Look, Simba. Everything the light touches is our kingdom. - Mufasa, from "The Lion King"

Hi everybody, it's Tan here with this entry.

One of the most frequently asked questions (also known as a 'FAQ' for those cool peeps) is, "Tan, how do you stay so ridiculously good looking?"  The answer to that is that I don't know.  I was just born like this.

Another FAQ is, "So is there anything else to do in Orlando other than go to Disney theme parks, getting eaten by alligators or throwing oranges at old people?"

Stuff to do in Orlando...

Well you're in luck!  Jennie and I have been to Orlando TWICE now and have discovered that there's plenty to do other than Disney, Alligators and tossing oranges.  We're not sure why you'd want to do anything else, but we're going to humour you...

I googled, "old guy getting hit in face with orange", and this came up...

The next few posts are based on our experiences in Orlando and surrounding areas.  If you want to know the full array of stuff to do in Orlando, you can google, "Stuff to do in Orlando" or go here.

This week we're covering sporting events because I like sports.

When Jennie and I were last in Orlando in 2011, I dragged, forced, convinced, bribed Jennie to go to two sporting events with me.  The first was a hockey match in Tampa between the Tampa Bay Lightning (Jennie's team because they sold pink hoodies) and the Phoenix Coyotes.

St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa Bay.

I've always enjoyed hockey.  Maybe because it is a combination of balance, speed and skill.  Maybe because it requires a certain type of toughness (which I obviously do not possess) to play.  Or maybe it is because they're allowed to beat the SNOT out of each other and not be penalised?  Jennie says, "all of the above", and I think I agree with her.

Hockey fights - a victimless crime...

The NHL season starts in mid-September, so you should be able to catch a game after our wedding (not before!!)  Florida has two hockey teams, the Tampa Bay Lightning, based out of Tampa Bay (duh!) and the Florida Panthers, based out of Miami.

We chose to see the Lightning because the drive from Orlando to Tampa is a lot shorter than the drive to Miami.  Also, the Lightning don't suck as much as the Panthers.

Woohoo - pink hoodies!!

The drive from Orlando is about 90 minutes to Tampa compared to the 3.5 hour trek from Orlando to Miami.  This made it a no-brainer for us to decide.  3.5 hours each way plus the 3 hours for the hockey match means that your entire day is dedicated to one event.

We drove to Tampa about three hours before game time, arriving one hour before puck down, to ensure we could find the arena and get parking.  I didn't realise how beautiful Tampa is.  Had I known, I probably would have left a little earlier so we could explore the city.  The arena is a short walk from the beach - it is an amazingly beautiful beach!!

The beach at Tampa Bay - OMG awesome!!

The entertainment around the arena before the game was so much fun.  People had BBQ's, bars, dancing, music and games set up for the kids (and adults, but don't tell anyone) to enjoy.  It really was a festive atmosphere.

We got our tickets, some merchandise (just in case we were going to get shot because we were wearing the wrong gang colours) and some food (which was awesome for a sporting arena).  The thing that amazed us was that we could get mojitos for $5 each!  They weren't the best we had ever had, but for five bucks, they were amazing!  I could only have one because I was driving, but Jennie got her money's worth!!

The game itself was a non-event as the Lightning demolished the Coyotes 8 goals to 3, but it was a lot of fun.  If you get a chance, make sure you get down and catch the hockey!!

Apparently this dude is their victory cigar.  Please don't ask me to smoke him.

A few days later we went to the basketball.  The NBA season doesn't start until late October, so I doubt you'll be able to catch a basketball game, unless you plan on spending a few weeks in Orlando.  In light of this, I'm not going to write anything about it.  Here are some pictures of us enjoying ourselves at the game...

Us at the Amway Arena - the newest NBA arena and quite possibly the best.

Player introductions.  Dwight Howard was playing for them back then.  Dwight = LOL.

Tip-off.

