M & N {hitched on September 4th 2010}

On September 4th 2010, I married my favorite. Many, many warm thanks to Adrienne Gunde for our wedding photos. I wanted to show some of my favorite parts of the wedding (lots of favorites from the day!) that have yet to be shared. Please enjoy!

My favoritest wedding detail shot ever, the groom holding his bride’s bouquet:

His cufflinks were original SF Muni tokens. How dashing is my husband? Below, the fellas, mustaches and all:

If you hadn’t noticed, N is mustache free… that was my one Veto as i cannot take him seriously with a mustache. However, he did leave it until the morning so he could take one with the guys. Then, off it went. I love this photo with his dad in the mirror background:

Here’s a collage of my girls (and Bride’s Best Man). What a good lookin’ bridal party, yeah? i love them all. to bits. Must add that I made all the hair pieces and necklaces 🙂

Above right: flowers repotted from my mom’s garden. She also added a little special touch, a vintage wedding cake topper… can you spot it? She is a collector (borderline hoarder) of figurines and such for her garden… I loved that she secretly slipped an appropriate one in (thank goodness it wasn’t a bunny or scarecrow).

Our nieces & nephew, sweet little awkward things:

A family tradition: wedding performances by our youngest brother Richie (with guitar on the right) and cousin Long (left, cheesin with glasses). Despite the fact that they butchered my requests (33 by pumpkins and Everything by Michael Buble), they KILLED it with American Boy by Estelle & Kanye, and Make you feel my Love by Adele. During the latter performance, there was a special dance performance by Anne, Richie’s girlfriend… it was beyond heart touching and beautiful (below right).

I was SO IN LOVE with our cake from our dear friend Laurie from IBIcake. Like, I can’t imagine any other way it could have been. I gave her a million different images of inspiration and literally was like ‘Good luck with that!’ because none of my magazine tear outs were alike. Hah, she showed me! I must also mention that it was a good as it looked… Lemon cake with fresh raspberries & buttercream, and red velvet cake. Mmmm…

This Photowall was made by my brother & cousin / bridesmaid Nina the week of the wedding. It was fun to make, and we sure took lots of polaroids with it for our guest book! The chairs are reupholstered vintage chairs, a His & Hers gift from my cousin.

This is a raw moment Right after our recessional… i love the feeling. Very ‘YAY we did it!’ … or ‘Thank god it’s over, where’s the food?’ … one of those.

In contrast, the morning of our wedding day there was the Traditional Vietnamese Tea Ceremony. Below left is my Ao Dai dress.. I fell in love with the fabric the moment I saw it… the teal and metallic sequins, paired with light gold contrasting pants. Super intricate and itchy…

The fellas with their red trays filled with tea, cookies, and jewelry as gifts, lined up @ Nick’s dad’s house before the procession to my mom’s, to take me away… (and yes, there’s a roast pig under there!)

How awesome is it that my mother in law and sister in law embraced our culture and wore Ao Dai’s too?

As did my ladies:

Voila.

M & N are engaged (if you didn’t already know).

Hi all! I wanted to share with you some pics from our own Engagement party last month. It was a traditional Vietnamese Tea Ceremony… intimate in the sense that we were barely able to squeeze family and our bridal party into my mom’s house.

Dinh Hon means… Engagement Celebration. I’ve seen tissue pomanders everywhere and couldn’t wait for a chance to make some! So fun!

Tradition calls for the Groom’s side to rally up at his family home, before the procession to the Bride’s family home to ask for her hand in marriage. They’re like his entourage… support group… posse. Serious stuff. They come with the traditional red trays that hold gifts of tea, cookies, fruit.. oh, and a full on roast pig. The atmosphere at the Bride’s home is full of excitement and anxiety as they prepare the house to host the party. Talk about nerves. I had to stay in my mom’s bedroom while everyone arrived, and the families formally introduced the key players via chosen representative. I got to peek my ear out the door in the hallway though 😉

I am finally brought out after the Groom’s side announce they are here for my hand in marriage.

Our ‘first look’ as an almost engaged couple. I love these 2 shots Kim took… a great pairing.

Lots of applause. After N presents me with the ring, a very special tradition takes place… N’s mom gifts me with a pair of earrings. This is her ‘claim’ that I am now spoken for. In Viet Nam, ladies who wear studs are taken, while the younger / single ladies wear dangly earrings. Both mothers wear the earrings for me at the same time. And my mom also gifts me with a necklace… an heirloom of hers. I’m not going to lie… I sure love this tradition! By the way, the women in my family are wearing Ao Dai’s, traditional dresses (that have pants)… my mom’s is my absolute favorite. It is like a painting / watercolor… so bright and cheery, but still very elegant. It really fits her personality.

On with more traditions!

I love this pic of us below:

I was blessed to grow up in a large family… lots of laughter, fun, and ruckus. Wouldn’t trade that in for anything. And in recent years we’ve had little people show up in our family to create more laughter, fun and ruckus :D. N’s family is not so rowdy but I love them just the same.

Hope you enjoyed that little splash of color! I have to really thank my momma, who orchestrated this entire celebration… and N’s family for being so happily willing to participate in our culture. My family for alllll their help. Kim Nakashima, so so much for diving in the midst of my crazy family to take photos. Tiffany for doing my hair and make up. N for asking me to marry him. What a lucky girl I am…

Photos are by Kim Nakashima (with some from my brother RKN as well). Please let me know if you’d like to get any of their information!