Where in the Web!? - A Traffic Analysis

We launched this little blog of ours on February 15, 2009. On March 5, 2009 we began keeping track via this little handy dandy tool called Google Analytics. (With the exception of 2 weeks when Jeng updated the site but forgot to carry over the tracking. Good one Jeng.)

So for the last 8 months we've gathered information about you, our readers. (We like to spy.) I thought it was about time to give you a little report about where you all come from, what you enjoyed reading and most importantly, what's made us the most money. And of course, because we're both so competitive... who won this battle of the bloggers (so far).

Since March, our overall site traffic has been on a decline: It's no surprise since we haven't had too many exciting updates and well, we've been slacking on our regularly-scheduled blogtime. (This school and work thing gets in the way!) Hopefully, with the save-the-dates on the way, this graph will look less dreary.

In total, we have received more than 2,000 visits (but only 811 unique visitors) with an average of 3 minutes spent on our site. 55% of our traffic comes from you Firefox browsers who most often arrive at our site from our favorite stalker tool, Facebook. There are some folks who wised up and come to us directly. I like to suspect from our RSS feed, but maybe that's expecting too much.

We got 11 visits from a keyword search that was very precise, "we've got a nice little saturday planned". I don't know whether to be worried or flattered that someone was quoting us. Our next common search query is "eileenandjeng". That makes more sense. I was amused that someone searched, "eileen likes to eat" and then visited us twice. Haha.

We've had some visitors from all over the world -- India, Dominica, Brazil, Spain, Australia, Singapore and Russia. They only showed up once and then quickly lost interest. We had some folks in Japan and Germany who liked us a little more and showed up twice. We're even more popular in Belgium and the UK with 4 and 11 visits, respectively. But of course, second to the US (aren't they always?) are our Canadian neighbors which I can probably attribute entirely to the Tinio clan. (Hi guys!)

In the US, we have visitors in 34 states and no surprise, the winners in this category are California, Illinois, New York and a mysterious group of a "Not Set" state. (They probably don't know where they are themselves.) Our local Californians account for over 50% of our traffic in 60 cities:

And you all seem to check us out as part of your morning internet reading ritual (9am PST) or as part of your bedtime reading (10pm PST):

Alright, alright. Enough about you guys. How about us?! Here are the top 5 blogs you visited:
1) Slideshow of Love with 70 visits
2) Tie between A Useless Sunday Night Project and Greatest Love Story Ever Told with 58 visits
3) Tie between Other Side of this So-Called Love Story and We're in the Money with 53 visits

We're happy to see We're in the Money making the top 5 since it shows that you enjoyed seeing the fruit of your ad-clicking labor. So here is a run-down of how the dollars make sense. (Please note that AdSense was only integrated with Google Analytics in mid-May so this data does not reflect the entire life of our blog.)

We have made an average of $0.57/day. Our most lucrative blogs don't coincide with our most visited, but here they are:
1) Fotos, Florists and Fun Stuff with 11 clicks and $10.20 in our pocket! (No surprise since I suspect these keywords were more expensive.)
2) Our Last Year of Independence: 15 clicks, $7.51
3) Climb Up on my Faithful Steed: 9 clicks, $7.40
4) Me Love You Long Time: 11 clicks, $6.92
5) What's in a Name-Part 2: 6 clicks, $6.15
My fellow advertising folks will take interest in our CTR (clickthrough rates) which reach as high as 19% and our eCPM of $46.34. Not bad at all. Although you might be able to do the math, I'll save the revenue reporting for Jeng in a future blog. Thank you all for contributing to our wedding fund in this unconventional way. Keep on clicking! :)

Finally, who is the winner between Jeng and I? As much as I hate to admit... Jeng won this round. I think his blogs are hilarious and apparently so do you all since he dominates in visits and AdSense revenue. Now maybe he'll blog more often...
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And the results are in...

Who won the blog battle of March 5, 2009?


What's in a Name?, we asked. You answered:

How did the Reception Debate end?

What did the Blues Hues come to?

These are the Website URLs you prefer:

And finally, we'll take yourtransportation opinions into consideration:

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Wedding Weight Watchers

In preparation for our pending nuptials, I decided to gain as much weight as possible so Eileen could start getting used to the life she is signing up for. It was a difficult road but my strict regimen of excessive food consumption and laziness has paid off and now here I am, the most I've weighed in my life. The joy that my future wife (weird to say, I know) expresses as I scarf down meals is always fun.

"Really? Are you really going to eat that?" Yes. Yes I am.

"Why don't you have a salad? Yay, salad!" Yay!

"Ugh." Thanks, hon.

Sign me up for another 50 years of this, please!

I kid! Eileen is not really like that (for the most part). But she does encourage healthy eating habits. I can make excuses about why I don't eat healthier nor exercise but I know that it really just comes down to willpower. Unfortunately, my willpower is severely lacking and that brings us to this post.

In my younger days I used to be active. Crazy, I know. I was motivated and actually followed a schedule close enough that I was able to complete two triathlons, a couple 10K runs and a half marathon (separately of course). But I don't think the source of the motivation was my willpower. It drew from people donating (I did Team in Training) and knowing that I was actually signed up for a freaking triathlon. So consider this post the same thing: I'm not asking for donations (just ad clicks) but now you know I actually do intend to lose weight.

How much weight? Enough to get Eileen off my back (just kidding, hon!). But at least now she knows what to expect once the wedding is over and I can go back to being the same ol' me. Then, this time next year, I can proudly wear my Halloween costume.


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Pricey Paper

I believe in going paperless as much as possible so when I encountered the "Paper Products" item on our to-do list, I cringed. (Insert comment from Jeng about how much of a snob I am.) Invitations are tradition, but it shocks me just how complicated and expensive they are. In the wedding world, an invitation may contain upwards of 6 pieces: Invitation, Reception Card, Directions Card, RSVP Card and 2 envelopes (one for RSVP and one for the invitation itself). In addition to that, there's a Save-the-Date announcement, wedding ceremony program, reception name cards, reception menu cards, reception table number cards, thank you cards... blah blah blah. My eyes glaze over and all I see are $$$ going down the drain. So once again, I face a crossroads -- do I:

A) Go cheap and do an Evite?
Tempting but this event probably shouldn't be on the same level as the everyday birthday party. And there are some folks on our list who (gasp!) don't have email. Crazy but true.

B) Find a cheap do-it-yourself method?
There are some great templates:

And I could have some fun with it:

C) Bite the bullet and pay the pretty penny?
With prices starting at $8 each, nice invitations cost more than your daily Starbucks fix. And I truly believe my guests would much rather me buy them a coffee than send them a invitation they'll eventually throw away. Hmm...

I haven't made a decision yet but none of my options are very appealing so I'm going to hold off on this one as long as possible. In the meantime, look out for our Save the Date postcards in the next few weeks. That should tide you all over for now.
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Lay It All Out There

In my younger days I had ambitions of being a hot-shot, free-lance web designer. Then I chickened out in college, did the Asian thing, and studied to become a computer engineer. It seemed like the "safe" bet. If it came down to it, I'd probably take that bet again, but I do feel like the left side of my brain is now dormant.

If you hadn't noticed, our site has undergone a renovation of sorts. I tried working those creative muscles again but it's been tough; I feel out of practice. We started off with the logo and went from there. It's still a work in progress but after 13 different concepts, what you now see before you is the winner. So bear with us as we start making those links work and fix doodads and gizmos here and there. In the meantime, here are a couple of other design directions we considered. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments.

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Which List Are You On?

Weddings are not only a test of patience and stress-management, they are also an opportune time to take inventory of friends and family. This seemingly simple task takes on a life of its own when other factors come into play such as: family conflicts (who's fighting with who now?), extended family (just how far do we extend it?), coworkers (since they have to listen to you talk about your wedding), 'new' friends (so what if we just met him/her?), and that group of people you're just not sure where you stand with.

After all those people are consolidated on a list, it gets circulated to the parents who add another set of folks. Then as time passes, more friends are made and more names are added. And so the story goes. Now the list is at a whopping... 355. That's the population of a small town. We've only budgeted for 200 so how do we cut 45% of our guests?

Pick fights with people and hope others don't show up! Duh. (Just kidding.) We developed an intensely competitive ranking system of As, Bs and Cs. Now don't you wish you knew which one you belonged to? The list is constantly changing so feel free to send us presents to win our favor and work your way up the rankings. Or you can just click on ads. I guess that works too.

Now besides the A-B-Cs, I also created additional fields for each name because contact information just wasn't enough for me -- Category (Family, Friend), Sub-category (Buenviaje, Tinio, Nazario, New York, California, etc.), E/J/B (Eileens, Jeremys, Both), S/F/C (Single, Family, Couple), Member (numbering system to group families and couples together) and a 'Likely to Come' field (to give us a realistic headcount). I wish I could show you how awesome my pivot table is but then it would give away our list. And for now, you'll just have to wait and see which one you're on.
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The Wedding Wildlife

As you may have seen, Eileen has been focused on finding the right bridal partywear. She has also been thinking about what she wants the men to wear and after much discussion and research, we finally decided on the first piece -- a shirt. Since we found a potential shirt online and wanted to get it sooner than later, we had to act quickly. And we had to make sure the shirts fit.

It's not often that I buy fancy dress shirts and so when I usually shop, I look for sizes in the Small, Medium, and Large variety (Well, OK. If we're being honest - Large and X-Large nowadays). But since we needed formal wear and better fitting shirts, we needed to get the neck size and sleeve lengths. The nice lady at the store measured me at a 16.5 inch neck and 35 inch sleeves. The other guys would have to measure themselves.

When we received measurements back, most of them sounded reasonable. Two of them sounded a little off. One groomsman who's slightly shorter than me returned a 39" sleeve length. That sounded a tad long.

Another groomsman, who's also only slightly shorter than me, returned a 21" sleeve length. This sounded a tad short.

In the end we were able to get more accurate measurements and place the order. Unfortunately, we need to exchange all the shirts... except for the ones of the two groomsmen above.
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Hitched and Homeless

Although the majority of our efforts have been focused on the events of July 9 and shortly thereafter, a looming question has been -- where will we live post-marriage? Our living arrangements for the past few years have been confusing to say the least. My phone number remains a New York area code, I claim my hometown to be San Francisco but my mailing address is in Chicago. It takes quite an explanation if anyone ever asks me. But relatively speaking, my situation is tame compared to my other half.

For the past five years, Jeng's life can best be described by this:


In 2004, Jeng began as a consultant and his living out of a suitcase began. In five years, Jeng has 'lived' and worked in 9 cities (two of them twice) -- New Brunswick, New Jersey; Tampa, Florida; Akron, Ohio; Santa Clara, California; Montreal, Canada; Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; Dallas, Texas; Palo Alto, California; back to Dallas, Texas; then most recently, back in San Diego, California. Somewhere in the middle, he bought a condo which he quickly realized he spent too little time in to justify its cost. It's been rented to great tenants... until recently. (See Craiglist if you're interested!)

With our wedding only 10 months away, we look forward to the day when we might actually be in the same city 7 days a week together, with all our stuff in one single place instead of spread between our homes, Chicago, and boxes in our parents garage. When we no longer have to squeeze a weeks worth of quality time with our friends, with our families and with each other into a 3 day weekend. But where will we be in 10 months?

We don't want to return to Jeng's condo if its in the hands of worthy tenants. We don't have the funds to afford a new place. And we refuse to rent. So that leaves -- my parents house? his parents house? my sister's spare guest room with a twin bed? Suddenly, this doesn't sound too bad:

Harry Potter did it up pretty well in a tent so maybe we can too. Considering our other options, the tent seems like the most promising.
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Me Love You Long Time

At the beginning of this wedding planning ordeal Eileen tasked me with one thing: the honeymoon. So how I get sucked in to other decisions (what's a centerpiece?) and meetings (I need to meet the priest?) is still a mystery to me. I know -- I should probably be more proactive in the process but wasn't proposing the idea of marriage enough? (just kidding) Thankfully, Eileen hasn't gone bridezilla on me... yet.

I have actually gotten farther in the honeymoon planning process and chosen a location. Of course, the decision wasn't easy and we did consider various places:

• Europe: One of my former coworkers went to France on their honeymoon and took cooking classes while they stayed at an apartment there. While this is very cool, Eileen and I have been to France (albeit separately) and were thinking of a more tropical location.


• Australia/New Zealand: We've both always wanted to go here and since we are very likely to be taking a lot of time off it would be the perfect opportunity to travel to the land down under. But in some ways it didn't seem exotic enough.

This has led us to the actual location. And in all honesty, the decision was somewhat made for us. Having traveled a lot for work I've accumulated a decent amount of hotel points and airline mileage. So we looked at the locations where these could all be redeemed and finally came up with...

Southeast Asia

We still haven't decided on a specific itinerary but as of now, Thailand - specifically Krabi (2 hours from Phuket) and Bangkok - is the most likely destination. We want to see if we can fit another country or two in but with limited time it may not be possible. So if anyone has any suggestions feel free to chime in.
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Fotos, Florists and Fun Stuff

Moving quickly down our to-do list, we recently crossed off an important one -- the photographer. While this choice was easy compared to others, it wasn't without its trade-offs. Our choices were these:
Option 1) Cheaper. 3 photographers. Includes standard stuff (digital files), prints and all day coverage.
Option 2) More expensive. 1 photographer. 8 hour coverage. Only digital files, no added deliverables.
Given our budget-conscious selves, you may expect us to quickly pick option 1 but surprise, we did not.

It came to the decision between structure and spontaneity, and between quality and quantity. I'm a very organized, particular person. Although I like the spontaneity of 'winging' things, when it comes to our wedding day I'm a fan of having a plan, even when our photos are concerned.

We also already know we're going to have hundreds and hundreds of pictures from our friends and family. Do we really want to have a few hundred more from our photographer(s)? Not really. We prefer to have 10 awesome pictures over 100 average ones. Once we met with our photographer, not only could we imagine hanging out with him, we also became huge fans of the personal emotion conveyed in his photos. Jeng also appreciated his use of technology, which always wins points with him.

In the end, we opted for option 2 since photos are a worthy investment. So (drumroll please) introducing our photographer: Augie Chang. (Thanks for the reco Kris!) We're excited to be working with him.

Now that photos have been checked off, we're I'm onto flowers and other fun stuff. (Jeng's eyes glaze over the minute the words "table setting" come out of my mouth.) I'm excited by my ideas but for surprise sake, will keep the details under wraps. (Which is very difficult to do!) If you all have some ideas for us, write a comment. This is a user-generated wedding after all. . . . read more.

We're In The Money

Back in April I shamelessly begged for you to visit our ad sponsors and also gave an update on the ad revenue you all helped to generate. At that time we had earned $49.05 and were patiently waiting to reach the payout threshold of $100. Guess what we got in the mail recently?

Now, thanks to you, the wedding can go on. As these new-found riches open up a number of wedding possibilities we'll need to figure out the best way to spend it. Here again, Eileen and I will probably have differing opinions.

Eileen's probable choices:

• Shoes
  
  
  
  
  
  


• Makeup
  
  
  
  
  
  


• A hair stylist
  
  
  
  
  
  

While those are all good choices, when it comes to the wedding I've always only had one request: open bar.

In the end, I know Eileen also wants an open bar so I'm hoping that the money you help generate goes directly back to you in the form of free drinks. But if we do need something more and Eileen and I can't decide on what, maybe we can both go to this store and shop together.

And feel free to keep clicking those ads! Your efforts really are producing actual results. Thanks, everyone!
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[Poll] Bridal Partywear

(I'll leave Jeng to explain last week's blogging absence. Don't think he didn't hear about it from me!)

A couple of weeks ago I was watching the movie, 27 dresses and was inspired by the creative bridesmaids attire. I realized that my wedding would be the perfect opportunity to embarrass my friends! Fashion from the 80s is making a comeback and it would pay homage to the decade of Jengs and my birth. I mean, how cool would my girlfriends look in dresses like these?!

Haha. Okay, I do love my girl friends and as tempting as it is, I will not subject them to humiliation. (At least as far as attire is concerned.) Instead, I face several options:
A) Go the fancy brand name route, forcing my bridesmaids to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress they will likely only wear once. (Because honestly, you might think the dress is something they will wear again but chances are... they will not.)
B) Pick a color and have them find a dress of their style. While this has become a popular choice for weddings, I'm a fan of the symmetry that comes with matching.
C) Have dresses made but risk the dresses looking handmade.
D) Hunt for dresses at a store for a decent price.

While option C is still on the table, D is the route I've ventured down (for now). Unlike my bridal gown search, this adventure involves multiple parties. (I have 2 maid of honors and 4 bridesmaids.) I had friends searching in LA, Colorado and all over the Bay Area. Our email chain is 40+ emails long, including many iPhone pictures in fitting rooms. (Gotta love picture messaging!)

We've narrowed it down to 3 dresses -- one from Macys (sexy, dressy and a bit funky), one from Nordstrom (classic and flattering) and one from TJ Maxx (cheaper, more simple but still cute, especially with some accessories). (I would post pics but since some elements must be a surprise, I will refrain.) Since we're all geographically separate, I went ahead and purchased most of the dresses myself. They are currently sitting in my bedroom, awaiting a 'bridesmaid dress vote' at the end of August when we're all together. (Luckily, its also just a few days short of Macy's and TJ Maxx's return policy expiration.) Since we love democracies, maybe we'll take your vote into consideration too:

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Pick a Priest before a Priest Picks You

When the combined number of years Jeng and I attended Catholic school exceeds our age, it becomes obvious that a large portion of our lives were immersed in Catholic traditions. So it was without question that our marriage would begin in a church. This past weekend, we began the Catholic wedding preparation journey with a visit to Sts. Peter and Paul Church, where our ceremony will take place.
I never attended mass at Sts. Peter and Paul and did not know the clergy so I took a gamble when I called to inquire about the church. Fr. Jorge* was the one that answered my call.

