Bliss and Dan

A quick note to let you know that we plan on arriving in Savannah the weekend prior to the wedding reception and we plan on staying in Savannah a few days after the reception -- Monday, February 19 is President's Day -- so if at all possible, we encourage you to make a vacation out of your trip to Savannah. It's a great town and we'd love to spend some time with all of you. We'll be posting about various Savannah activities as the big day gets closer. We are staying at the Marshall House the weekend of the reception, but we haven't yet figured out where we are staying the rest of the time -- we'll keep you posted.

If you'd like to organize outings during the week -- dinners, golfing, tours, etc. -- the wedding forum is a great place to do that.

See you soon!

Posted by Dan Washburn at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have snagged a great band to play our reception. With members from Savannah and Athens, they go by the name Junkyard Angel, and they specialize in Southern-fried country rock and Americana. Should be a fun time. Here is what ConnectSavannaah.com said about the band not too long ago:

Junkyard Angel, the latest project from The Marshall Brothers, Stewart (of established Americana act Stewart & Winfield) and Jim (of the defunct local cover band Backwoods), this straight-up rock and roll act’s members are based in both Savannah and Athens, and established in each town’s music scenes. The new group (which is just beginning to gig out with some regularity during a slow period in Stewart & Winfield’s touring schedule) boasts four songwriters, and plans to cut their first album in August. Additional members include guitarist Scotty Rahn from local Stones tribute band Monkey Man, and Rick Williams, drummer for the Park Bench Trio (and roots-rock semi-stars Bloodkin). At times, Junkyard Angel is joined by pedal steel man A.J. Adams. In addition to their own material, the group augments their sets with nuggets from The Flying Burrito Brothers, Johnny Cash and George Jones catalogs, as well as plenty of “old-school” Dead, and Dylan tunes.

We asked Stewart for a song list a while back, and this is what he sent us (it's not complete ... just to give you an idea):

Big Brown Eyes - Old 97's
Blistered - Johnny Cash
Comes a Time - Neil Young
Cowgirl In The Sand - Neil Young
Devil in Disguise (Christine's Tune) - Flying Burrito Bros.
Down In The Flood - Dylan
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere- Neil Young
Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
From A Buick 6 - Dylan
Give Me Back The Key To My Heart - Uncle Tupelo
Good Hearted Woman - Waylon Jennings
Hard Luck Story - Whiskeytown
I'm The Man Who Loves You - Wilco
In My Hour of Darkness - GP
Miss You - Stones
Tumbling Dice - Stones
Next Time You See Me - Grateful Dead
Return of the Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons
Sin City - Gram Parsons
Six Days on the Road
Stuck Inside of Mobile - Dylan
The Race Is On -George Jones
To Be Young (Is To Be Sad Is To Be High) - Ryan Adams
Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You - Dylan
Waitin Around To Die - Townes Van Zant
Willin' - Little Feet
Windfall - Son Volt
Wreckers Ball - Jim Marshall

You can find Junkyard Angel on MySpace here, but unfortunately there are no sound clips. However, Stewart Marshall's other band, Stewart & Winfield, does have a nice website with plenty of sound files. Check them out.

We have secured one Junkyard Angel mp3 -- a cover of Bob Dylan's "Down in the Flood." You can listen to it here:

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Posted by Dan Washburn at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You know how some wedding receptions have slide shows or movies that show images of the bride and groom from birth until death marriage set to music intended to make the audience laugh and/or cry? Well, we are not doing that. But we will have some photo albums at the party that accomplish the same goal (without the music). You can see how Bliss went from cute baby to really cute bride and I went from dimpled baby to aging hipster with a gray beard (actually, we can take that out with Photoshop). Our moms are putting the albums together, but ...

Your contributions would be greatly appreciated!

Got any old photos of us lying around (or on your hard drive)? Feel free to mail or email copies of photos you would like included in the albums to Ruth Khaw (for Bliss) or Sandy Washburn (for me) -- we'd love to see them ... we think. Thanks!

Ruth Khaw
ruth_khaw at yahoo.com
136 Altamaha School Road
Baxley, GA 31513

Sandy Washburn
bloomsburgsandy at yahoo.com
350 Market Street
Bloomsburg, PA 17815

Posted by Dan Washburn at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since some of you are starting to ask, we want to let you know that we aren't registered anywhere. And we won't be registering anywhere because any gifts that any of you are generous enough to have shipped to our tiny apartment in China will likely either have to be left in China when we leave, or will be difficult and costly to ship back to the States. Gifts that are given in the States will end up being put in storage at a parents' house, or will be difficult and costly to ship back to China. And then eventually back again to the States.

So as you can see, gifts would be difficult, and ultimately the thought and time put into purchasing a gift would in some way end up being wasted.

We are afraid that we can't subscribe to proper Emily Post wedding etiquette, and ask that you'll be understanding in our decision to adopt a tradition more in the spirit of a Chinese wedding and Chinese New Year, as the reception will actually be happening on Chinese New Years Eve. While your presence at our reception is all we ask for, if you would like to give a gift, we ask that it comes in the form of a hong bao, or red envelope. While a hong bao in Chinese tradition typically involves money, we understand that Western traditionalists would simply find this practice in bad taste. We would love to see what some of you come up with for your hong bao. Don't be afraid to be creative, many things other than money can fit in an envelope.

But really, the best gift by far would be having the opportunity to see you at the reception in February. It's coming up soon!

Posted by Bliss Khaw at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)