Wedding Blog

DH and I are going to San Francisco in a couple of weeks for the second half of our honeymoon, and we would love suggestions on good restaurants (romantic or just excellent food).

Newcomer - two of my best friends recently were married, and while both of them had tea ceremonies (I even helped at one), neither of them played music.

cubangirl - The Stinking Rose is a garlic restaurant. It’s not for everyone, but I think the food there is amazing. And once you’ve been inside for a few minutes you don’t even notice the smell. One thing to consider is that when people eat a lot of garlic, the smell may come out on thir skin. This happens to men more than women, and sweating makes the smell more pronounced. There is also a dim um place in Oakland called The Jade Garden, or The Jade Palace. It is amazing! Definitely the best dim-sum in Oakland/Berkeley; I haven’t had any in SF so I can’t speak to that.

i found this picture of a hair trial… i am 90% sure i pulled it from weddingbee but i can’t figure out who it belongs to. i really love the hair and want to take it to my stylist. does anyone know who this is or where i got this from? it’s either from weddingbee or a knot bio that i linked to from weddingbee….

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/sharakate/367407019_8a2d347447.jpg?t=1186691258

hey, so i’m thinking that the music is a good idea for the tea ceremony… but i’ve never really been to one… for those who have had their tea ceremonies, do you think it would be an enhancement that’s worth it?

Cubangirl:

The Crustacean and Thanh Long (same owner) have very very yummy garlic noodles and garlic mussels.

1. Definitely no music during the Chinese Tea Ceremonies.

I’m looking for some Bachelorette party ideas. Has anyone done/participated in some new party games? The bride has a history of being an instigator, so it’s pay back time. I’d prefer to stay away from stippers. But dares, drinks, scavenger hunts are fair game.

cubangirl - there’s tons of great restaurants in SF. some of my favorites:

- isa
- slanted door
- gary danko (very very nice but too $$$$!)
- cortez
- osha thai
- le colonial
- ozumo

cubangirl, I second Aimee’s suggestion of Zazie for a brunch spot - it’s a cute place and they have a lovely garden in the back where you can sit. They can get quite busy, so factor in about a half hour wait time before sitting (and you could definitely be pleasantly surprised if the wait is shorter!).

Totally different type of food for my next suggestion, but if you like Burmese, Indian, or Chinese food, give Burma Superstar a try - 309 Clement Street. Also a potentially long wait, but worth it for the fun atmosphere and yummy food.

Question for the hive…FI and I are having a guestless destination wedding with a dinner party when we get home.

I’m torn whether we should register or not. I certainly don’t expect gifts, and generally dislike the idea of registries (particularly for weddings). FI and I bought a house 2 years ago, have lived together for 3 years, and don’t “need” much for the house.

So I’m inclined to stick to my guns and not register. However, there’s a small part of me that knows some of our dinner guests will buy us gifts, and if they’re gracious enough to choose to, we’d like them to give us something we need and want.

What do others think??

1. Newcomer - My tea ceremony is during cocktail hour so our band is providing a keyboard to play something light (background music) during the hour. All I can suggest is that it be nothing too distracting. Were you thinking light jazz or chinese music?

2. Cubangirl - Check out my SF posts. Everywhere you go in SF has good food and is romantic. We had such a wonderful time!

3. Aoedorothee - What kind of music were you thinking? In my opinion, tea ceremonies are often loud due to onlooking relatives. Music might make Chinese people talk even louder! (ya’ll know what I’m talkin about! I can’t tell you how many of my friends have asked, why is your mom yelling?) Anyway, on the other hand, if you use light music, it might mellow the crowd and provide a nice background.

Cubangirl - ditto to the Slanted Door.

Other ones I like in SF are:
1. Perbacco
2. The Carnelian Room
3. Harris’ Steakhouse
4. Pres a Vi
5. Butterfly (lunch)
6. First Crush
7. the restaurant at the Omni (not sure what it’s called…maybe Bob’s?)
8. brunch at the Hotel Nikko

Well I’m jeolous of the SF couple..wish I still lived int he bay are abut alas I do not. Now I do have a question. Card boxes. What are some good ideas??

