As we said in our last post, last year we were too late to have our engagement photos taken at the Arizona State Fair, so we had to wait it out a bit to be photographed a few short weeks before the wedding.

Our awesome photographers, Chris Hinkle and Anthony “French Tony” French of MiRA Weddings are super talented and deserve plenty of credit for making us both look so svelte and SO cool… I mean don’t take this the wrong way, we ARE cool, but through Chris Hinkle’s lenses we are SUPERCOOL!

We had a lot of fun that day (it shows!), and it’s cool that we have this awesome record to look back on when we’re old and gray.

Check ‘em all out for yourself on the fun with jubby flickr feed!

-Julia & Bobby

7 p.m. THURSDAY

We are reserving the upstairs drawing room of Maynards Market & Kitchen for a no-host dinner. Entreés range from $12-$30.

Map and directions

Sample Dinner Menu

Restaurant Review

Best of Tucson winner: Best Romantic Setting and Best Trainspotting

7 p.m. FRIDAY

Please join us for a no-host dinner at the Grill. This is a Zolondz/Tyning/Jimenez favorite for several reasons, the biggest being the TATER TOTS. It is diner-style food: cheap, greasy, sassy and there’s a pie case. Are you convinced yet? Entreés range from $5-$15.

Map and directions

Menu

Best of Tucson winner: Best Grill and Best Late-Night Eats

10:30 a.m. SATURDAY – THE MAIN EVENT

Seating begins for the ceremony at Club Congress located inside the Hotel Congress. Seating is limited, please arrive early. The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Following the I Dos, please be our guest for a brunch reception at Copper Hall across the lobby, inside the Hotel Congress.

Map and directions

Menu

FAQs about the event

9 p.m. SATURDAY NIGHT

Join us for an afterparty to celebrate,  dance and drink the night away. Meet at the Tap Room inside Club Congress. We will travel to assorted bars along 4th Avenue and wrap it up back at the Club Congress for the spectacular dance night, Bang! Bang!

Map and directions

Drink specials

Best of Tucson winner: Best Place to Dance and Best Nightclub

If you’re looking for something fun to do while you’re in town, here are some suggestions:

Browse the shops on 4th Ave. It is a short walk or trolley ride away from the Hotel Congress, and a short cab or car ride from other area hotels. Our favorite shops include Pop Cycle (handmade art and functional goods using recycled items) and Tucson Thrift Shop (A cool costume and vintage shop that’s Bobby’s go-to place for sunglasses)

Map and directions

List of shops

Shop for crazy novelty toys or locally-made art and jewelry. This strip mall is a favorite due to the amazing Yikes! toy store. Many an afternoon has been spent filling our baskets with novelties and fun things like a condiment gun or mustache collections. Stop by Bohemia next door for cool art, jewelry and fun things made by area residents.

Map and directions

See desert plants at the Tucson Botanical Garden. A beautiful and historical oasis in the heart of Tucson, Tucson Botanical Gardens is a place of beauty inspiration and education about the natural world. There are 16 different gardens within the grounds representing a variety of gardening traditions and botanical themes. Here you can see various kinds of desert plants including cacti and flowering shrubbery. Birds and Butterflies are in abundance amongst the foliage and there is plenty of shade. A visit here of an hour or 2 is definitely worth the time if you’re into horticulture, nature, or just looking for a pleasant place to visit.

Map and directions

Hours and admission

Visit a cheesy Old West town. Trail Dust Town features wooden boardwalks, red brick streets,  an old-fashioned town square, funny wood cutouts to take pictures with, souvenir shops, cowboy performers and Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse. You’ll get a classic western tourist experience for free admission. Want something a bit more authentic? Pony up $16.95 and check out Old Tucson Studios for rides, cowfolk and stunt shows.

Map and directions (Trail Dust Town)

Map and directions (Old Tucson Studios)

For more ideas (including Gluten-Free Pizza, where to find a good Chinese Buffet, coolest places to shop and more picks) check out Tucson Weekly’s Best of Tucson issue.

