My little brother is now married... how strange!
What a wedding! This morning, we spent it getting ready for the day ahead. Grandma insisted on "fixing" my pants, even though there wasn't anything wrong with them thanks to Mom doing it correctly last night after getting back from running errands. Sister made a bunch of sandwiches for the reception after eating some toast - I only had one slice myself. I got changed, and initially couldn't find the dragon necklace, but did after a few minutes. (wish I could say the same for my bus pass!) Thank goodness I went with Steph to pick up more food, sushi, and Vivian before going to church. Poor Viv had been up since 4 AM because she had to drive her boyfriend to the airport since he was attending another wedding in Toronto. When Grandma saw Vivian's dog, she wondered if White Girl was bringing the dog along! Then she thought that Viv's gift of a frame with the letters of LOVE on it was a box of chocolates because of the boxy purple wrapping - HAHAHAHA! Steph played the "enema" video, but Vivian couldn't hear the audio too well. Mom's lucky that Steph doesn't have mobile upload capability on her phone... "Oh... don't put it on the Facebook!" might not be so effective, haha. Yes, she calls it "the" Facebook....
Helped carry in some cookies to the kitchen, passing them off to one of my mom's helpers. The church looked pretty good, which it should for the FIRST WEDDING to take place in the building! Grace gave me a corsage while I directed Grandma to sign something. "You're writing too much!" she told me... I had only written "Congrats, Jon and Harmony!" and signed it with a green gel pen! I had to tell her that it didn't matter if she wrote in Chinese! Was directed to the chapel, where I greeted Myles when he came in - I also had an interesting conversation with the flower girl Erika. She wanted my side of the family to guess her sister's name: I had no idea people still named their kids Hazel! (she also told me about the monkey on her necklace, being in preschool and kindergarten, her age of four and a half, and tried making me guess about what she did at home in Seattle) Holly came in with the other bridesmaids and Harmony, who looked beautiful!
Steph and I started the family processional by ushering Grandma in (I was tempted to wave to Sarah, but instead acknowledged her with a smile instead), then settling down to watch Uncle Joe's slideshow, which was pretty interesting. Since she'd told Vivian to sit in the reserved seats, she was there. We bet people were wondering who that white girl sitting with the groom's family was, haha. Hey, she's another one of my mom's "adopted daughters," as my dad said later on. I'd taken a look at the marriage license and a certificate on Thursday night, and had no idea that Harmony had been born in San Francisco! They'd wanted a nice pen (preferably Steph's from Regina), but couldn't find that particular one.
The newly married groom gave almost everyone a big surprise when he and his groomsmen (Nathan, Jeremy, Eric M.) went over to the worship team's instruments and sang a song to his bride. A lot of people (including my mom) took the lyrics of "it was 29 years before I knew you" literally, so he changed the National's SLOW SHOW halfway through to reflect his true age of 24 when he met Harmony! Seems my sister and I had lectured him separately about regretting it if he never did that at the wedding, and about repeating history since our dad had sung to our mom at their wedding. Bet he was thinking, "I'm smarter than you!" It was pretty cool - Steph joked to Jeremy later that they'd all been chosen for their musical ability rather than any pretense of friendship, haha.
After the ceremony, Jon and Harmony came back in as a married couple - YAY! I knew I was representing the family, so said hi to various uncles and aunties. Chatted to Kieran (Eric's brother who came up last night), Susan's parents, Christine Magee, and others. Eric Ho came up to me and said hi - it was so good to see him! Talked about jet lag, hanging out with his grandma in the States, calling me later, and doing other stuff. I congratulated Dave and Tiffany in person on their recent engagement, and received a bunch of compliments on my hat and my dragon top. Baby Mattias seemed very entertained and interested in my flower corsage and my dragon necklace... he wanted to take it, but I held on to it while he touched this new shiny dangly thing. I didn't mind, since I knew it would happen with babies of that age. Speaking of babies of that age, I saw Cory - he was getting tired, said his mom Helen. I managed to talk to his brother Nicholas for a few minutes, though. He wanted to show "Pastor Jon" his "guitar string" (in reality a blue fabric lace), but of course my brother was busy with photos. I told Nicholas that he could show Jon the guitar string next month, maybe. Cute kids!
