The Big Day! Be safe.

Hi Everybody. Today is the big day!

If you are not staying the night at the Hotel Icon, we want to encourage you to be safe. Plan now to take a cab home, so that you don't need to worry about drinking.

If you take a cab to the Wedding, you won't need to pay for parking and you won't need to worry about getting your car later. Please think ahead, and be safe.

You can reach Yellow Cab 24 hours a day at 713 236 1111.

BBQ Carpooling!

If you are going to the BBQ, please carpool! If you have space in your car and plan to drive there, or if you need a ride there, please let me know. I will try to put people together and get everyone a ride out there. Email me at seth(dot)capron(at)gmail(dot)com.

5 days until the wedding!

Things to do in Downtown Houston

1. At 600 Travis Street is the JP Morgan Chase Building, which has an observation lobby at the 60th floor.

2. Tunnels: Under that building, and most skyscrapers downtown, are a series of tunnels, so that people never have to be in the hot streets. They aren’t as exciting as they sound, because they’re mostly just like a giant food court in the mall. Also, like everything else in downtown Houston, they mostly shut down for the weekend. But you can get between downtown buildings that way.

3. Spec’s Downtown Liquor Store is a really great liquor store and well worth the trip. It’s a ways from the end of downtown where the wedding is, but worth the effort. A really nice gourmet grocery store is hidden away in the back corner.

4. Bayou Trails:

At the intersection of Smith and Texas Street is the Wortham Theatre Center. To your left as you face the building is a pathway down to a series of trails that run alongside the bayou and under the freeways. You can also get on them from the park at the intersection of Smith and Preston.

Food:

1. El Rey, right on main street near Hotel Icon, has delicious Cuban tacos, even if it is a little fast food style.

2. Franks, on Prairie and Travis, has decent pizza.

Otherwise, I would recommend getting out of downtown:

1. Cali Sandwich is excellent, low cost Viet Namese food, not far away at Travis and Rosalie. Try the $2 sandwiches, or $5 vermicelli noodle dishes. Both are tasty.

Drink:

Warrens and La Carafe:

Mostly downtown Houston is full of cheesy dance clubs. Two pleasant spots in the middle of all of that are Warrens, an old bar that serves stiff drinks, and La Carafe, a wine bar in one of the oldest buildings in downtown Houston. Both are located on Market Square right near the Hotel Icon and the Magnolia Ballroom.

Sneakers:

My friend Thomas runs a sneaker store in downtown at Main St. and Polk St., called the Tipping Point. Check it out if you want sneakers.

Metro Rail:

There is one rail line on Main Street in Houston, but it can take you to a number of other places from downtown. Some places that I would recommend include:

1. Herman Park, a really nice, large park near Rice University, also has a Zoo and pond in it.

2. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is accessible from the Museum District Stop. The Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston is also there, but it is currently between shows.

Less Convenient:

Use this website to get anywhere else by public transportation. It can be a little slow, but it will get you there:

http://tripplanner.ridemetro.org/hiwire

1. The Menil is a great, free museum in the neighborhood that we live, the Montrose. You can get there by taking the rail to Wheeler and then the 25 bus to Mandel.

2. The Houston Dynamo are an awesome soccer team. They’re playing a game on Sunday, so if you’re not leaving town until Monday it might be a fun activity.

There are a million other things that are farther away, but since most of you are only here for a few days and you’ve got some activities planned already, that will probably do it.

Quick! Reserve your rooms now!

This Wednesday, September 16, is last day to get our discounted rate! If you would like to stay there, please call the Hotel Icon today and reserve your room!

The hotel is located at 220 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002. Call them at 832-667-4450 and say that you are part of Maria Guzman's wedding party.

http://www.hotelicon.com/

Congratulations!!!

We have received the first RSVPs!

First place goes to Jennifer and Phong Nguyen!!! yay!!!!
Second place goes to Katy Goodman and Zach Moser!!!
Third place to the Yearwoods!!!

Thank you very much for being prompt responders!!



If everybody was as fast as you, we'd know how many people were coming to our wedding by now.

Attire

Formal Attire (dressy but not black tie) is requested. We know you'll all look good.

Gifts

For wedding gifts, the best thing that you can do is to come and help make this weekend a fun, special time. For those of you who want to give a gift, we have also included some suggestions.

• If you're an artist, we would love to have your artwork. Something that you've made with care would really mean a lot to us.

• Gift Registry: We've registered at Crate & Barrel and at Macy's. Both of these stores offer a lot of things, like matching sets of plates, that would be really nice to own. We've tried to select a wide range of things that we would love to have in our home together.

Other gifts:
There are lots of things that we'd love that don't show up on a gift registry. We have included a list of a few below that we may add to over time. If you feel like you would like to get us something that isn't listed here, go for that as well! This lists are only intended as suggestions. If you would like to claim one of the items below, however, we do ask that you create leave a comment on this blog post claiming it, so that other people know not to purchase the same thing.