For a map of all the important locations our suggestions and other places of interest, click here. Keep this e-mail handy to use for directions, your hotels have business centers where you’ll be able to get on the internet and map out your day.

We will see you VERY SOON! Please do not hesitate to e-mail us with questions, concerns, funny jokes, etc.

– Julia & Bobby

* Tender pulled pork served with a tequila ancho barbecue glaze
* Jicama coleslaw
* Southwestern corn pudding frittata with jack cheese and green chiles
* Freshly baked biscuits with black pepper gravy
* Fresh fruit
* Aqua fresca- pitchers of piña & cantaloupe
* Iced tea
* Cupcakes!!!!!!!!!!!!

All entrees (except for the pulled pork) are vegetarian friendly.

You may notice something missing from the menu: a Champagne toast. We’ve opted out of toasts and there won’t be Champagne at the tables. And I know this is a hard thing to stick to, because it defies every etiquette book, but we are also having a cash bar.

This is a very sensitive subject for me, as I have been to so many lovely wedding receptions and there is always alcohol flowing freely (and me drinking it… freely) but we had to make a hard decision that would feel right for our budget and the scope of our event.

Before we were even engaged, Bobby and I knew we wanted to wed in Arizona, where we live, play, work and also where we met and fell in love. And we also wanted to throw it ourselves with our own money and complete control over our vision. It has been so much harder than I would have imagined to save money for the wedding while keeping afloat during a recession when daily living expenses keep rising and our paychecks have either been cut or stagnated. The sacrifices will be completely worth it, but it is still a struggle. Lastly, we made a personal decision that the only way we could be happy after the event was over was to pay for the entire wedding and honeymoon in cash. No credit cards, no loans, no IOUs—just dead presidents.

I know you are traveling to Tucson to support us in our new adventure together, and won’t be upset that you’ll need to buy your own drinks or that there won’t be a rehearsal dinner or post-wedding hosted brunch, but it doesn’t mean I don’t feel guilty about not being able to host everyone to the extent I’d like. In my dream world, I would pay for everyone’s hotel, everyone’s flights, everyone’s meals all weekend, one pony per family (you know, like a favor!) and then take everyone to Disneyland the next day.

So those are the things you won’t be seeing when you get to Tucson. What you WILL see is a ceremony and reception straight from our hands and hearts. We’ve been hand-crafting, thrift-store shopping, sale-stalking maniacs with DIY projects galore. You won’t show up to a cash bar and see that we’ve opted instead for an ice sculpture (although this Robocop one was great) or that we blew the majority of our budget to hire the Jonas Brothers as our band, even though that would be amazing… What you WILL see are lots of little personal touches for our guests that we hope  express just how honored and overjoyed we are to share the day with people who are so important in our lives. And that, I hope you’ll agree by the end of the day, is even better than a free watered-down rum and coke.

See you SOOOOON!

Julia

With a backdrop as beautiful as Sweet Republic’s ice cream shop and its earth-friendly, fun details, I didn’t focus too much energy on decor. It is such a sleek and cheerful space!

The table centerpieces were thrifted ice cream glasses with candy from Bashas. My sister Patty and I were inspired by Local First Arizona to only patronize local, independent businesses for the shower.

Sweet Republic Artisan Ice Cream was named one of bon appetit magazine’s top 10 ice cream shops in the country. It uses locally-sourced and organic ingredients to make small batches of the best ice cream you’ll EVER taste. To kick off the event, we took part in their “Ice Cream 101″ class. Chef Helen Yung entertained us with a behind-the-scenes peek into the ice cream process and shared details behind their fascinating flavors like sweet corn, salted butter caramel and bacon while co-owner Jan Wichayanuparp readied our tastings of Lychee Mint Mojito sorbet, Rasberry Pomegrante yougurt, their signature Salted Butter Caramel and Belgian Chocolate. They taught us how to analyze the texture, taste and scent of the ice cream- SO much cooler than a wine tasting!

