Almost a Year Away

It seems like we have almost all the important stuff covered. Location, decorations, cheaper guest room rates, the cake, the photographer, and I already got my dress! We still need flowers, bridesmaid dresses, a DJ, and a hair/makeup artist. Please let me know if you have any recommendations.

We also need honeymoon ideas. I really want to go somewhere tropical with a crystal clear ocean. Let me know if you have a favorite spot somewhere. :)

--Amber

Photographer

Over the weekend we went to Studio City to meet our wedding photographer. We found him through theknot.com. His name is Duane Peck. Check out his blog here: http://duanepeck.blogspot.com/

We wanted someone creative that would capture our personalities best. We hate the boring old fashioned posed wedding pictures. He takes lots of candid shots and does his own awesome digital editing. We'll be doing our engagement shoot in November. That means you'll see the pictures sometime in December! Yay!

--Amber

Date & Location Set

We picked our wedding ceremony and reception location! Since this is the internet, I won't say where. But I will say that it's in a nice hotel right near Disneyland; perfect for our out-of-towner guests!

Our wedding will be on Saturday, October 10, 2009.

*Remember to send me your first name, last name (same for your girlfriend/boyfriend or spouse), and home address...
E-mail it to: animeryoko at gmail dot com

--Amber

Congratulations Julie and Mark!

This past weekend Dan and I went back east for Julie and Mark's wedding. For those of you who don't know, Mark is Dan's brother, and Julie is Mark's beautiful new wife (obviously). We took a red-eye flight to Pennsylvania on Thursday the 7th. It was awful! I hate to fly and there was way too much turbulence. The first flight ran late so we had 5 minutes to connect with the second flight in Denver. We made it just in time. We were separated on that flight... the lady next to me had to pretend not to notice me hyperventilating during turbulence. :)

Anyway, we survived and Dan's mom picked us up in the morning at the airport. On the way home she was talking about wedding stuff. Poor Mrs. Platt, right when she's just about finished with one wedding, she's already trying to help us with ours. I told her I just want her to have fun at ours. She laughed, "Oh yeah right!" We got to her house and took a long nap. Mrs. P and I went to get our nails done for the wedding, then she took Dan and I to The Olive Garden. After that, water ice of course! We don't have water ice in California so Rita's is a new love for me.

The next day we headed out for Washington D.C. Our hotel and the wedding was actually in Arlington, VA. We stopped at WaWa for hoagies, another thing I have to have when we visit. Mrs. Platt doesn't completely trust her Garmin GPS so we made a couple wrong turns on the way, but no harm done. We got settled in our hotel room and relaxed for a while. Everyone met downstairs at the hotel restaurant for dinner. I got to meet a ton of Dan's family that he hasn't even seen in a long time. They were all very welcoming, we had so much fun. After dinner a few of us went to an Irish pub in Pentagon City called Sine. Again, lots of fun. I love listening to the Platt brothers making fun of each other and telling old embarrassing stories. You'll hear some about Dan at our wedding...

Saturday, wedding day! I don't remember doing anything too exciting before the wedding so we'll skip that. We went down to the ceremony room and waited. Finally the bagpiper started playing and it started. Anna was so cute in her little flower girl dress. She made it down the aisle, bribed with a gift on the other end. Julie walked down in a dress that looked like it was made for her, she looked gorgeous. Hopefully we'll see pictures soon and I can post a few. The ceremony was short and sweet. Dan and I loved the Dr. Seuss reading. I have to say though, my favorite part was that they both walked out to "Love and Marriage" from Married with Children. I wish I thought of that!

The reception was on the 16th floor. We had some drinks with friends before sitting down (open bar!). Then we headed over to the big room for dinner. They served us a delicious stuffed chicken and caesar salad. I'm telling you, it was good. Then it was time for Dan and Brian's (Dan's other brother) speech. Dan didn't feel the need for revenge (he hasn't heard Mark's speech for our wedding yet) so his was very sweet. Brian, on the other hand, had been waiting for that moment for a long time. He talked about Mark cheating in Parcheesi against his grandmother, and other hilarious/embarrassing memories. The rest of the night was great. We danced, drank, and chatted with friends and family. When they finally kicked us out, everyone went downstairs to the hotel bar. Then they finally shut it down at 2 and we were forced back to our rooms.

Sunday morning, breakfast buffet! A lot of us met at the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Notice I didn't say everyone, it was open bar, remember? Good thing I decided to only drink water after we left the reception room the night before. I felt great! We said goodbye to everyone leaving that day. Later we decided to explore D.C. a little bit. We took the metro to Pennsylvania Ave. and walked to the Smithsonian. We saw an IMAX 3D movie and walked around. It was starting to get late so we took the metro back to Pentagon City and found a cute little crêpe restaurant. It was amazing! French onion soup, mushroom stuffed crêpes with a fried egg on top, and a desert crêpe with vanilla ice cream, nuts and Crème de Menthe on top. Mmm, so good!

Yesterday it was time to go home. Mrs. Platt drove us all the way to the Pennsylvania airport. We had two flights again. The first one was a little bumpy and the second one was much better. We survived again! It feels so good to be back in California.

Thank you Mark and Julie for having us at the wedding. We had an amazing time. Congratulations again and have a great time on the honeymoon!

To everyone reading this (unless you're some random weird guy that we don't know), please e-mail me your first name, last name, and home address. We want to get our wedding invites organized as soon as possible. E-mail to: animeryoko at gmail dot com
Thank you!

--Amber

We're Engaged!

On Saturday Dan and I went to Laguna Beach to walk around and get lunch. We saw a guy with 4 or 5 different parrots hanging out near the beach. The umbrella cockatoo was beautiful and so sweet, we got to pet him. I want one! We made it to Las Brisas for lunch. We got a perfect table right by the gate overlooking the ocean. We both had 2 margaritas each, some guacamole, and soft tacos. It was delicious. Then we walked back on the other side of the street and got some ice cream. It was a long walk back to the car. When we finally made it Dan asked if I wanted to go check out Crystal Cove. I've never been there before so I said yes.

We got there and seriously walked about 5 miles down the beach. My feet were killing me! He really wanted me to see something cool so we kept walking. Finally we came across this little cove. We walked in to check it out and as I was walking back out he told me to come back and check out this shell he found. I turned around wondering what the heck was so cool and there he was kneeling in front of me with a beautiful round echo diamond on a solitaire band.
He said, "Will you marry me?" My arms were around his neck saying "Yes, of course!" before he could even put the ring on my finger. He made me stand back up so he could put it on. I had teary eyes and I was in shock. We walked all the way back to the car, both of us in pain from the walk at this point. And then we met some of our friends at a bonfire in Huntington Beach.

After the bonfire we stopped by my mom's house to show her. She said "Oh my god! Oh my god!" a bunch of times. She was very happy. Yesterday I had to tell my dad, which I was very nervous about, but as soon as I told him he was immediately choked up. He had more tears in his eyes than I did! It was very sweet. Hollie heard a little later and was also happy for us. They took us to dinner. :)

The wedding won't be until next year around September or October. That means we'll have lots of time to plan!

--Amber