Boston Massachusetts, October 17th 2009
By Ryan
Exactly 4 months before the wedding our BC family threw Aubrey another surprise shower. This one without the same glamorous make-up work. Instead I was lovingly decorated with the bows from all the generous gifts. You can see the shower and my final decorated state by clicking on the image below:
We also have other news that is closer to my heart, or to be more precise, stomach. We have found a bakery that doesn’t use any nuts. Blacker’s Bakery on Commonwealth Ave. will be making our wedding cake with my allergy and flavor needs in mind. I’ve lived most of my life in fear of cross-contamination at bakeries and restaurants, now I have no need to worry about the reception. And if their cake is anything like their cupcakes then I plan on being in a happy, frosting-induced coma by the end of the night.
By Aubrey
I went home to Seattle last week for the Our Lady of Guadalupe graduation, and it seems my family and friends had other plans! They threw me a surprise bridal shower! It was so nice to see everyone - two people came all the way from Spokane (that’s a 5 hour drive for those who are not familiar with West Coast travel), many OLG staff and two of my students were there, along with close family and friends. JoBear was there too! Not only did these loverly guests shower me with gifts, but they also gave me a makeover, complete with manicure, face makeup, and hairdo. Thank you…I think. To see more of the shenanigans, click here.
We also have an important addition to the wedding party - Aubrey and Ryan handmade by Emily. I only have one eye and Ryan has three, but keep in mind that I was her teacher in second grade. These two are awesome and will be given a place of honor at the wedding! Thanks Emily!
By Aubrey
Look at these handsome guys!!!
The Groomsgorilla and Bear of Honor
Since they have been such an important part of our lives, Andre (Ryan’s gorilla) and Orson (Aubrey’s teddy bear) will be carried down the aisle by our bear bearers (in lieu of flower girls). These two dapper guys are wearing custom barongs made in the Philippines (thanks to Margie). Barongs are the traditional formal wear in the Philippines. They are made of finely woven silk from banana leaves. The groom, groomsmen, the father of the bride, and Orson’s friend, JoBear, will be wearing barongs for the wedding - also custom made in the Philippines. Ryan will be wearing a barong made of Piña fabric, which is hand-loomed from pineapple leaf fibers. Since there are very few weavers in the Philippines, Piña fabric is used for only very formal occasions. Apparently the tailor had a difficult time making Andre’s barong, as not many have necks larger than their waists. He had to stay at the tailor for many adjustments.
Let’s hope these two dudes don’t take all the attention - which definitely won’t happen given our adorable bear bearers, Sofia and Frances.
By Ryan
Some of you may know that Ryan loves collecting film cameras. This addiction is fed quite nicely by Nanger’s estate/garage/yard sale prowess. Here is a picture of the lot of them.
Ryan's many film Cameras
Not only does he have more film cameras than he possibly could use, but he also transforms the apartment bathroom into a black and white processing darkroom from time to time: rolling film onto reels in a dark bag and shaking his chemicals back and forth.
Some of these cameras are fun plastic toys that take multiple picrures on one frame, or professional level film cameras that cost an arm and a leg when they were state of the art. Now we’re putting them all to use. Not that we don’t trust our photographer, but we trust our guests to be there and click away at the right moment. So instead of going with the plastic disposable cameras everyone uses, and paying for all the processing, Ryan’s collection will be spread out on the tables and loaded with black and white film that he’ll develop and scan himself. We’ll get artistic picture goodness for a few cents worth of chemical a roll rather than sending them to a lab.
Some of the highlights for any camera junkies:
A YashicaMat 124 TLR loaded with medium format,
A Nikon N90s
A Lomo Oktomat that takes 8 shots on one frame
A Nikon N65 that Aubrey gave Ryan for Christmas
Cynthia’s Praktica Nova1B
A Yashica Electro35 rangefinder
Please take care of his cameras and have fun when you use them.
By Aubrey
One thing we haven’t told you about was actually one of the first decisions we made: the church. We debated for a while whether to have the wedding in Seattle or Boston, wanting the wedding at the Chapel of St. Ignatius at Seattle University or St. Ignatius Church at Boston College. Either way, St. Igy was going to be present.
We decided on Boston and discovered that you cannot plan a fall wedding at Boston College until the release of the football schedule…which isn’t released until April. Yeah, we know. It does make sense though in a way - you don’t want tailgaters and people with paint all over their faces walking through your wedding pictures and it would be nice if people could actually get to the church and park. Still, this is a Jesuit university. You would think one of the seven holy sacraments would take precedence.
Stumped, we went to Father Joe, who will be marrying us and with whom I have worked since I started the program at BC. He suggested a church near the campus, Our Lady Help of Christians. It’s a beautiful church, despite the lack of St. Ignatius in its name. Right away there were two signs: when we walked in we were faced by the statue of St. Jude, one of Grandma Sullivan’s favorite saints, and at the front of the church is the statue of Mary that Grandpa Leo gave grandma when they were married. Plus, they were willing to let Father Joe preside over the wedding, so there will be a Jesuit present at the very least.
These photos were taken at 4 in the afternoon on a Friday, we entered through the rectory and there was no one there. Two sweet old ladies were confused about why there was no mass going on. “Are we late?” Actually the mass was the next day, on Saturday. “Oh, I should have known. I never get this good a parking spot.”