After the tasting, we all had two-scoop sundaes with their toppings and sauces (which are all made in house!) I went traditional with a peanut butter chip and chocolate sundae with carmel and hot fudge, topped with whipped cream and a giant made-from-scratch marshmallow. Jan toasted the marshmallow on the top with a blowtorch until it was perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft inside. I snagged a bite of Patty’s sundae that had a BALSAMIC sauce on top of their cheese course duo and ahhhhhhhh! I am still dreaming about it!

Once the present-opening subsided (among the lovely, wonderful, generous gifts from friends, we got a DINOSAUR MUFFIN PAN that blew my mind!) It was my favorite part of all parties… THE FAVORS.

I provided the favors and used the opportunity to SHOP LOCAL and help keep money in Arizona and support independent businesses! I bought half gallon take-out buckets from Mary Coyle ice cream (Phoenix) and labeled them with guests’ names. They had their pick of two flavors from organic Urban Cookies (Phoenix) and two bowls brimming with candy from Smeeks (Phoenix).

They then chose from a table of retro sodas from Pop The Soda Shop (Scottsdale) which we also had available cold to sip during the party.

After guests filled their buckets, I gave them a custom lid created in my craft workshop (aka spare room). We topped the bottles with a string of business cards from all the local vendors to encourage the local movement to continue beyond the afternoon.

Shopping exclusively local was the BIGGEST challenge I’ve had to date in wedding planning. It’s so much easier to run to Michael’s or Target to pick up something quick instead of running all over the valley trying to find something from an independently-owned store. It was a rewarding experience to put my money in the hands of arizona residents instead of giant corporations! On a bittersweet note, the thank-notes were local from M&Co Papery (Mesa) which has sadly gone out of business. All the more reason to try to get friends onto the local first wavelength!

In the end, I had so much fun designing the signage and even MORE fun sharing the day with friends and ice cream! I will update with some photos of actual people soon!

The invites are out in the mail for my Arizona bridal shower! How exciting! The big event is hosted by my lovely sister Patty Jimenez and will be August 9 at Sweet Republic Ice Cream in Scottsdale!

Sweet Republic is one of our VERY FAVORITE ICE CREAM PLACES EVERRRRRR and is sooo delicious. They make everything from scratch, usually with ingredients from local growers and recently was named one of the best ice cream shops by bon appetit magazine. There will be an ice cream tasting and tour of the kitchen and THEN we get to feast on SUNDAES!!!!!!!!! OMG I simply cannot WAIT!!!

I’ll post pictures of the event. Which of the ice creams off their menu do you think I should get?

Below is the view finder text of each slide, followed by an image of the Viewmaster slide itself, and then a breakdown of everything going on in each scene. If you think they look cool here, imagine how good it looks in glorious 3D! If you’re interested in the more technical stuff, check out this page.

SLIDE 1 – Julia & Bobby together with their parents

Mecha Godzilla, Bandai; Parents’ wedding photos, personal collection circa 1975 & 1969; 1980s Unicorn, Julia’s Sister Patty’s childhood collection (now on extended loan to the Julia Zolondz collection); Car-Nivores Shark, Fisher Price; Magnetic Cat (standing in for DAGGERS!) and Mouse, Yikes Toys in Tucson; Pink Converse All Star keychain, Lizzie McGuire movie promo; 1980s Avon Ice Cream Cone Perfume, Julia’s childhood collection; FLCL Canti Robot, Bobby’s collection; Sculpey Brontosaurus with a mustache (he’s not extinct, he’s in disguise), original Bobby creation from Jimenez Family Craft Night.

See those awesome platters everything is resting on? you’ll get a closer look at those if you come to our Tucson reception!

SLIDE 2 – Invite you to their wedding

Back row: LEGO Dragon, Tucson thrift store (for FREE!); Bamboo Zoo triplets, Red Hot Robot, kidrobot and Rotofugi; Vintage Star Wars Greedo and 7 Hammerhead figures, assorted toy shows and antique stores (Hammerhead is probably Bobby’s favorite vintage Star Wars figure).

