Welcome To Huntington

As if Daniel didn’t have enough on his plate, he also offered to host a Welcome Dinner on the night before our wedding. He recruited the help of his neighbors, Scott and Virn, and they put together a fantastic dinner. We were all full on quiche, poke, and curry pork… and that was all before dinner came out! Scott and Virn cooked up a delicious dinner and Kaitlyn (who’s ready to pop with her first born) pitched in with some cupcakes.

All of our family could not stop praising how great the dinner was and how much work was put into it. Some of you have asked for a mailing address to send them fan mail- Please do so as we cannot thank them enough!

Scott and Virnalisa Finder
310 20th. Street, Unit B
Huntington Beach, CA 92648

All of us Phoenicians weren’t used to the cool nights in California, so it was a good thing that Daniel has extra hoodies for everyone. We looked like Gracie Jujitsu club!  As the night ended, Anthony and I also exchanged our last wedding gifts for each other. I received a necklace that Anthony has a pearl and a heart charm with our wedding date engraved…it was so beautiful that I wore it on our wedding day! Anthony received matching perfume and cologne that we will only wear on our anniversary and special occasions. We ended the night in the typical Venard/Creel fashion….Anthony tucked me into bed and I fell FAST asleep before he had a chance to say goodnight.

Road Trip!

Since we both got each other 2 gifts, we exchanged one of them just before we left for California….I received a custom-made pair of Nike Free running shoes in our wedding colors with our wedding date and “Mrs. Creel” stitched on the back. Anthony received a money clip with his name engraved on the front and our wedding date on the back….no more rubber band for a wallet!

We hit the road and about half way to Laguna, we approached some strong winds and stormy clouds.  We got a little worried about the weekend weather, but luckily once we got to Laguna, it was clear skies.  First thing we did was get our marriage license.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

We had a strange weekend in Phoenix.  The weather went from the low 90's to mid 50's in a few days!  A storm had brought cold weather, rain, and the most beautiful rainbow we've ever seen!

Last Days Being Single...

Michael arranged for Anthony to have a guy's day with all of his closest friends, so a couple of weeks ago the boys enjoyed a Spring Training game at the new Diamondbacks Stadium and and night on the town.

Candis and Gina arranged for Jessica to have a relaxing girls day by the pool at The Westin and then dinner at RA.

Thanks so much to everyone that attended and helped plan our special days!

 

New Years in Cali

We had decided a few months ago that New Years would be the best time to go back to CA for finalize some of the wedding plans and it would be a great way to bring in 2011 with Daniel.  We toasted the New year with Daniel's roommate, Billy, and a friend, Eric, at Fred's right on Main street.  The least I can say is that is was an eventful night, but we had a lot of fun!

The following day, we decided to drive over to Laguna and check out our ceremony site.  We had only seen online pictures of the location and we when we pulled up we could not have been happier with what we saw- it was beautiful!  We can't wait for everyone else to see it.

The Plans

We knew from the beginning that we wanted to have a very small, simple ceremony with our immediate family.  We couldn't think of any better place than the beach to exchange our vows.  We got a recommendation to have our ceremony at Cresent Bay Park in Laguna Beach and after seeing photos, we were sold!  We are very excited to share this day with our loved ones and to top it all off, Daniel has offered to become an ordained minister so he can perform the ceremony...we are thrilled!

Since we are going to a small group and because we aren't interested in the traditional reception, we decided to plan a dinner with our family after the ceremony.  During our first trip together, we went to Huntington Beach to visit Daniel and stayed at an awesome hotel just across the street from the beach- The Shorebreak Hotel (The Shorebreak Hotel).  The hotel has a beachy-modern feel to it and is quaint, so we thought this would be the perfect location for the rest of the evening.

Please continue to check back on our blog for more details to come.  We love you all!

Perfect Circle concert with Mykol &Candis.