurance.