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

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