Tiki Party!

For those of you who can make it, we're throwing a huge party on Thursday night (9/24) at The Alibi, Portland's oldest still-operating bar (and the most David Lynch-y experience you can get outside of Eastern Washington).

Think of it as a pre-wedding shindig ... Something to get us primed for Saturday!



It's an open party, so if you want to come, and you want to bring everyone you know, you should do most definitely do so.

Bring money for cocktails; eats are on us.

Party starts at 8:30 p.m., and just in case you can't read the poster Sally and I made, it's at The Alibi, 4020 N. Interstate Ave.

There may or may not be karaoke involved. Emphasis on the syllable "may."

Oh, and:

Punch and pie.

Ho-tel, mo-tel, Holiday I-inn

For those of you traveling from outside the Portland area (which makes up the majority of you), we've set aside block group rates at the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Portland.

Here's the information you need, along with the group code to get discounted rates ($95/night marked down from $149 - awww yeah):

Address:500 SW Oak Street, Portland, OR, 97207
Phone: 1-800-606-3717
Date range for discount: 9/24-9/26 (to check out on 9/27)
Group code: NBWNBWA
Reservations Web site: www.marriott.com/pdxpc

We stayed there for our anniversary, and can vouch for how awesome the rooms are in this brand-new hotel. Big, comfy beds, modern look, HBO, etc. It's pretty plush.

Plus, in case you get hungry, Sally's restaurant, The Original Dinerant, is located in the same building at street level, so you can head down for a cocktail and a bite or order the restaurant's greatest hits via room service.

In related news, The Original also will be the venue for the Rehearsal/Groom's Dinner on Friday night. So those of you who'll be there may want to crash at the Courtyard so you merely have to mosey upstairs to get to bed.

Registry information

We decided not to put registry information in the invitations, but for those who really want to buy us stuff, here are links to our registries:

• Crate and Barrel


• Macy's

There you go. In the interest in saving money, just about everything on the Macy's registry is on sale until Aug. 16.

Invitations!

I know it's been a long time since the last post, but we just had to have these beauties in-hand before doing anything else:





Our wedding invitations represent the culmination of the efforts of a few people (aside from Sally and I): Our good friend Zeyah Roge helped us come up with the initial concept, which we then sent to my sister, Karen Ann Bowers, who used her wicked graphic design skills to make everything look amazing.

Karen sent the final design to my brother Jim and his wife-to-be, Andrea, who did a great job of prining them at Jim's business, Precision Press.

(On a side note, for those of you who don't know: Yours truly used to spend summer days running off at the mouth while collating, binding and trimming paper in the Bindery Department at Precision Press, which my dad founded during the year in which I was born. So if you need some printing done ... ahem ...)

Sally and I are seriously stoked on how these invitations turned out. So thanks to everyone involved for the help.

And to the rest of you: Look for them in your mailbox by the end of the week.

The inaugural post

Here it is, three months before the wedding, the Monday after a brilliant anniversary weekend spent in town, and we're finally getting around to making a proper wedding blog. Here's what you can expect from us in the coming months:

Wedding updates and information

Photos of us and things we do and like that may or may not have to do with the wedding

Thoughts and opinions about the process

Any other narcissistic noodles we want to toss against the cyberspace wall

Be talking at you soon. Love to you all.