Went outside when I was finished with photos (we had to convince Vivian to join our family photo), and talked to people under the covered tents - met Jon's friend Drema, and reacquainted myself with Jon H., Tim Chan, Dilys, Ying, and a girl who looked like Becky. Said hi to Auntie Vivian, Jeff, Anita, baby Allison, William, Auntie May, Susan's daughter Eden, Tim / Maxine / Joshua / Keenan, Pastor Ted and his wife Auntie Grace, Auntie Catherine, Vernon, Sarah, and lots more people. Took a bunch of photos with family friends as well, heh. I couldn't hear a bunch of the thank-yous my brother gave to various people in a public speech, but I did hear him joke to someone who referred to Harmony as his wife: "My wife? Who's that? Haha." Typical Jon! Ate a little bit of food, plus some sushi from the reserved family tray in the kitchen.
Things were basically a blur until Steph decided to go to the now-clear courtyard and try going around on the wheeled dolly - that didn't go as she'd expected! Vivian took a video of that, and there was an audience comprised of Joey, Sam, Emily, Julie, and Jessica. (Jessica and others had to stay behind for Awana in an hour's time) Conscious that I was representing the family, I thanked Randal for helping to clean up afterwards! (but said nothing to Raymond) Later, Jeremy told us that the coffee had been cold instead of hot. Steph joked that the ceremony had made her teary (me too), but she was crying at the news of four pounds of the good Viva Java coffee being ruined! We told him about the meaning of "bomb" in our family, too. Steph, Vivian, and I decided to kill time before the family photos at Stanley Park by going downtown and getting coffee from Café Artigiano. (Spanish lattes ARE "au lait," haha - "olé," indeed!) Then we went to the nearby Shoppers Drug Mart and got stuff for a gag gift: citrus on-sale Listerine for Jon's bad breath, lip balm, Reactine for Jon's allergies, Febreze for Jon's generally being stinky, earplugs so Harmony can use them when Jon snores, and maybe a couple more things which cost $35 in total.
Went to Stanley Park to discover Uncle Adrian lugging a bunch of sound equipment on a dolly - Johnny came to help, and then we saw Aaron the DJ inside. Of course, the Strathcona photos were running late (as Steph discovered during a call to Nathan), so we had no choice but to wait around for the bridal party to get to the pavilion! Saw Peter's car (looking SO manly with pink flowers and wedding decorations! :P) drive up later, so greeted everyone. The official family photos were just beyond the pavilion, so it wasn't too far a walk for Vivian to get flip-flops later for dancing. I was slightly surprised to learn that Harmony's parents had gone home and come back - but then, I guess they had to if they left stuff out instead of putting it back in the fridge this morning! (the photographers and makeup people had been there at 6 AM!) As Auntie Wing Yee said, we're family now! (which was repeated to me and Steph by a couple other relatives at night when they were leaving)
Dinner was bread, goat cheese with beets (candy cane and otherwise), salmon, and some dessert. I socialized with people after I'd finished eating: Michelle told my mom that enemas before birth weren't done anymore. Talked to Cindy about Megan's bridal shower Evite (she was surprised I didn't reply earlier); also to Dianne, Brittney, Alan, Tracy, Andrea, Chuck, Stanford, Andy, Megan, Sam, Emily, Dylan, Deb, and more. Found Chinese Eric at the banquet, too. Nathan's slideshow was hilarious - I liked the placement of the BOOTY LOGO (Mom recognized it), and his choice of Monster Magnet's SPACE LORD as part of the soundtrack. He had "written" letters from Harmony to Jon and vice versa, blaming the "found excerpts" on a fake Hong Kong "cousin" named Tobias Wong. Of course, that had to be an ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT reference! Then he included the Teen Girl Squad from Homestar Runner as part of an "excerpt" where Jon "confessed" to knowing lots of other girls! HAHAHA!
The bridesmaids' PG presentation of the honeymoon package was personalized by name (Tomlin and Harmony!), and included such items as lip balm, honey, aromatherapy oils, and more. Jon and Nathan decided to put my durian wafers to use during the kissing games: for a $2 donation to the Darfur fund, you could drink a secret concoction. One person tried that, and then nobody else wanted to - they preferred the $5 and up donation! (the ingredients of that concoction: cough syrup, hot chocolate, some LA FUN DU MONDE / white wine, durian wafer, apple cider vinegar, and more!) Steph's Febreze later got into some of the beer as Harmony was trying to make that area durian stink-free!
Steph did a good job as MC despite leaving notes at home, and not really having time to prepare during the day... unless you count reading over the timeline at the coffee shop. Jon mentioned the sexual innuendo, and clarified for everyone present that there was nothing going on between him and his sister! We are an oddball family, but we're not THAT crazy! Dad had a speech where he welcomed Harmony to the family, cautioned her about Jon's tendencies to be late, and also had another pair of earplugs for her! (one of Harmony's friends later remarked to me that he had quite the sense of humor... well, maybe...) I talked to the bridesmaids Anita and Colleen, and got asked dozens of times how I was doing - I was tired, but not as exhausted as the bridal party must have been! (they must have been running on adrenaline by 8 or 9 PM...)
