Hotels FAQ

There are a wide variety of hotels in the Los Angeles area. Using a site like expedia.com or travelocity.com will offer many choices with discounts. Unfortunately, there are only a few hotels located near the wedding site in Malibu and most are very expensive. 

The Santa Monica area is a good go between area with many activities in the area(Santa Monica Pier, 3rd Street Promenade, Venice Beach), but prices out at mainly above average. The Westlake Village area is another go between and has very modest prices, but is far from activities.

The Sherman Oaks/Studio City area is very close to the Rynew household and while situated in the San Fernando Valley, is still located less than twenty minutes from many attractions (Universal Studios, Hollywood, Getty Center). Lastly, there are a choice of hotels by the airport(LAX). While it is an area where you'll be driving at least fifteen minutes to the nearest attractions, it does provide convenience to the airport and car rentals.

As of July 9th, the best deals appear to be going through Orbitz.com. As it changes, we will update this page.

Below is our list of recommendations that are in the different regions:

Sportsman's Lodge

Located a 1/2 mile away from the Rynew house. Is only ten minutes away from Universal Studios, fifteen minutes to Hollywood, and thirty minutes to Santa Monica. Hotel rates average $175, but there is a special on orbitz.com currently at $105.

Courtyard Marriott - LAX

Located with easy access to the airport. It's about 75 minutes to the wedding site and 35 minutes to the Rynew house. There aren't any immediate attractions in the area, but you are within five miles of Marina Del Rey, Venice Beach and Santa Monica. Currently rooms are going for $84.

Residence Inn - Westlake Village

Although isolated outside the Los Angeles area, it has easy access to the wedding site(30 minutes) and offers Suites for families at a reasonable price. It is also about ahalf hour away from the Rynew house and the Camarillo Outlet Mall. Currently rooms go for $114.

Malibu Accommodations(for the night of the wedding)

There is a somewhat limited supply of residences in the area and most are in the two to three star range. The nicest of the lot is Malibu Country Inn, which also happens to be the closest(6 miles) from the nature preserve. There are only about a dozen rooms left mostly at starting around $200. Another close alternative is Malibu Riviera Motel, but accommodations are most "quaint". About eleven miles away is the Malibu Motel which is also on the beach and rooms range from $119 - $219. 

Engagement photos.

Barbara and I took our engagement photos a couple of weeks ago with Jimmy over at Will Rogers Park. It was an overcast day, as we were to expect May Haze out in the Palisades, but it actually turned out to be perfect for photos.


Jimmy's wife Sen was along too and they really know how to complement each other on recognizing light, setting up shots, and just being easy to be with. These are the first shots they sent us and they look great. Once again, you can check out his site at: http://www.jimmychengphotography.com/


We chose this location not just because of our love of California History, but also my love of trail running. Will Rogers Park is the start of the Backbone Trail, which at 68 miles is the longest trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. I have run most of the trail at various stages and have even won a trail race on it. Okay, the men's 30k. The topping on the cake though is that the trail ends near our wedding site. I challenge anyone to make the entire trek on August 29th.

Our Music Arrangement.

Barbara and I went to Las Vegas to secure a musical act for our wedding. The Flight of the Conchords bill themselves as New Zealand's fourth most popular novelty band, but they are number one in our hearts.

After wait x amount of time after the show, Jemaine was gracious enough to talk to EVERYBODY who was waiting. After I introduced ourselves, I told Jemaine that we have been telling people that they would be playing at our wedding. He laughed and asked, "So then are you looking for more or less people to come to your wedding then?" Barb joked, "Less!" That is what is behind his stern look in the photo. 

Of course, if you haven't heard their music or watched their how on HBO, here's a clip that I think was written about Barbara:

In all seriousness, we started looking for DJ's a couple of months ago and contacted one that was recommended by the Nature Preserve. When I first called Mick, he was on a trip to San Francisco. Even though he was on vacation, we talked about a number of things, both wedding and non-wedding related.

We met him a couple of weeks later at a Coffee Bean and we were sold with his real pragmatic approach. Music is real important to us and we want it to be a big part of the wedding, but not the whole thing. We're very comfortable the Mick will give us the proper balance. You can check out his website at: BetterMusicServices.com 

Cake Tasting!

Barb and I went cake tasting on saturday to make the BIG DECISION!!! We went to one of our favorite desserteries(I'm taking credit for the invention of that word), Sweet Lady Jane on Melrose. I took Barbara there first for her 29th birthday and she reciprocated the next night after for my birthday buy getting me a cake from there as well.

We first looked through a handfull of designs, but wanted to stay away from something too frilly. Next we went into our cake tasting. Now, I love desserts, but there was only so much I could handle. First we tried the White Chocolate Lemon, Triple Berry Shortcake and Chocolate Mocha Praline. Each were very distinguishable, but having to pick your favorite was like picking with child you love most(if we had more than one children theoretically).

We then got a taste of the Seven Layer Chocolate and the Raspberry Lemon. Both were very savory, but still hard to make a decision. They offered us more to try, but we had enough sweets for one morning. We knew we had a few winners there, but weren't too sure which one. Barb was on call that day, so we didn't have time to make a final decision, but I suspect it's going to be a combo of two that we mentioned.

Save the Date Postcards!

Last Saturday, I picked up our save the date postcards and they look really good. I even got a comment from the printer. Below is just a small slice of the whole card, but it is a picture taken from our future wedding site with Barb's camera.


Just to throw some props out here, I got the cards printed at Prints Charm'n. They mainly print up headshots, but I thought it'd be very resourceful to get the postcards printed there.

Jimmy Cheng - Painter with Light..

Picking Jimmy was one of our easiest choices so far. When Helen and Dave first raved about the first pictures they had seen from Steve and Kathy's wedding, they were really hooked. A few months later, when we got a first look at their engagement photos we were pretty much sold. I was really impressed on how he coupled a variety of compositions with a shallow depth of field that really captured the essence of Helen and Dave.


The picture included above is from Helen and Dave's rehearsal dinner. We were already sold on Jimmy, but we were interested in seeing him shoot indoors even though our wedding is outdoors. The space seemed real miserable for a photographer. It was tight space along with low greenish light that normally makes people look pale in their photos. When he emailed us this photo, we were really floored with what he was able to do.


Lastly, this is a shot from Dave and Helen's wedding. If you scroll through his website(jimmychengphotography.com), you'll know that his work is not an aberration. This type of work is impossible to teach and we're very excited to have him being a part of our wedding.

Engagement Party

Last night, we were treated by Ana and Trevor to an engagement party at their house. Although our idea was to keep this to just the wedding party, we've been so busy the last two months that we never would have been able to pull this off. So for the Belden's to organize this all on their own, we are extremely grateful. For them to go even further and make such an exceptional meal, provide a wide variety of delicious libations and to sinfully top it off with a red velvet cake, we were faberglasted.

I'd say after the fact that it made us appreciate what a special day our actual wedding day. Also, with all that they put in, that we still have a long way to go. But we're getting there..