Registry

I was vaguely aware of how registries work, but have never actually bought something off a registry before. I remember looking at Joe Montana’s wedding registry in William Sonoma years ago, but before this whole wedding thing, that had been the extent of my “wedding registry” experience.

I’m not a big present person or into shopping (unless it is food!), but now that we are home owners, I’ll admit there is a lot of stuff we need. I also understand that many of our friends and family want to give us a gift in celebration of this fantastic event and a registry can be a useful tool for gift-givers. So now we are officially registered at Macy’s and REI.

If you are so inclined as to give us a gift (by no means required!), feel free to wander through our registries:

MACY’S: Macy's Gift Registry
You can search by either of our names in the "find" box. You can also shop off the registry in any Macy's or over the phone.

REI: REI Gift Registry

Same deal as Macy's - you can search by either of our names and shop on line, in any store or over the phone.

Or, if you aren’t a shopping type of person, but still want to give us a gift, feel free to think outside the registry! Here is a quick brainstorm of non-registry “gifts” that would delight us:

• Services: Yard work, take care of the puppy or kitty when we are on our honeymoon, make us dinner, clean our house, etc.
• Art work (your own, your friend's, something from a gallery, something from a fair.)
• Classes (cheese making, welding, pottery, astronomy, wine tasting, glass blowing, etc.)
• An experience (a weekend at the beach or take us camping somewhere really cool!)
• Vases, candle-holders, picture frames, etc. These things can be found at Macy's, but tend to be way too expensive and not very interesting.
  
• Books - or a gift certificate to Powell's!
• A membership to the Japanese Gardens, Art Museum or something really neat we don't even KNOW about.
• Gift certificates to the Bike Gallery!
• Gift certificates to Home Depot (or other such home improvement type places)!
  
• Massages
• Barbecue
  
• Food dehydrator
  
• Donation to the Oregon Humane Society in our name (if you have another foundation in mind, please check with us first!)
  
• Pay our mortgage?? Maybe just one payment? He he he...
  

The Honeymoon - Cycle Oregon!

For our honeymoon we toyed with the idea of a beach vacation in New Zealand, hiking the Fjords of Norther Europe or exploring the jungles of Costa Rica.

It just wasn't working though.

First off it was all way to expensive (we did just buy a house, have a wedding this summer and on top of it I might need some wisdom teeth yanked out.)

It also didn't quite feel like us. Even if we had the cash, a kick-ass stereo is more up our alley. Also, I always have qualms about the environmental impact of world-wide jet-setting, and while we would be bringing cash into the places we are visiting, how exactly to be a globally responsible tourist? Even "green" hotels are far from sustainable and it is hard to know how much of the money you spend in a place actually goes toward the local economy and/or benefiting the people who live there. I've definitely traveled far and wide and thoroughly enjoy it, but I'm more of a purpose-driven traveler than a vacationer.

Still, we want to go on a honeymoon. But where???

Then a brilliant notion was suggested - Cycle Oregon!

We will spend a week in September biking around Oregon - this year it is through the stunningly-gorgeous far NE corner. No TV's, no phones, no cooking, no cleaning, no dishes. They handle your meals, your snacks, your camping, your luggage, give you a ride if you get tired, your entertainment, they even a beer garden set up at every camp site. You don't have to think about a single thing other than riding to the next food stop!

AND Cycle Oregon is a non-profit with all the proceeds from the ride (and its giving fund) going to support social, health and environmental projects across the state and in the small towns we ride through.

I'm really exited. And I don't even have to plan anything for it (other than training all summer and then packing properly.) All you need to do is show up and they handle the rest!

Some quotes from other riders that jive with my thoughts on it:

Chris Milan and Lori Saylor Milan of Boring, Oregon:
"As an adult, it's one of the rare times when your only responsibility for a week is to show up and ride, show up and eat, show up and be entertained and then go to sleep. (And be kind to others!) And you're outside, all day, for a whole week. You see the sunset and the sunrise and all the stars in between. Plus we're helping out the many small towns CO raises funds for. We consider Cycle Oregon one of our favorite charities."

Dave Anderson of Glide, Oregon:
"To have a truly relaxing week of vacation. No TV, no phones, no distractions, no cooking, no dishes. It's like being a kid on summer vacation again. And you can eat pizza and drink beer every evening for 7 days and go home in better shape and 5 pounds lighter than when you left! You meet 2,000 really nice, positive people. OK, 1,990 really nice people and a few grumps."

The Ceremony Venue

We have a place for the after-party (aka "reception"), but finally, after a very extensive search, have found a venue for the wedding ceremony. All we want is something outside in nature and we aren’t even that picky about the nature of the nature. Maybe it is trees. Maybe it is flowers. Maybe it is water. We weren’t really that worried. What with living in Oregon and the entire Willamette Valley being downright gorgeous in July, one wouldn’t think it would be too hard.

But one would be wrong. We called or looked into close to 30 different venues. In general we didn’t even have to think about whether we would actually WANT to get married at that spot because it either wasn’t available (one needs to reserve a good 18 months in advance), they don’t allow weddings, or it would cost a ridiculous amount of money for something that is going to last less than 30 minutes.

The lure of Vegas and a drive-through wedding window was getting stronger, but we wracked our brains and came up with a few more potential spots. Two of them were a no-go, but the third not only allows weddings, is also available and when asked about price was downright cheap!

Even better, when we went to go look at the place, we liked it!

So, for some details...

Hoyt Arboretum is a Portland public park adjacent to the better-known Washington Park, both of which are part of a 10-mile-long, mile-plus-wide swath of parks starting west of downtown and running north. Washington Park, home to the zoo and world-famous Rose Gardens, is a popular site for weddings, but tends to be overrun with people, especially during the summer. Hoyt Arboretum, by contrast, is a 200-acre park consisting mostly of trails and, as its name might imply, more than 1,000 species of trees. It gets traffic, but more hikers than tour groups and is filled with quiet nooks and crannies. One spot in particular is known as the “Wedding Meadow.” It isn’t fancy or polished like a garden, but when we went to look at it, it just felt… good. It has a simple, natural beauty with gorgeous trees and enough space for our family and friends, but still maintaining an intimate feel.

Details regarding logistics will follow!