A few Delta people got Jon and Harmony to play "the shoe game" - that was hilarious! Jon and Harmony gave their thank-yous at the end, and referred to me as "Sarne" - I guess it's now the family nickname. He also managed to get in some digs amongst the praises for Eric's family and others - oh sure, just tell everyone who's left that I'll drink anything that's put in front of me! They acknowledged my pleasurable work with the centrepiece images, thanked Uncle Adrian / Aaron / Johnny for doing sound, and more. There was a bouquet toss, but not its equivalent. After the flower bouquet presentation to the mothers, it was time for the first dance and the parental dance to Frank Sinatra. (Vanessa and Vivian were discussing how Gabriel likes jazz, so I suggested the Jazz Festival as an idea - Viv will have to suck it up, since the only thing she dislikes more than jazz is rap!) My mom looked so awkward, but it was still cute. Steph expected people to flood the dance floor after a minute or so, but nobody did - we all waited till they were done.
I stayed on the fringes, yelling into Chinese Eric's ear - Aaron's music was loud, as it should be. The Blue Rodeo concert was probably still going on not too far away, haha. Jeremy wanted me to get on the dance floor after I witnessed a side of him I hadn't seen before - getting totally crazy in the hot room after having a few drinks! Shake, shimmy, jump! Hahaha. We touched hands for a bit, and it was really a celebration. Let's scream and yell to STAYING ALIVE and other things! A bunch of us literally kicked up our heels, haha. Shook hands with Eric when he left - it was indeed a wedding where our side of the family took precedence since it was CRAZY! Harmony referenced our dogpiling her at Christmas, haha.
Swayed with Holly and Peter to the last song (CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT?) - Nathan KNEW that Jon / Aaron had a cheesy side, hahaha. Eric drove himself, so he didn't need a ride home. (Jon had thanked Eric for driving on Friday nights so his phone time with Harmony was freed up, haha) Jeremy gave Jon some wedding night advice that his parents had imparted to him: take the first night off for tiredness reasons and other factors, since you have the rest of your lives! Jon thanked a few of us for staying until the bitter end (lots of people had left while the bridal party was toasting the tables / before the dancing), and Holly said she could use a bowl of noodles. Jon cited DRAGON BALL, but of course it was closed by then since it was past midnight! (Mr. Dragon Ball, on Jon and Harmony's impending marriage, a few days ago: "Well, it's a nice thing to do!" Jeremy and Jon found it hilarious!) Steph and Vivian went out to help load centrepieces into the car, while I stayed behind.
Jeremy said something about calories expended on the dance floor (he mentioned that he was glad I'd joined them on the dance floor - it was his "job" to invite people even if they couldn't dance), and Jon said he'd be surprised if any of us (Nathan, me, Jeremy, Eric, Vanessa, etc.) were up for church tomorrow. He thanked Vivian for staying so long even if she didn't have church tomorrow (synagogue's on Friday) - she later said that she could sleep till Monday! When I got home, I noted that Henry had called me at the usual time... I'm going to have to bug him about that during the week, maybe. I did remind him at Clinton Park last week, but he probably forgot. GOOD TIMES, and now I have a sister-in-law and her extended family!
Hilarious Mom quotes from the morning:
1. "Don't smash your makeup!" (she meant SMUDGE)
2. "Your valley [cleavage] is more permanent than your sister's!" (she meant PROMINENT)
Helped carry in some cookies to the kitchen, passing them off to one of my mom's helpers. The church looked pretty good, which it should for the FIRST WEDDING to take place in the building! Grace gave me a corsage while I directed Grandma to sign something. "You're writing too much!" she told me... I had only written "Congrats, Jon and Harmony!" and signed it with a green gel pen! I had to tell her that it didn't matter if she wrote in Chinese! Was directed to the chapel, where I greeted Myles when he came in - I also had an interesting conversation with the flower girl Erika. She wanted my side of the family to guess her sister's name: I had no idea people still named their kids Hazel! (she also told me about the monkey on her necklace, being in preschool and kindergarten, her age of four and a half, and tried making me guess about what she did at home in Seattle) Holly came in with the other bridesmaids and Harmony, who looked beautiful!
