It's finally here...the blog entry that you have all been waiting for!! Sorry it has taken us so long to write this. We did want to post it within a month of our wedding day. Enjoy!
Our wedding day was the BEST day of our lives. We were so fortunate to be surrounded by our family and friends. And we had so much fun. From the wedding ceremony to the reception, everything was just perfect! Here is a recap from both of us.
The Morning
Denise: I received my wake-up call at 5am. I quickly rolled out of bed and remember thinking "Man, I wish I had at least one more hour to sleep." But, not today. At around 5:30am, I started to wake up the other girls because I was expecting Charlene, the hairstylist to arrive a half hour later. Unfortunately, she was a bit late and I started to worry when I couldn't get a hold of her on her cell phone. Meanwhile, I had Joy, my friend and make-up artist, sleep over at the hotel the night before. She was able to start on my bridesmaids' make-up right on time. Once Charlene arrived (around 6:15am) , the morning became a bit of a blur. All of the girls took turns getting hair and make-up done while eating room service breakfast. I remember feeling a bit panicky because we were half-hour behind my schedule. But the girls' hair and make-up looked fantastic. We were just about ready to leave for the ceremony venue (around 10am) and I became a little bit more panicky when I overheard Joy talking to her husband on the phone. He was supposed to already be at the ceremony site setting up the keyboard. Instead, he was still on the highway! Anyway, I couldn't think about it at that time.
Colin: The morning was a blur for me... I woke up around my scheduled time (as it was very important that I not upset a certain someone today) , and made sure everyone was on schedule as well. Charles, one of the groomsmen, had slept over the night before and was also up bright and early as we still had to go wash his car (i.e: the bridal car). I was pretty nervous all morning and can't quite recall what I ate or much of the dialogue that morning. I do remember buttoning my vest all wrong. When Chen arrived, we all got dressed in our tuxes and after a few photos, we all hurried on our way, again as scheduled. It turns out that we didn't have to follow the schedule to a "T"; some well timed phone calls revealed that we would have to kill some time on the road to ensure that we would not arrive the same time as the bridal party and that I wouldn't see Denise until the ceremony. During the car ride up to Oakview Terrace, I had attempted to practice my vows, that I wrote myself, but I was a bit overcome with emotions so I stopped before Charles could see. I thought to myself that I could 'tough it out' at the altar.... boy, was I wrong!
Just Before The Wedding Ceremony
Denise: The girls and I arrived at Oakview Terrace just after 10am. I didn't know what was going on but I spoke briefly to Sandra, my Ceremony GM, who assured me that everything was perfectly fine. In the Bridal Room, I put on my dress and took some pre-ceremony photos with my parents and the bridesmaids. I was so excited; I couldn't wait to get married. The flower bouquets were waiting for us in the room and they were absolutely gorgeous - exactly what I had in mind.
Colin: Everything was perfect! Sandra, Steve, Valerie, Vincci, James... all the ceremony helpers did an amazing job. It was so good to see everyone there, especially, Niki, who was unsure if she could even make it because of another event. Our officiant, Frank, confirmed with me that I had my vows printed out for the big moment, and I did. For those who haven't known me for too long or haven't seen me play sports, I rarely wear my contact lenses. For my special occasion, I had them on, and as I found out later, the reason not too many people stopped to congratulate me at the entrance to the chapel was because they didn't even recognize me!! Well that's okay, I was pretty nervous that morning! Then the processional music started, and we started to line up for our grand entrance...
The Wedding Ceremony
Denise: The moment finally came. I remember leaving the main building to walk towards the outdoor chapel. It was the most perfect day to get married. The sun was shining. There was a slight breeze and I could hear my sister's beautiful music. I slowly walked towards the little bridge in the middle of the property and I could see inside the chapel. It was a full house! When the doors of the chapel first opened for my grand entrance, I was overjoyed to see all of our guests who came to witness our wedding ceremony. And then, I saw my handsome groom. For me, seeing Colin for the first time was definitely one of the highlights of the day. Contrary to the wedding rehearsal, the wedding ceremony was not a blur. I remember every moment of it. And it was perfect. It was not an overly formal ceremony but rather, it was light, romantic with lots of humour. I teared up, of course...but it seemed to hit Colin more. Everything was perfect...the readings, the music, the exchanging of our vows.
Colin: Well what can I say here... I always feel relaxed when big moments hit, and this didn't feel any different than any other pressure situation that I've been in. I managed a smile while making my way to the altar, and everything was going to plan. Frank was his usual self (I know this because of other weddings where he officiated that I have attended). I can do this! Well, the moment was upon me now, and Frank had asked me to say my vows. So out of my pocket came this piece of scrappy looking paper (about the only paper I could find for my printer the night before), and it was met with a burst of laughter. "Good", I thought to myself, thinking that I could clown my way through this. But as Frank held/hid my scrappy vows in his binder and I started to read the vows, I was completely overcome with emotions!! I tried to suck back the tears, but it seemed like I was fighting forever to regain my composure. The rest of the ceremony was pretty light-hearted and went off without a hitch.
Both: After the ceremony, we had a photo session with our guests and light refreshments were served. From our perspective, this was when things seemed a bit unorganized; guess that is the problem when you have such a large family. Also, our wedding photographer spent quite a bit of time trying to determine the best photo spot. He initially directed people back into the chapel but we did not like that at all...especially when Oakview Terrace had such beautiful gardens. Somehow, we managed to get through all of our group photos.
