Married

I'm officially married!

Wow, what a ride.

Phew!

Again, what a ride  :)

It was almost a year ago when I proposed and I can't believe how much has happened!

It's been a tremendous experience, one that's too big for words.  So many ups and downs and things that go sideways!?  Its something I wouldn't do again that's for sure!  But if I had a chance to change anything,


I would keep everything the same.

Engagement
A while back, I was driving home after I saw Anh and I was listening to one of my old CD's.

Ronan Keating's Bring you Home album.  Track 2 - "This I promise You" played.

I've heard the song many times before, but this time, it sounded like the song was for Anh.
That's when I realised she was the one for me, the one I'll be dancing the song with.

I know thats corny and all, but its true.  :)












A few months later I bought the engagement ring :)

Preparation
I think preparing for a wedding is the ultimate test for couples.

Its the biggest day of your life as a couple and everyone's got a different idea of how the day should pan out.

Then you're told that you should do this and that and you've got time, finance, and every man and his dog bearing down on you.  Its a mammoth of a task!

You try your best to satisfy everyone but you risk losing what you set out to do in the first place, having  you're own wedding!

But somehow, we managed. :)

Anh and I put a lot of hard work to our wedding and when we hear how much our guests enjoyed our day, little bubbles of happiness burst inside us.

Tea Ceremony

Our big day started with the tea ceremony at the bride's house.

Its Vietnamese tradition for families to offer gifts to each other.

My family brought gifts of fruits, alcohol, sweets and a roast pig for the bride's family.

The bridal couple then offered prayers to ancestors and tea to family for their blessings.

When I think about it, a few trays of food, alcohol and a roast pig got me the hand of a lovely girl :P

Bargain!


Church Ceremony

Our wedding ceremony was in St Michael the Archangel, a beautiful chapel in Leederville.  The church was really beautiful that day with the sun rays passing through the yellow glass windows giving us a golden tinge inside.

And our priest, Father Hong was the best!

He's been coaching us for a few weeks already in preparation for the wedding but his service was most entertaining.  He got his beautiful wedding message of communication and forgiveness with magic tricks and great humor.

I cried laughing when his wallet caught on fire!

Reception
After an afternoon of taking photos - we had our wedding reception in the Perth Exhibition and Convention Centre.

The room looked fantastic and Anh did a great job making up our centrepieces. We all enjoyed a generous banquet with the beautiful views of Perth city.

There's the beautiful cake my sister decorated.

And I really enjoyed the speeches.

There was crying everywhere!  The maid of honour had my bride bawling her eyes out halfway through her speech.  My brothers had me bawling my eyes out of laughter in their speech.  And I think we had a few tables bawling their eyes after our speech too!

We finished off the formalities with our bridal dance.

I'm not really sure how we did. In my head, I imagined we'd be waltzing like the pros, gliding across the foggy dance floor with spotlights following us.  Instead, I felt super clumsy, tripping a few times on Anh's dress.  I guess its karma for all the times I laughed at groom's tripping on their bridal dance.  :)

It was nicer than what I imagined because this time Anh was laughing with me.

All the small things that were not expected made for one memorable day.

After the reception we crashed into our hotel room and literally melted into our bed.  We were just so tired and the beds were super duper soft. Months of work, preparation and stress faded away.

It was the best feeling.