Without further ado...

Meadow Wood Manor
The Castle at Skylands Manor
Valley Regency
Crystal Plaza
The Manor
Westmount Country Club
The Palace at Somerset Park
The Westwood
Oheka Castle
The Venetian
The Imperia on Easton
Grand Marquis
Stirling Ridge
The Skylands at Randolph
The Estate at Florentine Grdens
The Wilshire Grand
The Park Savoy
Gatsby's at Cresskill
The Gran Centurions

You tried. You impressed. You depressed. You made our heads spin and our stomachs turn. You wooed and wowed...but now you must take a bow. Ladies and gentlemen of the Operation Bo & Po Blogiverse, we have found a winner. Our selction is......

The Rockleigh



Browse the website if you wish. We don't want to give to many details away because we want you to go in with no preconceptions. We think we've made the best selection for our wedding and we hope you agree.

So Phase 1 is now complete. (That's what happens when you make the first payment) Relieved, yes? There isn't much time to come up for air though. Plenty left to do. Still, we have the place and that's a big step.

We'd like to thank the Maid of Honour (!) and the parents of the Groom for the modes of transport on this journey. Your encouragement, energy, and automobiles saved the day. We are indebted. Perhaps a toast is in order?

Oh silly me. When is this joyous occasion?

Sunday, September 21, 2008. That's in seven months. Hell Yeah! Write it down. 11am holmes. We're getting married.

ps. We can now move onto a different topic in this blog. Thumbs up.

pps. The families met last night. How did it go? Where did it happen? What is this fish?

Stay tuned for the next exciting entry: Hello, We're Getting Related - When the Susses visited the Lees

Make a Deal, Share a Meal

Well everyone, we are now finished looking. Broken record. Have I said that before? We mean it this time.

The finalists are in. Some reaches. Some compromises. A lot of negotiating to be done. We refuse to accept your first offers! Everyone will know soon enough the place we have chosen and we hope the day will be a memorable one for all.

For everyone who hasn't gone through this, let me just say that there is no chance you'll visit more places that we have. If anyone tops 21 places, I will buy you a Junior's Cheesecake.

At some point, it all becomes a blur. You're in Charlie Brown's classroom and between the wah-wahs all you hear is chafing dish, white glove, tax, gratuity, here's my card.

Most of these places are good. They are professionals and they know far more about receptions than I ever will. They've recited their speeches so many times, it's second nature. (note: rapid fire type writer style impresses no one) What really separates the good from the great is conversation. The good salesmen include you, they involve and engage you (no pun). We don't like being talked at. We need to feel important, we need our minds put at ease and our egos stroked a bit. It's a huge investment emotionally and financially, putting our dreams in strangers hands. We know it's a game. We are just asking them to play it the right way.

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On to another topic.

Family. As you probably know, Ji and I are very family oriented people. We love our families deeply. Over the years, I've gotten to know the Lee family and have grown to love them. I can't underestimate how kind they have been to me and how gracious they have been in opening up their home to me and incorporating me into their family functions. It has been nerve wracking at times, but I am getting more comfortable with the members of my soon-to-be extended family.

This Saturday the two families are meeting for the first time and I admit that I am nervous. Nervous as most people would be when their families are meeting for the first time. By next year, we're all going to be related, but this is the first step. It's hard to believe that the two sisters haven't even met. It hasn't been intentional, it just never seemed to work out.

So in five days, the Susses are driving down to Blue Bell to share a meal with the Lees. (that's a lot of e's and s's huh?) There's nothing more family than eating together so that is what we are going to do. So now everyone will meet, and everyone will be worried, but everything will work out and some day we will laugh about any awkwardness we may encounter. Good, hardworking people have a lot in common. Family people figure it out. I may be nervous now, but I'm also smiling. I really can't wait.

Sunday Done-Day

After one more weekend of rounds, a decision will and must be made. The finalists are in, but maybe we'll get surprised with a new contender. Also a second visit to a previous stop has been scheduled. I'm not sure how many places a typical engaged couple visits, but it seems as if we have really gone beyond. In all, 16 places will have been visited. Was it exhausting? Yes. However, I'm glad we have seen so many because it never hurts to be thorough. Thinking that we didn't give ourselves enough options would have irked me.

This is the major hurdle. How many times we've heard, "Once you pick the place, then all the fun stuff starts." I hope. It feels like time is flying by. You know what...it is. We've been engaged now for 40 days. I say we're due for some of the fun stuff.

On a side note, my people skills are improving dramatically. I have these appointment skills down cold. I'm not as big a talker on the actual tours, but on the phone I'm a dynamo. The one time I was really good in person was when I was really annoyed. Maybe that's the secret. Go into the meetings ready to get down to business. Lesson learned.

Hardcore wedding tour '08.

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Valentine's Day is next week...don't sleep.

On the Receiving End

One weekend. Seven Reception sites. One guy's thoughts on the places we've been, the people we met, and the baked goods we acquired.

First I would like to say thank you to the Maid of Honour, (I like spelling it the British/Canadian way) Jung for shuttling us across New Jersey in our search for the perfect venue, thank you to Tutu, our mascot, for keeping our spirits up, and to Korean food for reminding us what it was like to eat.

On with the tour....


The Manor - (West Orange, NJ)

"Nothing to worry about." That seemed to be the theme of this place. It was the first hall we visited so we hadn't yet got the hang of all the questions we were supposed to ask. The room we liked was small, but opened up into a green house area where the cocktail hour would take place. Unfortunately, if the dining room gets too crowded, the DJ has to be stationed in what I assume to be the poorly accousticized glass room. Imagine, the music outside the dining room? "No problem." When our tour guide, who reminded me of Stephen Root during his News Radio days, started talking about what a great deal they were compared to other overpriced high-end places, the conversation was over. All we wanted to know was why would you make our reception special. All we heard about was your inferiority complex and a bunch of glossed over answers. Menu did look good and bonus points for the nicest glossy folder, but I don't see the Manor in our future.


The Crystal Plaza - (Livingston, NJ)

Barry is a selling machine. Luring you in with his calm, soothing voice, and backing it up with the options to customize the wedding however desired, I had to snap out of it long enough not to write a check. It was insane. It made perfect sense a half an hour later why they offered us martinis before noon. Bluntly, the Crystal Plaza has a beautiful ballroom. Everything else is just on the cusp of complete fairytale cheese though. There was also no nice place to have a ceremony. The upstairs room is pretty ugly with only one window. Outside, was perplexing because they said they could accommodate over 200 guests, but we could figure out how. This was the opposite of The Manor in that it was all about the customer service. It still doesn't feel right though. Fun Fact: Barry had a 21 1/2 year old bichon frise. That's apparently the oldest one EVER!

The Skylands at Randolph - (Randolph, NJ)

Pretty imposing from the outside. Mostly underwhelming on the inside. This is your lipstick on a pig case study. Gene, resident crazy eyed guide, tried hard. He really did. Tried to cover up for the moving junior high gym-esque room dividers. Tried to sell us on a wedding in a conference room amongst silk flowers. Even tried to talk us out of wanting the Platinum package. Gene tried to stress the importance of baking 2000 rolls on premises. We even got a box of cookies for the road. You can look to the sky and see beautiful chandeliers, but when you look to the land you'll head to the door.

Meadow Wood Manor - (Randolph, NJ)

We noticed this tucked away place on our way to the Skylands, and when we came back that way, we figured we'd check it out. What a boon. We were greeted by a whirling dervish named Mary Ellen who enthusiastically (but not obnoxiously) gave us the tour and told us everything we needed to know about the place (again, in a good way, not a talking for the sake of talking way). It's a new facility and it's all about doing things how you want to do them. There isn't a customer service option they won't at least consider. Their goal was to center their operation on comfort from furnishings to food and they do achieve that. It's the decorations where it gets a tad hairy. The displays are a little kitschy (I am being generous - check out the gallery). Think, "Let's buy a bunch of crazy stuff from Home Goods and make it glitteriffic!" Still, we could get rid of all that stuff. We walked away with good feelings about this place. We'll see what happens.

