Our Wedding: With This Ring...

"It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on,

the marriage that sustains your love."

(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

The morning of the wedding, Saturday, May 26, 2012, the bridesmaids and I had our hair and makeup done, and then reconvened at the hotel where I got dressed. Don, our wedding photographer, met us there to take some photos before we all headed to the church.

For ease and flexibility, I chose a wedding color palette rather than one or two defined shades. I didn't have a set color scheme, but I think "champagne and caviar" and "berries and cream" sum it up kind of nicely. The bridesmaids' dresses, flower girls' sashes, and stripes in Sam's tie were champagne; part of my jewelry, bridal bouquet, and Sam's boutonniere, my shoes, and the suits and ties were black; the bridesmaids' bouquets, ceremony flowers, and reception arrangements were in varying shades of pink and purple (which I had first written about in my "Say Yes to the Dress?" post last summer); and the stationery, flower girls' dresses, most of my bouquet and the flowers, and my wedding dress and veil were all ivory.

First, some still life shots...

I love this picture of my bridesmaids helping me with my dress and shoes. I wore shoes I already owned, and added vintage aurora borealis shoe clips so they really were my "something old" and "something (somewhat) blue"...

  

The lovely ladies...

At church, figuring out how to wear my 2-tier walking (aka fingertip) length veil...

Meanwhile, the groom and his groomsmen were putting on the finishing touches...

After our First Look...

With our fabulous bridal party...

Our wedding ceremony...

Making our way to the reception in the red Ford Edge we rented for a week...

Cocktail hour and dinner reception table settings...

Dancing and singing...

Cake cutting, bouquet toss, and dessert...

Just the 2 of us...

Yesterday, Sam finally took the USMLE Step 1, which he had been studying for over the past 7 weeks. Tomorrow, we're going to the Jersey shore with my family for the weekend, and on Monday we leave for our honeymoon! Thank you all for your love and support.

{Bridal gown: White by Vera Wang / Bridal hair flower: Yaneth & Co. via Etsy / Bridal shoe clips: LoveHonorUpcycle via Etsy / Bridal veil: White by Vera Wang / Bridesmaid dresses: Alfred Angelo / Cake/Catering: Surf Club / Floral design: Elegant Affairs / Flower girl dresses: Us Angels / Flower girl head wreaths: Sootsy's Dress-Up Friends via Etsy / Groom's cufflinks: Josh Bach / Groom's suit: Tommy Hilfiger / Groom's tie: DKNY /  Groom's and groomsmen tie clips: Kenneth Cole / Groomsmen ties: Bruno Piattelli / Hair and makeup: Shades of Beauty / Invitation suite: William Arthur Letterpress for Wedding Paper Divas / Music: Music Speaks Volumes / Photography: Don Hwang Photography / Ring bearer bow ties: Wee Little Bee via Etsy / Ring bearer suits: Nancy August / Venues: Korean Presbyterian Church of Westchester; Surf Club / Video cameras: Storymix Media}

'Twas the Night Before Wedding

"I don't care if Monday's blue

Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too

Thursday I don't care about you

It's Friday, I'm in love"

(The Cure)

Your wedding, I had been told, is always a blur, filled with activity, responsibility, photography, and if you're lucky, a quiet moment to try to remember to take it all in. Knowing that, I was glad to spend extra time with our families the evening before the wedding, eventful as that also was with our rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and Korean pehbaek ceremony. (The first 3 images below are from my camera, the rest are by Don Hwang Photography.)

Church Ceremony Rehearsal

On Friday, May 25, 2012, our parents, immediate families, bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls, and ring bearers rehearsed the ceremony proceedings, led by our pastor and officiant, Jonah So. I carried a paper bouquet made by my bridesmaid Christine as my father and I practiced walking down the aisle -- the part of the wedding that had me the most nervous! -- and Sam and I practiced getting married.

 

Rehearsal Dinner

After running through the main points of the ceremony twice, we met with our extended families and close friends for a Korean dinner at Dae Dong Manor in Flushing, Queens. The tables were decorated with pretty table linens and beautiful flowers, there was a lot of good food, and my friend Brian brought some balloons to entertain the kids with his impressive creations.

Korean Pehbaek Ceremony

We performed a Korean wedding ritual called pehbaek (commonly spelled "paebaek" or "pehbeck") in a separate room. Pehbaek is a colorful tradition that represents the joining of 2 families, and allows the bride and groom to honor their parents and elders, who can offer advice, words of wisdom, and gifts. It involves a lot of deep, respectful bowing -- we bowed to Sam's mother, elder relatives and close family, to my parents and immediate family, and to each other -- as well as the pouring of rice wine or tea; the catching of chestnuts and dates or figs, to represent the number of boys and girls they would like us to have; and a piggyback ride.

I borrowed my bridesmaid Leslie's hanbok, and wore a long topcoat with an embroidered white apron draped over my hands, red dots on my cheeks, and a ceremonial headdress. Sam also wore a borrowed hanbok -- my brother-in-law Dave's, which had my grandfather's jade buttons from when Dave married my sister -- with a topcoat, hat, and boots. Our hanboks were not visible underneath all of the other layers.

 

Why does Sam's mother look so pleased?

...Because we caught 7 chestnuts and dates she had tossed!

Why is everyone laughing?

...Because my parents tossed handfuls of chestnuts and dates but only 3 were caught. That's still plenty!

To conclude the ceremony, Sam gave me a piggyback ride around the table as a gesture of his ability to support me as my husband.

I wish I could enlarge the photos more but it seems complicated. For now, you can just click on any image to make it appear larger.