Tools: These are power tools that will have a long and productive life with us:

1. Makita 7 1/4" Circular Saw
   
2. Bosch Top Handle Jigsaw
   
3. Hitachi Cordless Impact Driver.

Board Games: Two games that we love to play but don't own are Settlers of Catan and Taboo.

Other:

The chef knife to get is the MAC MTH-80 MAC Mighty Chef 8" with dimples. They don't sell it at Crate & Barrel or Macy's, but it's a much better knife at a better price than what they've got.

Also, for anyone looking to fill our house with style and classic audio sound, we've always wanted these speakers. White, Bose 901 Series II. They may be quite a project to track down, but I think that they're worth it.

Weekend Schedule

Although the Wedding and Reception are the main point of the weekend, we have also scheduled a couple of other low key events so that we can all hang out together and have a good time while you're here.

Friday, 4 PM until 9 PM
We will be having a Barbecue at Maria's Parents' house, hosted Steve and Rhoda Capron. The house is located at 3019 Silverbit Trail Ln. in Katy, TX 77450.

If you're heading out there from Downtown, take I10 and show up on time, the traffic shouldn't be too bad . . . but if you're heading west after 4 pm you could wind up in some pretty miserable traffic. Luckily, there are carpool lanes, so if you have two or more people in the car you will definitely want to take advantage of those.

So long as you don't hit bad traffic, it shouldn't take much more than 1/2 an hour.

Saturday, 6 PM - 10:30 PM
The wedding and reception will be held at the Magnolia Ballroom, at 715 Franklin St, Houston, TX 77002. The ceremony will start right at 6, so please show up a little early. A meal will be served and everyone will be expected to dance. We recommend staying downtown so that you can drink as much as you like and not worry about transporting yourself anywhere afterwards.

Sunday, 11 AM
We will serve a picnic brunch on Sunday morning at Discover Green Park, 1500 Mckinney St. Houston, TX 77010. This is about a 15 minute walk from the Hotel Icon and also has pay parking available both on the street and underground. Our hope is that this will be a nice time to relax and spend some time together before everyone goes their separate directions.

Getting Here, Getting Around and Staying Here

All right, I will try to add to this later, but here is some basic information.

• Getting Here:

There are two main airports in Houston: Bush Intercontinental and Hobby. Hobby is significantly closer to downtown, but neither one is exactly close. You can get downtown from either on public transportation. Intercontinental has a somewhat pricey but direct shuttle option from downtown, while Hobby has inexpensive but somewhat slow bus service).

From Intercontinental: ($15, 30 minute ride)
http://www.ridemetro.org/Services/airport_direct.aspx

From Hobby: ($1.25, 45 minute ride, #88 bus)
http://www.ridemetro.org/SchedulesMaps/TransitCenter/Hobby.aspx

• Getting Around:

For those of you not familiar with Houston, it isn't the easiest city to get around without a car. Still, this wedding is pretty downtown focused and you should be able to do most of what you'd need to/want to without one. The only exception is Friday evening dinner in Katy, TX, but hopefully you would be able to carpool their with other guests.

If you're coming for multiple days and want to enjoy the area, you certainly won't regret renting a car. Particularly if your time here is relatively short, you'll definitely be able to get by without one.

• Staying Here:

We recommend that you stay at the Hotel Icon. They're offering our group a very good rate, and they're literally two blocks away from the site of the wedding ceremony. This is where we are staying after the reception and will be the center of the party.

The hotel is located at 220 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002. To receive our rate, you must book your room by September 16th by calling 832-667-4450. Say that you are part of Maria Guzman's wedding party.

I had hoped to have Club Quarters as a second option, which seemed to have very reasonable rates and a convenient location. Unfortunately, they refused to let me see what their rooms looked like, so I cannot personally recommend them. Still, they have favorable reviews online and they might be worth a try. Their phone number is (713) 224-6400.

You would have to stay a fair distance from downtown to get a significantly better rate, but that could be a reasonable option if you're renting a car. The last time I looked there were some very affordable places along I45 between downtown and Hobby airport. At times other than rush hour, this is only about a 10-15 minute drive from downtown.

Parking:
The Kim Son Parking Garage, right on Market Square and within 2 blocks of both the Magnolia Ballroom and the Hotel Icon, is probably the best place to park. I am going to continue to look into other options or potentially a special rate. Guests who rent a car and stay downtown will definitely need to pay something to park at least some of the time. Anyone staying in other parts of Houston is likely to be able to park for free.

Welcome!

Hi Everybody!

We're really excited that you're here at our blog! There isn't too much to see yet, but come back soon. Before long we will post all kinds of useful information, like directions, places to stay, and anything else that you might want to know about our wedding.

Besitos,

Maria and Seth