Wedding Photos at York University, Glendon Campus
Denise: The entire bridal party headed to Glendon Campus for our wedding photos. By this time, my feet were starting to pinch in my high heels. I think I would have had more fun if my feet weren't hurting as much. No major issues with photo-taking except that we all got bitten by a few mosquitoes. Joy and James (her husband) were great at keeping an eye on time for me. (They both understood how important it was to me that we adhered to my schedule..hee hee). We left on time and headed to DoubleTree International Plaza Hotel for the tea ceremony.
Colin: As we left Oakview Terrace, some of the bridal car decorations proved no match for 100km/h winds, and some of it blew off! Actually, it was quite funny and we had a good laugh about it; the decals on the windows were great! As we approached York University, Denise asked me to have the photo license handy... my heart dropped to the floor! I didn't have it with me! I had assumed incorrectly that in all previous conversations, she was referring to the license to Richmond Greens that we had (but were not going to use). What were we going to do when we got to the gates of the campus? How were we going to get our bridal party photos done?! I really screwed up this time!! Fortunately for me, we were met with an empty security gate and no grounds staff to check for licenses, and our bridal party photos went off without a hitch. As we were preparing to leave the Glendon Campus, a cheer squad out in the football field saw us walking and performed an impromptu cheer for us! Wish we had caught that on video!
The Tea Ceremony
Denise: The first thing I did when I arrived at DoubleTree was change into flat shoes and my Chinese red dress. The tea ceremony went very smoothly. Florence and Linda poured tea into the teacups. My sister, Valerie and Colin's sister, Julie served as our Tea Assistants and called out the names of relatives. I was impressed with our wedding photographer, who had already set-up and was ready to go when we had arrived. We finished the tea ceremony almost 20 minutes earlier than anticipated. So, Colin and I had an opportunity to mingle with relatives and take family photos before I changed back into my wedding dress.
Colin: I really appreciate Denise and her family for entertaining me with the Tea Ceremony. This wasn't a high priority for her, but I wanted this element of Chinese tradition on my wedding day. In the end, I had to broken knees from kneeling for about an hour, but it was all worth it.
Cocktail Hour
Denise: During the cocktail hour, we wanted to take photos with our guests as they arrived for dinner. (We had arranged to have a photo backdrop just for this purpose.) Things probably could have (should have?) gone more smoothly as I know we didn't get photos with all of our guests. (Sorry!) Some of my guests told me afterwards that they really enjoyed the cocktail hour because it gave them an opportunity to mingle before heading into the ballroom for dinner.
Colin: Everything was pretty amazing! The helpers really came through for us again! As Denise and I agreed, we wish that we were a little more organized with a receiving line and photos at the reception backdrop. Oh well, there's only a Take One on this set. After the fact we also realized that not all guests actually signed the guestbook. This was probably due to the large lobby that we had and that everyone was having such a good time socializing with each other. That's a good thing! If anyone wants to sign it after the fact, just let me know :)
The Wedding Reception
Denise: I had so much fun at our wedding reception! The decorations were more beautiful than I had envisioned. Our emcees, Reg and Vincci were funny and entertaining. Dinner started on-time and the food was excellent. I actually managed to eat my entire wedding dinner! The speeches were touching and heart-warming. Our DJ was awesome! What really made our reception was our kissing game. Instead of clinking glasses, we had hula hoops; Colin and I agreed to kiss as long as someone was hula-hooping. We chose this activity because we did not think many people would actually do it. Man, were we wrong! Some of the memorable hula-hoopers included little Cierra, who could hula hoop until pigs fly, Andre's little "adult-entertainment" show, and the Lee-Kwen cousins' hula hoop marathon. Throughout the evening, everyone kept asking me if my cheeks were hurting from smiling all day long. The answer was no as I was just soooo happy on my wedding day. Thanks to everyone who joined us on our special day.
Colin: As Denise said, our emcees were amazing! I got to play my two wedding games, Denise got to eat her dinner, I got to kiss my bride, my volleyball friends toasted me with some shots, and I managed to avoid my bright red Asian glow for the formal parts of the evening. I wish I had slightly more time to chat with everyone a bit more throughout the evening to catch up. I'm ecstatic that everyone stuck around to party right to the end!!! This is how we roll!! Special thanks again to Hsin-May and John for coordinating everything at the reception! Other than the 10 billion times John signed our guestbook, you guys did a stellar job!!!
The only negative thing I have to say about Charlene is that she can be late. She was late for my hair trial back in July and she was late on the morning of my wedding. On my wedding day, I had tried calling her cell phone to find out if she was on her way but couldn't get a hold of her. I later found out that she had changed her cell phone number. Not exactly the kind of thing a bride wants to worry about on the day of her wedding.
Despite her lateness, Charlene still did a good job and she is very nice. I would recommend her services to another bride as she can do wonderful bridal updos. Her prices were competitive to some hair salons in Richmond Hill that I considered. In the end, I really found it advantageous to have a hair stylist come to our hotel. The only advice I have if you're considering Charlene is to take necessary steps to ensure that she will not late.
Thanks Hello DJ for making it a night to remember!
