And the planning has begun!

So our date is set and our deposit to our venue has been submitted. It's official- we are getting married on June 28, 2009 at the Pacific Palms Resort!

This place is perfect and absolutely stunning. I don't think Mike and I could be any happier. We visited tons of chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley area and even collected all their banquet menus. There's one place I won't ever forget- the Elite Restaurant on Atlantic Blvd. Don't get me wrong, the owner was really friendly, but he insisted that we could fit all of our 150 guests in the small restaurant, even if it meant setting up tables in the already crowded hallway. Um, thanks, but no thanks. Sadly, none of these restaurants had what we wanted. We wanted a place that had a Western ballroom setting and yet offered a Chinese banquet menu. The only exception would have been Mission 261. That place has got the best chinese food (ok, well, dimsum) in town! Their decor is decent and food is delicious. For the whole duration of our meal, we happily chattered about the possibility of having our reception there, but the situation was out of our hands...Mission 261 will be closing for the 2009 year for remodeling. :(

The San Gabriel Hilton was able to offer the grand ballroom with a Chinese banquet reception to us. Unfortunately, their menu prices were beyond reasonable and the ceremony site on their rooftop wasn't quite what I had in mind. You see, summer wedding and a rooftop ceremony don't really go together. Our guests would either 1) sunburn, in which case, we might have to consider offering sunblock or rent umbrellas at $45 a piece, 2) sweat in their nice clothes, or 3) feel extremely uncomfortable under the sweltering hot sun. Hmm... yeah, another thanks, but no thanks. Though I must say, their ballroom reception room was beautiful, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice a not-so-mediocre ceremony site for that! And so we kept looking....

Until one day (ok, maybe the same day we visited Elite, Mission 261, and all the other big restaurants in SG valley), we visited the Pacific Palms Resort. A friend had recommended this place to me and I've come across PP several times during my internet search for wedding sites, but I had been left with the impression that PP would be very, very expensive. Nonetheless, Mike and I decided to take a look. We fell in love with the place immediately. The view of the ceremony site was breathtaking, the reception room had these hight ceilings and huge windows (we love huge windows!), and even better, they had a Chinese banquet menu option. The menu prices did originally scare us off, but fortunately, we were able to haggle with the wedding coordinator and even got some freebies! :)

I can't wait to get the ball rolling on all the other planning!!