I have a question for the hive. We recently got our professional pictures from our wedding. They were beautiful and we were pleased with the overall quality of the pictures. Later, I noticed that there were no formal portraits of my husband by himself taken that day. There were only shots of him with other people. I was under the impression that this is something that photographers always take. Am I wrong? Or if I have reason to be upset, what should I do?

So recently I became the MOH for one of my bestfriend’s wedding. . .I found out a week ago. . .the wedding is in two weeks. Basically, I’m the only bridesmaid home that isn’t AWOL or in the Navy and thus floating somewhere out in the Pacific. The issue is with the third bridesmaid (AWOL). So far the following has happened:

1. We had to throw an intervention after the bachelorette party for the AWOL bridesmaid. This is a long story but the ending = the bridesmaid is now in AA (and yes this had to happen and all of us were in agreement that it had to happen. . .even during the bachelorette)

2. The bridesmaid though still in the wedding hasn’t called the bride since the above mentioned event

3. I finally got the bridesmaid to get her dress and shoes a week ago. The dress is currently in a ball in the back of her car. . .but heck at least its in her posession.

4. Today I find out that the bridesmaid has failed to make hotel reservations and thus is now at another hotel. Not the hotel the bridal party is booked into

5. The bridesmaid has decided she’s driving home after the wedding instead of spending the night. Home = Seattle. Wedding = Portland Oregon. I’m afraid she’ll leave after the ceremony

My goal is to get the AWOL bridesmaid into our hotel. However, part of me thinks I should just let it go and cross my fingers for the best.

My questions are:

Should I let the bride know the above?

Do you think she needs to know?

Or as a MOH should I just make it work. Which I can do as I excel sometimes at being a control freak

Also, should I talk to the AWOL bridesmaid and encourage her to try to get into our hotel and stay the second night.

This is the first of our group to get married and I would really hate to see my friend (the bride) get upset over such ridiculous behavior

Thoughts?

Hello hive! I’m lookin’ for some input. We originally planned a dinner for the night before our wedding (a rehearsal dinner sans the rehearsal), but we got so much criticism from family about location, time, food, guest list, etc. that we canceled it. Now folks are upset that there is no dinner at all. So we’d like to tell family and friends coming in from OOT where *we* plan to have dinner that night, and tell them they can join if they’d like. But, we don’t want to pick up the tab and we don’t want to open the door for additional criticism. Any suggestions on wording or otherwise???

hi newcomer, we asked our dj to play a selection from a movie soundtrack. it sounded great with our tea ceremony.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B0002S945W001002/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_002/104-1326574-8342363

I had a meeting with a photographer I am in love with. The only glitch I see in her contract is releasing the dvd of the images 1 year after the event. We will have to buy prints of anything we want or wait the full year to have the rights to reproduce ourselves.

Is 1 year the norm? Has anyone had success negotiating to 6 months?

alabama bee-
Just my .02 but I’ve working in hospitality for quite awhile so hopefully these tips help.

Know which hotels you are going for and their standard rates. You wants to make sure that they aren’t going to quote you rack rate only to find that your guests can find better rates online.

When you call hotels, ask for group sales and they should be able to help you out. You can see if they offer discount parking (if applicable) and maybe even breakfast in the morning for your guests.

Make sure you know the dates for your room block and when those rooms will be released.

Good luck!

Beehive question-
I am looking for recommendations for a hotel in downtown Chicago where I can get ready and have nice “getting-ready” photos taken. I would love to have a really beautiful room with views of the city, plus a nice interior with good architectural details. I’m willing to spend some money on a nice room. Can anyone recommend a beautiful hotel room?

i’m getting married 09-01-07… my bridesmaids are looking for someplace “fun” to take me for the bachelorette party (which i am all for) however, their idea of “fun” is a club or bar. i’m not opposed to getting drinks, but my best friend and sisters are still underage.

what options do you guys know of for super FUN, totally unique dining EXPERIENCES in SF?

thanks!!

Katie B Says:
have you asked if you can buy the negative before the deadline? I am assuming you did and the price was high, why dont you try getting the pictures submitted into magazines and in lieu of the photographer releasing the pictures early you never know….

cyan, i’d talk to your FI’s parents in regards to the tea ceremony. even though they may not know the customs line by line, they probably have an idea or two on how it goes, and probably have some friends or relatives who know how to orchestrate it according to the tradition.