I'm always nervous when approaching a priest. Guilt for my sins? Yea probably. But also because my priestly encounters have ranged from scary and daunting to friendly and jovial. And then I remembered the movie License to Wed, and had visions of a nightmarish wedding preparation course full of awkward conversations and instigated arguments. Luckily Fr. Jorge is no Robin Williams. Instead he is an elderly Italian-American man who moves at his own pace.

A sweet man, Fr. Jorge took awhile to understand our geographical and timing situation. I didn't blame him, its not simple. With neither of us living in SF permanently, squeezing in marriage prep classes is difficult. Then as I attempted to make an appointment, I realized he doesn't respond well to messages or voice mails. (I think his hearing isn't the greatest.) And I highly doubt he has e-mail. I didn't want to be ageist and judge him for being too old. (I hate being perceived as too young.) So as we sat with him to discuss the requirements for a Catholic wedding, I had to constantly remind myself to be patient.

He gave us a book with church readings and explained how to choose from readings A, B and C by reading examples. Jeng was worried he was going to read the whole book. He convinced us to do a full mass instead of just a ceremony since we're both Catholic. "Its a difference of 15 minutes," he said. Then he explained how he prefers to do all the readings himself, rather than having us choose people who may be nervous and read too fast or too quietly. Now Jeng and I are secretly hoping our ceremony doesn't drag on for hours.

Our theme for the wedding weekend is very modern tech. How much should that theme carry over to our ceremony? I suppose not at all since the ceremony is full of tradition. But the generational gap is hard to ignore so we're on the fence about whether to stick with Fr. Jorge or inquire about another priest -- maybe younger? And/or Filipino to understand our cultural traditions? I can't imagine God being very happy with my picky priest tastes. Plus, how does one go about firing one? I'm not quite sure what to do but I will pray about it.

*Name has been changed to protect the innocent . . . read more.

[Poll] "Climb up on my faithful steed..."

Now that we've officially picked a date and settled on a location we've started to divert our attention to other matters. This includes wedding party attire, some wedding day surprises, and the all important bachelor party (and I guess bachelorette party, too, but whatever). I'm sure all these will be mentioned in future blogs at some point so this post will focus on another item we've been considering: wedding party transportation. Since unicorns no longer exist, we are trying to think of other ways to make Eileen's wedding unique.

One of the options Eileen suggested was asking one of the groomsmen - Rich - if we could borrow his Porsche. I vetoed the idea. While I like the thought of possibly saving money on transportation, I don't want to do it at the expense of friends and family. And I also don't want all the groomsmen sitting on my lap to fit in the car.

In order to fit more people, the traditional wedding mode of transportation is the limousine. But this is San Francisco and since Eileen is we're tree-hugging hippie wannabes, we wondered, "What would Al Gore do?" Yup, stretch Prius. We are currently looking to see if this is available in our area.

One vehicle that I'm pretty sure is available is everyone's favorite human transporter, the Segway. We considered this for a bit but a number of issues prevent this from being a viable option. First, the distance from the church to the hotel is rather far and we'd have to take back roads all the way. Second, we'd have to wear helmets and wouldn't want to ruin Eileen's hair. And finally, we'd look pretty stupid. Imagine a wedding party of 14 people traveling single file down the El Camino Real. On second thought, maybe we'd look pretty awesome.

So those are the options we're exploring. What do you think we should roll in on?


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The Date Debate

Jeng's birthday is on 1/04. Mine is 9/14. Both have a 1 and a 4. Add those together and its my favorite number: 5. Coincidence? Yea probably.

While we obviously didn't have any choice in our birth dates, we did have a say in our wedding date. We officially became boyfriend-girlfriend (aka "going steady") on 12/12/04 and then were engaged on 8/08/08. It was logical for us to pick another memorable date as the one we would have to remember for all eternity.

To further make things difficult, this date needed to be: 1) On a Friday or Saturday because everyone would hate us for picking a Wednesday wedding date; and 2) Between June and September 2010 since we agreed to wait until I graduate and before I start a job. (Because if all goes well, I'll be starting a job by the Fall of 2010.) We weren't left with very many options.

Once we took a million other things into consideration (ie. planet alignment, Jeng's 'time of the month', religious and cultural holidays and sporting events, etc.), we finally settled on: Friday, 7/9/10. So friends, if you're wondering why this blog is a bit off-schedule from the others... take a look at the time stamp. A year from now, we'll be hitched. Weird.

You may be thinking: "WTF. Friday!? I have to take a day off from my precious place of employment?!" Consider this. First, do you really hate an excuse to take PTO? And second, its the fourth of July the weekend before so you should already have Monday off. With this Friday wedding, you'll have the perfect excuse for an extra-short week. And for those travelling... even better: just take the whole week off! We have plenty of family fun activities planned... especially for the weekend after.