The Castle at Skylands Manor - (Ringwood, NJ)

We got a call earlier in the day that another group had canceled their appointment and we could come look at the castle at 5:30. So off we were. Off the beaten path. Off the road. In the dark and through the woods. It was Ichabod Crane style and we were spooked out. When we finally got to the Castle, the proprietor (since NJ actually owns the castle) Jerry greeted us with coffee and a tour of the place. It would have been nicer to see it during the day because the grounds are a major plus apparently. Still it was amusing following a obviously excited Jerry through the seemingly endless labyrinth of rooms on the estate. (It was a bit of a bummer he didn't show us the "Safe Room" in the basement.) I'm pretty sure it would be awesome for hide and seek...hopefully someone would find you. The Castle was another very customizable option (You're renting a friggin' castle!) and Jerry was exceedingly accommodating. After the tour we talked about options, costs, food, dogs, and football. Soon it was time to go, but not before he had a plate of chocolate chip cookies that had been fresh baked earlier in the day wrapped up for us. Because the parking lot was a little bit of a hike, he also drove us to our car and lead us off the unlit grounds. I don't remember if this was a reception tour. I think I just hung out in a castle.


The Gran Centurions - (Clark, NJ)

Shame on me. Fooled by a damn website. There is a reason you don't trust tiny pictures. Now that I've seen the place (for a whole 15 minutes) I now know that the website is infinitely more impressive than the Gran. It looked like a bingo hall. I think we would insult our guests if we had a reception here. I could NEVER actually get married here. The highlight for me was seeing a guy pop a balloon stuck in a light fixture with a stick. No Friggin' Way! FYI: Later in the day I wrote my Hooters take out order on the back of their folder.

The Imperia On Easton - (Somerset, NJ)

What a shame. That sums it all up. It was a bad sign when there was no one to great us when we arrived for out appointment. It was a worse sign when I had to hunt down the lady we had to tour with because she was helping people who didn't even have an appointment. Let me start with the good. The building, which was new, was completely our style. It was the closest viscerally to what we wanted. It also had a great outside are if we wanted to have a ceremony outside. Here come the problems. We weren't sure if anyone actually worked there. It was empty. It was also insulting when the few employees that were there kept interrupting our tour because they were incompetent. When we were being shown one of the downstairs ballrooms, it was being prepared for a party that afternoon. We were appalled to see the customer re-numbering her own tables without the help of any staff. Here the lady is, dressed up for her event, doing the employees work. The nerve. How can you trust people like this with your wedding? Not only that but they were very inflexible when it came to making changes. Well, until she heard we were coming from New York City. Then she was more agreeable to customizing..."for an upcharge of course." I'm getting mad writing this. What a shame.

So that was our first Wedding Road Trip. We had our highs, lows for sure, and what we didn't gain in satisfaction we gained in car mileage. There will be more trips and we will eventually find our place and that is a day I am really looking forward to. As always, if you know any places, we are ready for suggestions. Ready ready ready ready...

Bonus!

Three Reception Hall Cliches
1)Gazebos - They're kinda silly looking. Whats the point really? If I took a picture in front of a gazebo would you be like, "Oh snap! That gazebo is killin' it!" You don't talk like that do you?
2) Ice Sculptures - A heart, a swan, a fish, it's ice, it's melting, it's a waste of money, it's totally pointless. Unless it's a luge.
3) Flow - Everywhere we go, people want to flow. Flow is the wedding buzzword. If we took a shot every time we heard the word flow, we'd be Tara Reid. It is a very big concern that your guests will just mill about uncomfortably like those little wind-up robots that go around in circles. We must flow, we must be free, you can not contain these guests!