By Ryan
So the search for a caterer is over and it is just nice to check things off of the list of things to do and decisions to make. We have gone with a caterer from Worcester County, bringing a little bit of hometown cooking to the reception in a couple of ways. For those that don’t know, Ryan grew up in Worcester, the second largest city in New England. It is just 40 minutes outside of Boston, the home of Holy Cross College and where every true train diner car was manufactured.
Pepper’s Fine Food Catering made a lechon kawali that actually had Nanger and Margie and me talking about it long after the tasting. Their interpretation of Filipino food recipes which we provided them is sublime! It was obvious that they not only enjoy catering, but enjoy the creative aspects of making incredible food.
Crispy skin, and melt in your mouth tenderness served with a sweet and sour banana ketchup and a banana and sweet-potato mash. I wanted to ask for seconds at the tasting. 
They were one of the few that took my food allergies seriously. One caterer we were almost ready to go with, kept putting peanuts, fresh-water fish, and peas onto their menu. We gave them a chance to revise it in case it was an honest mistake and they replaced it with a different freshwater fish, nut and kept the peas. Is it that difficult to not poison the groom?!?
I’m really looking forward to introducing everyone to the lumpia shanghai, the pancit bihon and the other delicious Pepper’s dishes. Anyone have any special requests?
By Ryan
Welcome all Save the Date visitors! Kamusta? Join the Discussion Board and drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you. Here’s a sneak peek at the place where we will be partying the night away. After searching for the right place, we found that the least expensive one was actually our favorite.
Welcome to the Arlington Town Hall. It is 20 minutes away from the church and has an amazing great hall. (where people vote and hold town meetings) There is a garden and fountain outside and a cool old “hearing room” and balcony upstairs where people can watch the dance floor from a safe distance.
Aubrey’s friend Anne actually found the place for us, after we all vented about how difficult it was to find an inexpensive but nice reception venue that wasn’t a sterile and impersonal wedding factory. We walked in and Patsy gave us a tour and Aubrey and I looked at each other with the “I think this is the place look.” Tell us what you think. I personally like the old Victorian guy with a top hat in the hearing room.
By Ryan
It was Aubrey’s birthday and instead of making the typical cake I decided to make things a little more personal. Grandpa Scheopner used to call them his “fat pills” and Grandma Sullivan always used to have them at her house. Maple Bars apparently can be found easily at your local Safeway, but not so easily here in the North East. I went to google and found out that in the east they are called maple “long johns.” To me “long johns” meant thermal underwear, and while enough maple bars can keep you warm on an autumn night, I was unable to even find a maple “long john” anywhere nearby. Vermont, the land of maple syrup just to the north, didn’t have any.
The only thing left to do was bake them myself. The frosting was too thin, but still tasted amazing. Happy Birthday sweetie, I hope you enjoyed your “cake.”
By Aubrey
Another option that we looked into was the Hibernian Hall, the Roxbury Center of the Arts that was established as an Irish cultural/social hall in 1913. It had several things going for it: tie to the arts and Irish roots, and the rental costs were incredibly reasonable. Roxbury leads a double life: some of the most cultured institutions are right on its border, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Wentworth Institute, and Northeastern University, but also has sections that are run down, with bars on windows, and a high crime rate. We were hoping Hibernian Hall was on the outskirts of Roxbury. Erin was in town and went on our venture to check out the place. As we drove further… and still further into Roxbury, the conversation got continually quieter… and quieter. Spotting the destination, Ryan went to turn the car around and find a parking spot. Erin and I both spoke up at the same time: finding parking was not necessary. We turned around and kept going. Thus, no pictures of this venue.
One bright spot about this venue was discovering that Haley House, a Catholic nonprofit soup kitchen that provides training to the under-employed in the food industry, housing for the homeless, and a farming co-op growing food to distribute to those in need, does drop-off catering for events. Haley House was listed on the Hibernian Hall website as a possible caterer for events. We still haven’t decided on using Haley House, but they are definetly a possibility.
By Ryan
Finding the venue for our reception was quite an adventure. The cost of a wedding anywhere in Boston is exorbitent, and October is the busiest month for weddings in New England. Everyone wants to see the fall foliage I guess. So with more than a year away we really wanted to nail down our venue. Our first stop was Springstep Dance Studio in Medford, MA. Just on the other side of Somerville, it is 20 minutes away from the church:
It is modern and interesting, has hardwood floors and is inexpensive for Boston. We had discussed it for a whle and knew that we didn’t want a hotel. or other corporate looking facility. Wherever we held the reception had to have character and lack ugly, patterned. stain-hider™ carpet or a hung acoustical tile ceiling. We also liked the idea of supporting a dance studio because my mom was a competitive ballroom dancer, and she would have really loved salsa-dancing across the floor.
The view out the windows was nothing much to talk about and this section of Medford doesn’t have the picturesque Norman Rockwell style that our out-of-town visitors would want. We wanted something where we wouldn’t have to do too much decoration, where we could bring in our own caterer to save some money and had a very New England feel.
We are getting married in the fall of 2009 and are very excited. Thank you for visiting.