Other sporting events include:
 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Football).  This also reminds me of a joke.  Q: What is a buccaneer?  A: The things that are on the sides of your buccan-head...  Geddit??? :D
 - Tampa Bay Rays (Baseball)
 - A few other teams in Miami (Dolphins - NFL, Marlins - MLB, Heat - NBA)
 - Jacksonville Jaguars (NFL)

Thanks to everyone for reading.  Next week: other activities for you to do while you're in Orlando!

Excuse me, I think the word you're searching for is "Space Ranger". - Buzz, from "Toy Story"

Hello again everyone!  You're reading yet another blog entry created by Jennie, and this time I'm going to talk about (and I guess in a way introduce you all to) someone that has an extremely important part to play in our wedding.  I'm talking of course about the person that will actually be marrying us!  Our wonderful, lovely and spectacularly brilliant officiant, Renee Silverman (come on down)!

Renee is the one in the middle, she performs the ceremonies rather than participates in all of them.

Before I get into details about why Renee is the perfect person to marry us, I'll take a moment to explain basically what an officiant does to those living in Australia that probably have never heard that word before (yes I've had some really weird looks from people when I tell them we already have our officiant).

An officiant more or less does the same thing a celebrant does in Australia.  Having said that, all ministers are officiants, but not all officiants are ministers (if that makes sense).  Renee doesn't do religious ceremonies as she's a Notary Public, which is perfect for us as we're not after a religious ceremony.  I'm pretty sure Renee can explain all that 100 times better than I can and probably correct me if I got any of that wrong, as we're not religious the things that ministers do confuse the crap out of both of us!

Contrary to popular belief, this guy will not be officiating our ceremony.

We found Renee through the Disney Wedding Podcast by Carrie Hayward (which has been absolutely invaluable to us by the way).  Renee explained all about the types of things she does and types of personalization she can include and just about everything she spoke about in the podcast we found we could relate to.

From the podcast we contacted Renee and set up a nice and late (I think it was about 11pm-1am ish) meet and greet over Skype which all happened a couple of months ago.  We all instantly clicked and Tan and I knew we had found the perfect person to officiate our ceremony!

For more than 35 years Renee has been officiating weddings!  So you could say she has a little bit of experience with it.  Although she isn't yet on Disney's official wedding officiant list, she does do a number of Disney weddings and vow renewals.  Hopefully she can inch her way onto that list soon, she's been apparently waiting 6 years (since 2007) to get on that list and not one place has opened up since!

Hopefully our ceremony will look half as awesome as this one, with the only difference being us standing next to Renee, not this handsome couple!

Renee offers a personalized service as well as the more traditional ceremony, so we can actually go ahead with some crazy ideas that we were just toying with and didn't think we'd actually find someone willing to do them!

Having been in the profession for so many years, you can tell how dedicated and passionate Renee is to her job by just talking to her and reading her blog entries.  She is extremely personal and has already taken the time to connect with both Tan and I on a more personal level, even sharing our distaste of the final episode of Dexter.. seriously, what were they thinking?!

Why Dexter, WHY?!?!?

We are both super excited to start working on the details of our wedding with her and including in it things that are special to us that we can share with our friends and family.  We plan to make sure that people are as excited and interested in the ceremony as they are in the reception and celebrations to follow.

This dude is clearly not attending one of Renee's ceremonies!

After all, the ceremony is really the reason we are celebrating!

Renee's website is: http://www.lovelyceremony.com/

She also has a blog located at: http://lovelyceremony.blogspot.com.au/

For those that are interested in listening to the podcast that  helped us find Renee, the link is:
http://disneyweddingpodcast.com/2013/08/07/vendor-spotlight-officiant-renee-silverman/

Thanks again for reading, and please stop by again next week!

Don't think, and don't worry. When the time comes, you'll know what to do - Mrs. Incredible, from "The Incredibles"

Hi everyone, it's Tan here.  Apologies for the lack of updates - in the last month of my degree, and it's kicking my ass.

