Fourteen

Vendor Review: Augie Chang

jon — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:06:49 +0000

We finally got our photos from our wedding and we can say that it was worth the wait and every penny. Our wedding photos are what our family will be looking at for generations to come and Augie Chang did a fantastic job capturing the moments just the way we remember them. As someone that works in a creative and design centered industry, I must say that everything from his photographic composition to the packaging of his final product is of top notch quality. Beyond providing a great product, he is just a great guy to have around. Many of our guests commented on how fun he was to interact with and be around. He wasn’t just a guy in the corner snapping shots of the action. He talked with our guests and we even got him on the dance floor for a bit. When it’s all said and done, Glo and I (and our guests) agree that our wedding wouldn’t have been the same without him. We would absolutely recommend Augie and even if you don’t end up hiring him you may want to consider just inviting him as a guest.

Bora Bora Movie

jon — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:06:09 +0000

I finally had some time to edit all of our video footage together from our trip to Bora Bora. All of this video (except for the octopus) came off my Canon SD780IS which can capture video in HD 720p. I ended up using it a lot more than my DSLR. I edited it all together using iMovie in about two nights on the couch. I think it turned out pretty well for a dinky point ‘n shoot and free software. Thanks to Jeanie and Jason for the tip to sit on the left side of the plane!

The video below is not HD, but it’s a big file. If you have a weak computer it may be choppy. I’ll upload this to Vimeo later to stream the HD version.

Honeymoon in Bora Bora

jon — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:36:53 +0000

For our honeymoon we went to Bora Bora in French Polynesia (west of Tahiti). It is the most beautiful place we’ve ever been. I’ve been to beaches in Oahu, Maui, Caribbean, Mexico, and the Philippines, but Bora Bora is hands down the best of them all. We stayed at the Intercontinental Le Moana which resides on the southern tip of the main island. It is connected to the Intercontinental Thalasso by shuttle boat. Great resort and we would highly recommend it to anyone visiting.

We flew out two days after the wedding and spent seven nights on the island. Most of our days were spent snorkeling, swimming, biking, kayaking, and just sleeping on beach chairs and hammocks. The island is only 19 miles around. We were able to ride rented cruiser bicycles around the island is less than 2.5 hours. The airport was tiny. About the size of a large house, it’s located on a motu (small island). From the airport everyone has to take a shuttle boat to their resort. Check out a simple slideshow I threw together using Picasa below.

Glo & Jon Slideshow

jon — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:31:31 +0000

Gloria’s sister, Mindy, put a lot of work into the slideshow for our wedding reception. Our family pulled out all of the old photo albums and scanned them into the computer. Mindy used iMovie to put it all together. I posting it here to live eternally. Click on the image below to start it up. If you have a slow internet connection, it will be . . . well . . . slow.

Calistoga Wedding

gloria — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:36:23 +0000

Our wedding at Solage, Calistoga was awesome. Glo and I had a great time. The Solage banquet staff and all of our vendors did a fantastic job and we have no regrets choosing any of them. Everyone we’ve talked to said they really enjoyed the wedding and reception. Of course the wedding wouldn’t have been anything without the support of our close and friends and family. I’ll be adding posts with more photos and details about our wedding and honeymoon to Bora Bora. For now, check out some teaser photos that Augie sent us.

Weekend Trip to Carmel

jon — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:26:43 +0000

We spent this past weekend in Carmel for my Birthday. We had dinner at Casa Nova, a French-Italian restaurant. Food was awesome. Highly recommended. We also spent the day at Point Lobos State Reserve hiking around and taking some photos and video. Point Lobos is one of my favorite places on the California Coast. You are always guaranteed to see some cool wild life like crabs in the tide pools and seals and sea otters along the rocky coast.

Engagement Photo Session with Augie

jon — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:42:41 +0000

Yesterday, Glo and I had a our engagement photo session with Augie Chang. We chose to go down to 9th and Irving in San Francisco and shoot some photos in our hood. Augie is a fun guy to hang out with and he did an awesome job with the photography. My sister Janelle came along to shoot some candids. You can see a few below. View the slideshow, here.

Joseph T. Steinke STL, MA

jon — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:39:21 +0000

About a week ago we met with the officiant for our wedding. When choosing people to work with for your wedding you usually have to put in a lot of research and effort to find the right people. However, for our officiant we new exactly who we wanted to marry us. We chose Joseph Steinke for quite a number of reasons. He married Gloria’s brother Alvin and Karina and my dad when he was remarried to Lyn. He was also my philosophy professor in college. He left quite an impression on my friends and I back then and he does the same for the weddings he presides over. Being a college teacher of Asian religions and Greek philosophy combined with his past service to the Catholic church he is perfect for a wedding like ours.

Here is his impressive education and work history.

BA - Philosophy, Cardinal Glennon College, St. Louis, Missouri
BA - Theology, Abbey of Gethsemani, Trappist, Kentucky
STL (MA) - Theology, Angelicum Universoty, Rome, Italy
MA - Education, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California
MA - Counseling Psychology, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo / Santa Clara University, California
MFCC - Marriage, Family, Child Counselor, State of California License

50 years - Catholic Priest
17 years - Catholic Trappist Monk
4 years - High School Teacher, Administrator
33 years - Ohlone College Teacher - Philosophy, Ethics, World Religions, Marriage and Family

Get Your Geek On

jon — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:02:25 +0000

We just sent our save the dates with the address to our website about two days ago. I hooked the website into google analytics to track visitor statistics. The stats are pretty interesting (or not).

We’ve had a total of 10 unique visits. We only sent about 50 save the dates out so far, so that’s a 20% success rate. That’s actually pretty good when compared to traditional print advertising.
In two days we’ve had 20 total visits. That means some of you are actually comming to the site more than once.
70% are FireFox users. 65% are using a Mac. You guys are cool.
A very small percentage of visitors are finding the site by searching google for “Dr. Gloria Khoo.” I guess she’s more popular than I.

Bloggin’ It

jon — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:31:18 +0000

Since the wedding website went up, we’ve had a few people say they want to see more “stuff.” By “stuff,” I mean pictures and sappy stories from our life together. I’m not one to showcase my personal life through the Internet, but with the all the activity going on around the wedding I guess I’ll step out of the shell a little bit. Thus, the new blog. We’ll be using this blog to post updates, information, sappy stories and photos that I’m sure everone is so calmouring to see. Enjoy and please leave some comments if you are so inclined.