Front row: LEGO minifig Boba Fett, Stormtrooper, Sculpey Brontosaurus with a mustache (he’s the only duplicate item… the mustache makes him sneaky like that), LEGO minifig Cowboy, Indiana Jones, Batman, Power Miners monster, Red Robin Spyrius robot, Power Miner, Studios Werewolf, Vintage Brickbeard the Pirate (thanks Trinidad!), Blacktron, Clonetrooper, MOC Space Pirate, Forestman, Germany Exclusive Quik Bunny, Yeti, Spridle from Speed Racer, Cowboy Bandit, Scuba Diver, MOC Kanye West (LEGO pick-a-part at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA), MOC Bobby, Hagrid (Standing in for Sifu Martin D. Werner), MOC Julia… All from our vast LEGO collection.

This slide (#2) has something in common with the very last slide (#7)… Can you figure it out?

SLIDE 3 – on Saturday November 7, 2009 at 11am

Mini King Ken purple variant, Red Hot Robot; Hasbro 12″ Scale R2-D2, Bobby’s collection; TOMY Owl Answer Clock, eBay (replaced Bobby’s childhood one which is MIA); Porcelain Cat, thrift store; Baby, dollar store; Exclusive Swizz Beatz Peecol, kidrobot.

SLIDE 4 – at the Hotel Congress in Tucson, AZ

Max Toy Co’s Eyezon – Clear Purple Guts Edition, Red Hot Robot; Lambchop, Julia’s collection; Exclusive LEGO Opening Day Cactus Vignette, Chandler AZ LEGO store; CowCo Peecol, Red Hot Robot; Starscream Mighty Mugg, Hasbro; Panda jewelry box (Julia’s engagement ring lives in here, and was used in the proposal).

SLIDE 5 – Brunch and cupcakes to follow

Playmobil unicorn (Julia LOVES unicorns! She even played one once onstage with The Flaming Lips!), Julia’s 29th birthday; Squeaky Bear with Hat, Frances; 1980s Mr. T doll, eBay; Hamburger Hello Kitty, Learning Express; Ceramic Traveling Dog pencil sharpener, party favor from Bobby’s 5th birthday. We cheated on the cupcakes and had Albertson’s make them. The vintage Pyrex nesting mixing bowls were donated by Julia’s Grandma.

SLIDE 6 – Funwithjubby.com for more info

Back row: Boba Fett Pez dispenser, gift from Bobby’s Dad; Toy Story Bo Peep, Hunter’s 3rd birthday party 2007; Monchichi, Julia’s childhood collection; Mini Takara Henshin Cyborg – Smoke Grey, Rotofugi; Mr. Skull Pez dispenser, Bobby’s collection; RxH Mini Fortune Cat, Red Hot Robot.

Middle row: Bambi, McDonald’s Happy Meal toy; DJ Domo kun, Target; Bunny.

Bottom row: Dancing rabbit, Easter gift for Julia; Wind-up Tin Robot, Julia’s collection; LEGO Space Skulls drone; Electric typewriter, St. Luke’s Octoberfest rummage sale.

SLIDE 7 – See you in Arizona!

Cactus, next door neighbor’s yard. Bobby was in his pajamas the afternoon this was shot. Sorry, neighbors!

This slide, along with the the LEGO ceremony pictured in Slide 2, are the only ones without the little plastic cowboys and indians… Don’t worry though, we are gonna put them into good use at the reception!

THANKS FOR CHECKING US OUT!

We hope you all enjoyed seeing all the work and history that went into our invitations. They were recently featured in a post on OffbeatBride.com, one of Julia’s favorite wedding websites… We’re sure more of our wedding will end up there soon!

-Julia & Bobby

Did you know Hotel Congress appears in “Public Enemies?” Well, ok, not quite, but there’s a cool story about the movie and the hotel here.