Speaking of getting my ass kicked, I thought I'd better post about who I will be having as my groomsmen and some of the (many) reasons why I chose them to be by my side on this special day, otherwise I might get beat up.

My Best Man: Jack Le

Jack says this photo epitomises our relationship.  I tell him that he should stop wearing that sailor suit.

Someone once described to me the role of the Best Man as, "to be someone you can boss around all day and do your bidding as you see fit."  If you understand my relationship with my brother, you will see why he will make the perfect Best Man for me (based on that description).  He has many years of experience in that role, so it won't be too difficult for him...

How very 1988.  Jack still wears that outfit to bed.

Jack was purchased born seven years after I was, but he's probably more mature than I am.  Jack and I are very similar people in some regards; we share the same interests, have a similar sense of humour and harbour similar ambitions.  We are also very different people with different approaches to life.

LOL - Tracksuits...

I always did what I could to get him into trouble or to annoy him as much as possible when we were growing up together.  It always helped that I was older and stronger than him.

He's probably crying because I did something to him

Looking through these photos that I'm posting on this blog has made me realise how inseparable we were when growing up.  Almost every photo of me in these albums features Jack, and those photos of Jack without me have him crying in them.  Proof that no matter how hard I tried to get rid of him, he'd keep following me around until I would beat him up.

Oh yeah, I forgot - Jack was a chubby kid

I've got to give him credit - I made life difficult for him growing up, and we've had our differences, but there's always one constant...  He's always been there for me, and not because I forced him to!  I so proud of him and I couldn't think of a better person (other than Batman) to have as my Best Man.

I'm still taller

When I first told Jack (yeah, that's right, I didn't ask. I told him) that he would be my Best Man, his first reaction was, "Crap.  Does this mean I have to give a speech?"  I know he has nothing to worry about.  He's going to do a fantastic job.

Jack, in the words of Mrs. Incredible, "Don't think, and don't worry.  When the time comes, you'll know what to do"

See how Disney gives great advice??

So proud of him when he graduated.
Also, isn't this funny?  I'm still wearing a suit, and he's still got on an outfit that looks like a sailor suit...

My Second Best Man: Khoi Van Ho

Whenever Khoi's name comes up around my parents, their first comment is almost always, "You followed Khoi around like a little puppy dog when you were little", quickly followed by, "one time you got so mad at Khoi, you bit his belly so hard that you drew blood."

Khoi in Vietnam

Neither statement surprises me.  I hate to admit it, but as a child I was a biter.

Let's quickly move on to the statement that's relevant to this post...  I did follow Khoi around as a child, and I can understand why.  Khoi is the most genuine, kind and caring person you could ever wish to meet.  Khoi and I were separated when our respective families had to leave Vietnam after Darth Vader blew up Alderaan with the Super Laser on the Deathstar* and we thought Vietnam was next.

*That was something from Star Wars.  This is a happy blog, so if you want to know why people left Vietnam in droves, Google it :)

Fun times in DC

 It would be 26 years before we saw each other again at the wedding of one of my favourite cousins.  Even after 26 years, it didn't take too long for us to pick up where we left off!  I am constantly amazed at how similar I am to Khoi even though we grew up on opposite sides of the planet.  He's like the brother that Jack never had and always wanted.

More fun times in DC

I must admit, I was a little worried before I asked Khoi to be my second best man that he would say no.  I was even more nervous when I called him and couldn't get through to him using the phone numbers I was given.

After speaking to Khoi's lovely partner (who I had a nice chat to - I think JC is awesome), and my Uncle (who made me realise that my Vietnamese sucks) I was finally given his work number.  It wasn't as awkward as I thought it was going to be - quite the opposite.  I asked.  He agreed.  It was simple and awesome.

Khoi and I with my sister, Natalie, and my cousin, Carolyn

I feel so honoured to have two such wonderful people as my groomsmen.  I can't wait to get them together for our special day.

My Best Men!

Thanks for reading!