The date debate has ended. Contracts are signed. Dollars have been dropped. Now we just need you to save the date! And to make it even easier... here's
an Outlook invite to put in your calendar. :)
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Coming Soon

This link is coming soon. Check back in a little bit. . . . read more.

Guest Book

Feel free to sign our guest book by leaving a comment. . . . read more.

Our 'Last Year of Independence' (aka Engagement) Party

In 2002, my sister and I had a 'rock star' fourth of July celebration in SF with our close friends. It was a party we will always remember. This year, we decided to use this special date for another memorable celebration -- our last year of independence. Also known as our engagement.

Over 70 of our friends and family gathered at my newly-renovated parents house in Los Altos. While Jeng's family accounted for over half of those in attendance, we were also joined by many of our close friends, and members of my family. Two of my aunts, my cousin Joy and her kids also came into town from Vegas.

(Side story: Last summer, Jeng's parents were in Vegas and visiting Jeng's dad's goddaughter. This goddaughter was looking through his camera at our pictures from Europe and said, "Hey! That's Eileen!" It turns out, Jeng's dad's goddaughter is my cousin Joy. Apparently my aunts worked with Jeng's dad and grandma back in the late 80s. Small world! Jeng and I can probably be found in pictures together as kids. I probably stole things and/or did not share with him and made him cry. At least that's how we imagine it. Anyway luckily, as far as we know, Jeng and I are not related.)

Back to the BBQ. It was a pot luck so with 70 people you can imagine we had a ton of food. The centerpiece of our meal were two lovely little roasted piggies (aka Lechon de Leche). One was dressed as the groom and the other, the bride -- complete with tux, veil and lipstick. One was fat (the groom) and the other dark (the bride). They were delicious.

To accompany our extraordinary amount of food, we also had a ton of beverages -- alcoholic and non. In order to ensure consumption of these alcoholic beverages, we decided to play a couple rounds of beer pong (classy, I know.) and my own version of Hip Hip Hooray from Wowowee on the Filipino Channel. Two of the kids (Kat Kat and Carena) ended up winning the latter game. Their prize: No shots of vodka. Lucky girls.

Lastly, the BBQ would not be complete without a good toss into the pool. Jeng and Jeff were the victims. Hurt in the crossfire was a bottle of Fat Tire and Oliver's shirt. Diana and Erica attempted to toss me in the pool but were faced with my evil side and quickly backed off.

Thanks again to all those who came, ate, and enjoyed. Special thanks to: Jeng's parents, the Icasianos, and the Nguyens for providing the tables/chairs; Jeff for grilling the meat and oysters; my parents for working long and hard to prepare the house; Auntie Auring, Auntie Bet and the Coletti family for traveling from Vegas; and to everyone who brought food and drinks to share. The party of 70 was so much fun.. we can only imagine how much fun it will be with 200! . . . read more.

Upping the Aunties

Sorry, folks. I know I am a week late but I did actually have a new blog ready to go last Monday night. I just wanted to run it by Eileen first before I embarrassed her and after she read it she requested a slight change. So below is an edited version of the original. Also, I am told I should remind people that I am joking in case you're unfamiliar with the weird things in which I find humor.

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Eileen and I recently watched Pixar's latest bit of animated awesomeness, Up in 3-D. Maybe my geekiness makes me biased toward their movies, but I think it's always fun to watch their ability to give digitally created characters humor and emotion that connect with the audience in ways that even live-action entertainment sometimes can't. And okay, I'll admit that my eyes did extra moisturize during certain parts of the movie but as a human being with a heart, how could you not? Oh, that's right. You could not if you are Eileen.

Eileen likes to think of herself as a feisty little non-girly girl. Some girls choose to wear pink. Eileen chooses to wear teal. Some girls eat dainty little salads. Eileen eats more than I do. Some girls have two thumbs. Eileen had 2.5.

And some girls cry. Eileen rolls her eyes. Well, maybe that's not entirely true. She cried when I registered JengIsMyEdward.com ("You are not Edward! Take it back!") and when they were out of lechon kawali at our favorite lechon kawali restaurant (which, by the way, is no longer in business). But basically any time emotions that result in tears are expected of a normal person, Eileen refuses.

All this brings us to my goal for our wedding day: make Eileen cry. Be clear that my intentions are not sinister. I won't physically harm her or embarrass her in order to squeeze out a tear. I don't expect her to cry like my mom and some aunties will (my mom has already teared up when discussing various wedding-related items). I just want to see a tear (or more) of joy and know that she is human and does actually have more emotion than a made-up cartoon character.