Also, if you’re wondering which ghosts roam the halls and where to find a BULLET HOLE in room 242, check out this story.

Did you choose a haunted room in the Congress?

I recently had a Q&A session with…. myself.. to give you a special behind-the-scenes look at our invites!

Q: You look great today, have you done something with your hair?

A: Hahah! Oh, self, you’re so flattering, but let’s get down to business…

Q: How did you make the photos 3D?

A: Well… We rented this camera from Studio3D for the weekend, set up the shots from stuff around our house on the kitchen table, rounded up some posterboards for backdrops and clicked away. Here’s some shots from when we were still planning what would go into each frame.

The camera is two digital cameras together at a distance, one upside down, to simulate your eyes. We sent the images, our logo and the text to Studio3D and they hooked us up with the awesome reels.

Q: Did you plan out all your scenes or did you wing it?

A: A little of both! Bobby and I knew that 7 frames, with 3 lines of text 15 characters long wasn’t a lot of room, so we first planned out what we wanted to say and grouped it into 7 ideas we wanted to get across to our guests. We then storyboarded each idea and figured out if we need to buy any supplies. The cupcakes are from Albertson’s grocery store, I wanted something colorful without having to bake an entire batch, tint different colors of frosting, etc. The last frame with the cactus was completely unscripted. We had just spent the weekend setting up 6 elaborate displays and we were a little spent. So we walked outside to the neighbors cactus in our pjs and called it a DAY!

Q: So you bought all those toys for the photoshoot then?

A: Um.. No. we own all of them.

Q: Well surely you had to dig them out of some boxes?

A: Err… No, our house is covered in toys. Every square inch.

Q: I see

A: What’s that suppossed to mean?

Q: Gawd, chill out, Julia

A: DON’T TELL ME TO CHILL OUT, JULIA!

Q: So after you sent in the files, what happened?

A: We got a GIANT BOX OF VIEWMASTERS in the mail! Who else can really say a whole case of viewmasters just popped up at their house one day? We stuffed them into boxes with homemade buttons and magnets, plus the reply cards and sent them on their merry way! (The typewriter in the slide is the same one used to address the labels on the boxes…)

Q: What are you doing with the reply cards?

A: Right now, we’re storing them in this awesome toy reel-to-reel we scored last time we were in Indiana. The card at the top is our most recent addition. We’ve gotten some great cards, full of creativity and we hope to incorporate them into the reception.

Q: Why did two graphic designers do something totally the opposite of paper invitations?

A: We knew a lot of our invite list wouldn’t be able to make it. With the combination of a destination wedding, our family scattered across the country and the economy, we wanted to give all of our invitees something special even if they can’t be there to share the day with us.

In Part II, we’ll actually show you what’s on each slide and explain why everything is where it is and where it came from… Stay tuned!

UPDATE: For Part II, click here.

The truth is, we are pretty busy individuals, and super-lucky-ultra-busy when we are also planning our wedding. Julia has been either behind a sewing machine, or manning a glue gun, or knee deep at goodwill trying to snatch coveted fabric out the gnarled hands of old amish women, and I, ever dutiful, have been close by her side or at the most a few scant steps behind. I feel bad that I don’t find myself as busy (although I do have a list), so hopefully blogging on more of  schedule will make me feel better.

Below are some out-takes from our invitations (they’ll be covered in full detail in an upcoming post)… Most of the lucky invited have received them already, and we don’t wanna spoil them completely for those who have not.

That cat is Daggers, a foreclosure cat who found her way to our back door one afternoon… She was real skinny and pathetic, and quite frankly, we are suckers for that, so now she’s ours. As you can see, she really loves being held.

For those of you who have received your invites, please return the enclosed postcard as soon as you can. it’s already stamped, and you don’t have to be Michelangelo or any of the other ninja turtles to crank out a decent design for the front, although some of the ones we have received are SPECTACULAR. the sooner we get back your yay or nay, the sooner we can get on with the whole process, so hop to it!

-(mostly)Bobby & (in spirit)Julia