Bliss and Dan

So after a lot of searching and deliberation, we've decided to go with the Hampton Inn & Suites Historic District for our second room block. This was by far the best value, certainly the nicest accomodations in its range. The hotel gave us a great discount, and while it's not exactly in the center of town, it is still located at the edge of the beautiful historic disrict, and the hotel is brand new and gorgeous, as you can see from the picture I've included in this post. Some other places were more central, but offered prices that may have been slightly higher and comparably dumpy accomodations that couldn't even begin to compete with the classy Hampton Inn.

So here's the important information:

You can take a look at the website for more information. This rate applies to the nights of both February 16 and February 17 -- we've blocked off 20 rooms per night. To take advantage of this rate, reservations must be made by January 17, 2006. Cancellations also must happen by January 17, 2006. This hotel offers parking at $12 per day. Also, up to 5 people can stay in one room. If you want to make your reservation online, be sure that you use this group code: KWW. Or you can simply call (912) 721-1600 and mention that you're part of the Khaw/Washburn wedding reception group.

Posted by Bliss Khaw at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, today is the one month anniversary of our marriage. Surprised? On August 12, 2006, so were we. We decided to get started on the paperwork to register for marriage, find out the designated hospital for those health tests we kept hearing about, and the first set of what was bound to be a ridiculous number of red stamped documents. Half an hour and $1.12 later, the Chinese government proclaimed us husband and wife. The bride was dressed in a beautiful, brown Chinglish-nonsense t-shirt, and the groom wore a handsome navy blue Bloomsburg Fair t-shirt.

I still find it kind of difficult to fully describe the sheer disorientation and confusion of our little Chinese "ceremony," so you can start here with Dan's blog entry on what is sure to be one of the most surreal experiences of our lives. He's also put together a photo essay, with the help of the friendly government photographers in the Shanghai Marriage Service Center.

So technically we're already married. But I'm not sure that I can say that we were both fully convinced by the surprise ceremony the government threw at us. Thankfully, we're still having our real ceremony, which we fully expect to be a thousand times more meaningful, in Koh Samui, Thailand, on September 30. We'll finally exchange vows and the rings that have stayed in the box, as it somehow didn't feel right to start wearing them yet, despite being married. We expect to have a bunch of photos to share upon our return. We both promise to clean up and dress nicely this time.

Posted by Bliss Khaw at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)