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Dress-speak

The wedding dress adventure continued this weekend as my mother, sister and I visited five different bridal stores in search for the best and most beautiful bridal bargain. At this point, I've lost count of how many dresses I've tried on. They're all beginning to look the same -- either ugly or not-as-ugly. In the not-as-ugly category, I've narrowed it down to my final two, both great deals and pretty styles. Which will it be? I'm not telling. Ha.

Now that I'm winding down my dress hunt, I must vent about this whole ordeal. It all takes place in a bridal store by appointment only, of course. After you divulge all your personal information to receive their 'updates', the consultant asks you what kind of dresses you like. The amount of detail you go into in your response is a testament to how "in the know" you are. There are a number of topics to discuss: silhouette, neckline, sleeves, fabric, veils, colors, beads, lace, bustles, petticoats, designers, prices, blah, blah, and more blah. Seriously, who knew there were so many different whites! And that the only difference between trumpets and mermaids is how far down your legs they flare. Its enough air to make your brain explode.

So in addition to learning more than I ever wanted to know about gowns, I've also learned that I never ever want to work in a bridal salon. Not only would I be unable to handle the increased decibel levels, but I would also be unable to refrain from cringing at some brides. I honestly don't understand the obsession with wanting to look like Cinderella. Do people really think that a bigger, more beaded dress will make them more beautiful? I clearly disagree. But that's just me... to each their own. Personally, I prefer to err on the simple, less adorned side. And although I still end up looking like a frosted cupcake, at least its something I find decadent and gorgeous. Red velvet please.
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What's Good?

I didn't blog yesterday. Not for lack of topics; the ones we have lined up just aren't very enticing. So building off of Eileen's User-Generated Wedding blog, what would you like to hear about?

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User-Generated Wedding

Indecision is my fatal flaw. I'm infamous for changing my mind a million times and asking a ton of people for their opinion before making a decision on my own. I literally can't buy clothes or shoes without my sister's approval. (Thank goodness for iPhone's great photo capabilities!)

This wedding planning business has further confirmed my lack of decision-making skills so rather than run myself in circles, I've been considering continuing our Web 2.0 theme and making this a user-generated wedding. So far we've only put the Colors up for vote, but there are so many other things I could use input on:
- Venue: Or not. We're almost ready to release the final decision. Voting would open up a dangerous can of worms.
- Website Design: Jeng and I have explored over 11 different layouts and have yet to choose one to build and launch. At this rate, we'll be married before our web site is complete.
- Favors: But I would like it to be a surprise for our guests. We have some great ideas up our sleeves.
- Centerpieces: What would you, our guests, like to stare at all evening? Hmmm... that's one I could use input on.
- Music: DJ or iPod? Or a little bit of both? Hmmm...
- Entertainment: Who should make speeches? Knowing our friends, maybe nobody should be given the honor of mic time.
- Groom: It's a bit too late for that. Although, I haven't said my vows yet so I'm still open to alternate suggestions. Just kidding. Or am I?
- Dress: Supposedly this is supposed to be some big secret from the groom. I bet Jeng will hardly notice what my wedding dress looks like. He'll just remember the price tag. Maybe I'll figure out a password-protected way to share this with my girls.
- Cake Flavors: This would be fun. I could send out samples to all our loyal followers. But don't get your hopes up.

All in all, please don't think our polls are purely for our entertainment and nerdy love of google forms (although that's partially true). We are actually taking the votes into consideration. So keep participating (and clicking on ads)... this is a weddemocracy. Kind of.
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[Poll] What's in a name? Part 2 - Choosing a Website Number

It's Monday and I nearly forgot to post a new blog. Sorry faithful reader(s). This is another boring one but it has been in the queue for awhile. Back in March I posted the first in a series of name related blog posts. This is the second.

How many possible website name possibilities can there be? Many people go with the <insert groom name>and<insert bride name>.com naming convention while others might reverse that and go with <insert bride name>and<insert groom name>.com. Of course, Eileen - God bless her humble and selfless soul - wanted her name first.

That is perfectly fine by me. But what name should we go with? If we went with her nickname, Ei (pronounced like eye), then putting her name after mine just sounds more natural - as in JengAndEi.com.

"No! The bride's name must go first! ROAR!" said an unnamed source whose name rhymes with Ilene and Aileen.

And so EiAndJeng.com was born. To avoid confusion we I registered both.

But not everyone knows her by Ei nor me as Jeng. And so, to avoid confusion, I registered EileenAndJeng.com and EileenAndJeremy.com. Notice how it doesn't sound as weird with her name in front? That's why I didn't register them the other way around. Way to save money, Jeng! (Although in retrospect, why didn't I register JeremyAndEi.com?)

