Welcome to John and Catherine's Wedding Website. We'll be getting married in Beijing, China. on August 22nd, 2004, and we'd love for as many of our friends and family as possible to make it.
While we realize that travelling to Beijing might seem like a huge undertaking, it's probably easier than you imagine, and hopefully this website will help you understand what's involved.
Our idea is for this site to serve two purposes:
- To provide a resource for those who are considering coming to Beijing
- To provide a window on our wedding for those who are unable to make it.
Also, for those who are unable to make it to Beijing, we will be having a celebration in Durham, NC, sometime in the near future. More details will be provided on this site as they become available.
Below are links to the various sections found on this site. On the right side of this page is a log of news related to the wedding. If you have any questions/comments/suggestions, please send us an email at wedding @ riverbendfarm . org (remove the spaces), or post on the discussion board.
-A schedule of events in Beijing. In progress.
-All you need to know about getting to Beijing, from plane tickets to passports and visas.
-All you need to know about living in Beijing. Information on hotels, transportation, sightseeing, etc. We will be arranging a group rate at a hotel, and helping to organize sightseeing activities in Beijing before the wedding
-A great place to ask questions or talk to others who may or may not be coming ot Beijing.Planning Journal
September 10, 2004
More pictures
Here are more pictures, this time from the wedding photographer.
There's also a video, which turned out great, but it's an hour and a half long, so I won't be posting it.
September 01, 2004
Pictures from Dave!!
More wedding pictures, this time from our friend David Hull.
Click here to see Dave's pictures.
The pictures have "proof" over them, but you can still get the idea. From the site that Dave's using you can order anything from prints to coffee mugs to aprons with pictures on them!
Thanks, Dave!
August 25, 2004
Wedding Pictures
Here are some pictures from our wedding. It was an amazing day that Catherine and I will remember for the rest of our lives. Thanks to all of you who were there and for all of you who couldn't be there but were sending thoughts and prayers our way.
Click here for pictures of the Christian ceremony.
Click here for pictures of the Chinese banquet.
August 22, 2004
The Wedding!!
Today we're getting married!!
Click on this text to see pictures from the rehearsal dinner.Click on this text to see more pictures
June 24, 2004
Xin Da Du Hotel
Sorry I haven't had much to say here. Life's been busy. More to come soon, but for now here's the website for the hotel that we're planning to have guests stay at:
As I've mentioned before, it should be about 300RMB for a double room (for two people), which is about $36/night, or $18/person/night.
May 10, 2004
We have a place!!
So Catherine and I went to the Fragrant Hills Hotel on Saturday to check it out as a location, and knew as soon as we saw it that it was where we wanted to have our wedding.
We went back on Sunday with Jane (Ma Jing) to meet with the manager, and left having confirmed a reservation for the 22nd of August.
The hotel is actually inside the Fragrant Hills Park, and was designed by I.M. Pei. It's not kept up as well as it should be, but is still a beautiful place. We're hoping to have both the ceremony and the banquet outside in the back garden.
The hotel's website is here. There's a link to an "English" version of the website, but it leads to nowhere. There's only one picture of the hotel (a distance shot) on the website, so we've taken some pictures and posted them here.
We're so excited to have a location!! There are still a lot of details to work out, but everything's going according to schedule. Next up is confirming the hotel that guests will stay at.
Right now we have a place that, as long as we reserve five rooms or more, will give us four-star double rooms for 300RMB/night (about 36USD). We haven't gone to check it out yet, though, so we can't confirm anything. The hotel's in a great location convenient to the subway.
May 08, 2004
1/3?
Looks like we've found our location! More later... ;)May 06, 2004
Updated "In Beijing"
I updated the "In Beijing" section of the website with more information about how expensive it is to travel in Beijing, and added a section on Weather (not much there yet, but it should be expanding in the future). Catherine and I spent the day looking for apartments to rent.Labor Day Wedding Planning Extravaganza
Catherine and I had three goals heading into this May 1st Labor Day holiday, which lasts for the first seven days of May:
- Decide on a place to have the wedding
- Find an apartment to rent
- Find and apartment to buy
So far we've accomplished none of the three, but tomorrow we're checking out apartments and Saturday will take us out to the Fragrant Hills to a possible wedding location. For apartments, we're looking for a place near Beijing University, where Catherine works. The location we're checking out for the wedding is the Xiang Shan (Fragrant Hills) Hotel, apparently designed by I.M. Pei. We're looking for a place where we can have both the ceremony and the reception, thereby minimizing the amount of travel on the wedding. So far, the Xiang Shan hotel sounds promising.
We'll let you know how the visit goes!
May 01, 2004
Health, safety, immunizations, and money
I just finished updating the Getting to Beijing page with information on health, safety, immunizations and money in China.