Wedding Update: Weekend Activities

Dear Family and Friends!
We are so happy you will be able to attend our wedding weekend festivities! Wahoo! Dylan and I have a feeling you are going to enjoy yourself! Here are a few updates for on the weekend plans so far.

1) Travel Itineraries: If you are coming from out of town, please send us your travel itineraries as soon as possible, especially if you need to be picked up and dropped off at the airport. If you have already sent your itineraries, THANK YOU!

2) Hotels & Couches: Again, this applies only to the out of town guests. Most of you have contacted me if you need to stay at the Super 8, where we are encouraging most of our guests to stay. If you have not contacted me and you want to stay at the Super 8, please do this asap. The rooms are filing up. If you have requested a couch to sleep on, great! Just let me know if you have any allergies or special needs that need to be taken into consideration on where you sleep. For those of you in Los Angeles, you have a happy couch that could use a visitor, please let me know!

3) Friday Night, June 22: LOS DUGGANS, OLD BULL, WELL DIGGERS CD release party!
Dylan's two bands and our other favorite band in LA is have a triple-CD release party. We hope everyone will be able to make this special and fun-filled night. The energy will be rocking! Starts at 10pm.

Molly Malone's
575 South Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

4) Saturday day, June 23: During the morning, there is not much planned for activities. There are plenty of great restaurants for breakfast in our area. Also, there is a park and free tennis courts a few blocks away for those who would like to work off the previous nights booze. We have two pretty good tennis racquets if anyone wants to borrow them. And, if you want to help set up for the BBQ, we would love the help.

5) Saturday, June 23, 4pm: BBQ
We are asking all the LA folks coming to the BBQ to please brings a dish or something to grill. Think of it kinda as a potluck (like most of our BBQs). We will have some food, a keg and other drinks. The BBQ starts at 4pm, but you don't have to be there at 4pm. Whenever you would like to drop in will be wonderful.

6) Saturday, June 23: MALMGREN FAMILY WINE TASTING:
At every family reunion, the Malmgrens have a wine tasting contest and we are having one on Saturday night, too. Just so no one feels less intoxicated or left out, I'm hoping everyone who wants to will participate. There are some rules:
a. The bottle of wine you bring to the competition must be $10 or less. No cheating!
b. It is encouraged, though not entirely necessary, that the wine come from your part of the world, ie the state or town that you live in, though for those coming from out of the US have the whole country to choose from.
c. With all the people coming to the BBQ, you might want to invest in 2 bottles of the same wine (enough for everyone to taste).
d. It doesn't matter if you bring white or red wine, though you will probably have a better chance of winning with a red.
e. The winner will get a prize!

7) Saturday, June 23: TALENT SHOW: 6pm
There are still a few spots open for the talent show. If you have changed you mind and want to participate: WAHOO! I should say, this is actually a talent/talentless program, so you don't have to worry about making a fool of yourself! Dylan and I are doing a musical number, meaning I'm singing! Ouch! Other talents include: hula hooping, pantomime, mumbling, dance, dance and more dance! You get the picture. Sign up now! (those of you signed up already, I will send a special e-mail to confirm).

8) Sunday Day, June 24: The Wedding: 6pm (finally)
Please don't be late! There will be some food and a few free drinks for guests, but we are encouraging any of those that want to please eat a large lunch and bring a flask! Dylan's brother, Travis, is graciously renting a school bus for our out-of-town guest to get to and from the our wedding site. The bus will pick up the guests at 5:30pm at the Super 8. It will drive guests back to the hotel (and Dylan and I) after the wedding and reception (around 11:30pm).

Wow, that's all for now. I know--we are nuts to do this all, but we really want you to feel like you've been run over by a train of fun at weekend's end!

besos,
Bethany & Dylan

Weather at the wedding

Here is our personal "weather channel" wedding planner. Right now, we are hoping for no rain. However, we are indoors, so it won't be that big of a deal. Nights should be a little chilly (60˚F) and the days should be sunny (80˚F). I mean, we are getting married in Los Angeles. What do we have to worry about?

Weather for June 24, 2006 LA

Map and directions

hello everyone!

We are using "Wedding Mapper" to provide easy info on how to get to the many events during our wedding weekend. Events will be updated and added as they are planned. This map can give you directions from your hotel to the Saturday's talent show or to our wedding venue on Sunday. Let us know if you need anything else. I hope this helps!

Bethany & Dylan's Wedding Map

Wedding Registries

Let us start this posting by saying we don't expect any gifts from any of you. Just coming to our wedding is gift enough! If you can't make it to our wedding (Dylan and I have missed many important weddings of late because of finances)-- we understand.

If you would like to get us a gift, we do need many things. However, whatever we need does not compare to the needs of the anti-war movement! As many of you know, Dylan and and I volunteer much of our time to the Los Angeles branch of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). Please consider making a donation in our name at their website:

ANSWER LA

Now, if you don't want to donate, then we are accepting presents. We are registered at (in order of importance):

Crate & Barrel

Macy's

Target

Amazon.com

Pillows&Throws.com

The greatest lamp of all time!

Thank you!

Hotel Reservations

There aren't really any hotels close to the actual wedding venue and since we are planning to have our house be the "headquarters" for all other wedding activities, we are encouraging all folks to stay at the Super 8 only about two blocks from our house.

Super 8 Motel - Los Angeles/Downtown
1341 W Sunset Blvd
Hwy 101 Exit Alvarado St
Los Angeles, CA 90026 US
Phone: 213-250-2233
Fax: 213-250-5067


I've checked out the hotel and I think it looks suitable. It seems quiet, clean, and has a few amenities, like hairdryers in the room, iron and ironing board, television, and air conditioning. With our group discount, it is $78 for a single and $83 for a double, per night.

TO MAKE A RESERVATION, YOU MUST DO IT THROUGH ME TO GET THE GROUP DISCOUNT. PLEASE CONTACT ME AT via e-mail or call me to let me know that you need a room. They will fill up, so please contact me as soon as you can. Also, there are no cancelations once the reservation has been made, so please confirm you travel arrangements before contacting.

********2/8/07: My cousin Ged found out that there is an even cheaper rate available if you have AAA! You can reserve the room yourself and it allows for cancelations.*********

If you don't want to stay with the majority of the wedding guests, making a reservation at any of the hotels downtown will be close to the action.

Of course, if you can't afford a place to stay, we will find some arrangement for you. We have plenty of room in our house and after that fills up, we have plenty of friends with couches. Let me know what you all are planning, and your flights so I can schedule airport pick-ups! Can't wait to see all of you!

Bethany

Why ghetto swank?

Originally Dylan and I were getting going to a honky tonk type wedding, but there don't seem to be many honky tonks in LA (kudos to the 29 Mules), so we had to look far and wide to find a venue that fit our a) budget b) personalities c) time frame. So, Club Fais Do Do just kinda fell in our lap and we are soooo excited about it. Large maroon curtains, the perfect size, affordable with plenty of seating and a stage area to highlight the awesome band. It's perfect. Here are some pictures:

ready, set. . .

Well, everyone has to have a first post. So here goes. There was no proposal, no engagement ring, nada. Basically we found out we could rent our house again for another year and I called my grandmother and told her I thought that meant we would be getting married because we talked about having it at the house. I also told my mom. Finally, I had to tell Dylan because my mom told all my aunts and there was no going back. It took about three weeks for the idea to sink in with Dylan, but he's happy now. But, after going over the initial guest list and watching Dylan invite every loyal fan his band has, the house is out. So, we don't have a date. We don't have a venue. We don't have any money or a clue. But we do have a wedding blog. That's something, right?