Having saved money by not registering JeremyAndEileen.com and JengAndEileen.com, I decided to also register Buenviaje-Reyes.com. Then, since we were on this vanity-website-domains kick, I decided to register EileenBuenviaje.com, JeremyReyes.com and EileenReyes.com (I thought that last one was pretty funny). These ones don't point to our wedding website yet.

But the best URL so far is the one Eileen begged me to register. When I was doing this she just finished up her Fabio Twilight books. Now her preferred domain for our wedding blog is JengIsMyEdward.com. Isn't she sweet? So next time someone asks you where to find our website, you know what to say.



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Loco About Locations

We are about 14 months from our planned wedding date and hoped to have a location locked down by now. But as the procrastinators and indecisive people that we are, we have yet to settle on a place. My earlier blog alluded to the fact that we've needed to re-prioritize and make some significant trade offs when it comes to our reception location. Now as we near our final decision, I've begun to reflect on our loco location journey:

Phase 1: Dream Big
We're getting married! Let's do it at an eco-friendly, romantic resort in the heart of wine country or an artsy gallery in downtown San Francisco. That's totally us.

Phase 2: Reality Sets In
Who are we kidding? Our eyes are bigger than our wallets. Let's move it to the South Bay. It's where we both grew up, after all. And San Jose is not so bad. It is the tech capital and we sure are tech nerds.

Phase 3: Denial
But we LOVE San Francisco! Its where we spent most of our time together as a couple. How can we not take our wedding photos on the Embarcadero with a backdrop of the Bay Bridge and the Ferry Building? Plus, that's where all our out-of-town guests will want to hang out. We must make San Francisco happen.

Phase 4: Compromise
Okay, okay. So in order to have what we want in SF, we need to A) Exceed our budget by 50% (Ha. not a chance. That is money well spent on an awesome place.); B) End up at an okay place but not quite fitting for our style; or C) Suck it up and move the party down the Peninsula.

Phase 5: Decision ... almost
With our picky tastes, tight budget and ever-lengthy guest list (200+!), we're very close to settling on C. (Not quite there yet.) Maybe like with our colors, we'll stop this madness and leave it up to you to decide. Hmm... now that's a novel idea.
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Blues Hues Revisited

Prior to her Blues Hues blog post, Eileen showed me some of the ideas she was considering and asked my opinion. Of course, with my natural inclination and complete desire to be fully involved with all decisions and aspects of the wedding planning process, I obliged. At first she didn't show me where she drew her inspiration from but once I saw them I guessed. And based on my guesses, Eileen and I see the world a little differently.

Just as all young boys do when day-dreaming of that special day, I started to imagine myself in the colors Eileen threw together. I won't say I didn't get teary-eyed at the thought of this because at the rate we're going, the wedding is going to be everything I hope for and envision every night that I lay my head on my pillow.

(rollover images for future wedding pictures)

Option 1: I never imagined myself a villain but I think this color scheme lends itself to treachery.

Option 2: I don't want to offend our Seattle readers but being the Niner fan that I am, I guess I will. When it comes to football, not only is our team better, your color scheme and uniform are perhaps the ugliest in the NFL. I refuse to imagine myself in such attire but I suppose for a wedding they could work.

Option 3: I've only recently started to appreciate the taste of this vegetable.

Option 4: A throwback to The City.

Option 5: I think this one may be getting my vote.

All worthy choices... Which one do you like best?


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[Poll] Blues Hues

Growing up, my bedroom walls were pale purple, my sheets were purple, I think I even had some bright purple short-alls. I loved me some purple. More recently, I've become addicted to teal and own too many teal pieces of clothing to count. Jeng, on the other hand, forever prefers black and gray. Boooooring!

Needless to say, picking colors for this wedding of ours is no easy task. I know what I do not want: pink, red, orange or anything in-between. Bright and perky colors are so not me. But dark and dreary isn't very fitting for a wedding celebration. So now what?

Wedding colors dictate a mood, set a tone, and showcase my style. (I say "my" instead of "ours" because for this topic, Jeng is useless in decision-making.) I always wanted an urban feel to our wedding so I knew I wanted cool colors with a funky edge. Plus, I wanted the guys in charcoal suits/tuxes so our colors needed to go with that. And of course, I have to be original.

So I decided to look to nature for inspiration, specifically things that I like -- the city, wine, and maybe even flowers. So here are some color palettes I'm considering and the photos that I pulled them from:

Option 1:

Option 2:

Option 3:

Option 4:

Option 5:

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