Steph and I started the family processional by ushering Grandma in (I was tempted to wave to Sarah, but instead acknowledged her with a smile instead), then settling down to watch Uncle Joe's slideshow, which was pretty interesting. Since she'd told Vivian to sit in the reserved seats, she was there. We bet people were wondering who that white girl sitting with the groom's family was, haha. Hey, she's another one of my mom's "adopted daughters," as my dad said later on. I'd taken a look at the marriage license and a certificate on Thursday night, and had no idea that Harmony had been born in San Francisco! They'd wanted a nice pen (preferably Steph's from Regina), but couldn't find that particular one.
The newly married groom gave almost everyone a big surprise when he and his groomsmen (Nathan, Jeremy, Eric M.) went over to the worship team's instruments and sang a song to his bride. A lot of people (including my mom) took the lyrics of "it was 29 years before I knew you" literally, so he changed the National's SLOW SHOW halfway through to reflect his true age of 24 when he met Harmony! Seems my sister and I had lectured him separately about regretting it if he never did that at the wedding, and about repeating history since our dad had sung to our mom at their wedding. Bet he was thinking, "I'm smarter than you!" It was pretty cool - Steph joked to Jeremy later that they'd all been chosen for their musical ability rather than any pretense of friendship, haha.
After the ceremony, Jon and Harmony came back in as a married couple - YAY! I knew I was representing the family, so said hi to various uncles and aunties. Chatted to Kieran (Eric's brother who came up last night), Susan's parents, Christine Magee, and others. Eric Ho came up to me and said hi - it was so good to see him! Talked about jet lag, hanging out with his grandma in the States, calling me later, and doing other stuff. I congratulated Dave and Tiffany in person on their recent engagement, and received a bunch of compliments on my hat and my dragon top. Baby Mattias seemed very entertained and interested in my flower corsage and my dragon necklace... he wanted to take it, but I held on to it while he touched this new shiny dangly thing. I didn't mind, since I knew it would happen with babies of that age. Speaking of babies of that age, I saw Cory - he was getting tired, said his mom Helen. I managed to talk to his brother Nicholas for a few minutes, though. He wanted to show "Pastor Jon" his "guitar string" (in reality a blue fabric lace), but of course my brother was busy with photos. I told Nicholas that he could show Jon the guitar string next month, maybe. Cute kids!
Went outside when I was finished with photos (we had to convince Vivian to join our family photo), and talked to people under the covered tents - met Jon's friend Drema, and reacquainted myself with Jon H., Tim Chan, Dilys, Ying, and a girl who looked like Becky. Said hi to Auntie Vivian, Jeff, Anita, baby Allison, William, Auntie May, Susan's daughter Eden, Tim / Maxine / Joshua / Keenan, Pastor Ted and his wife Auntie Grace, Auntie Catherine, Vernon, Sarah, and lots more people. Took a bunch of photos with family friends as well, heh. I couldn't hear a bunch of the thank-yous my brother gave to various people in a public speech, but I did hear him joke to someone who referred to Harmony as his wife: "My wife? Who's that? Haha." Typical Jon! Ate a little bit of food, plus some sushi from the reserved family tray in the kitchen.
Things were basically a blur until Steph decided to go to the now-clear courtyard and try going around on the wheeled dolly - that didn't go as she'd expected! Vivian took a video of that, and there was an audience comprised of Joey, Sam, Emily, Julie, and Jessica. (Jessica and others had to stay behind for Awana in an hour's time) Conscious that I was representing the family, I thanked Randal for helping to clean up afterwards! (but said nothing to Raymond) Later, Jeremy told us that the coffee had been cold instead of hot. Steph joked that the ceremony had made her teary (me too), but she was crying at the news of four pounds of the good Viva Java coffee being ruined! We told him about the meaning of "bomb" in our family, too. Steph, Vivian, and I decided to kill time before the family photos at Stanley Park by going downtown and getting coffee from Café Artigiano. (Spanish lattes ARE "au lait," haha - "olé," indeed!) Then we went to the nearby Shoppers Drug Mart and got stuff for a gag gift: citrus on-sale Listerine for Jon's bad breath, lip balm, Reactine for Jon's allergies, Febreze for Jon's generally being stinky, earplugs so Harmony can use them when Jon snores, and maybe a couple more things which cost $35 in total.
Went to Stanley Park to discover Uncle Adrian lugging a bunch of sound equipment on a dolly - Johnny came to help, and then we saw Aaron the DJ inside. Of course, the Strathcona photos were running late (as Steph discovered during a call to Nathan), so we had no choice but to wait around for the bridal party to get to the pavilion! Saw Peter's car (looking SO manly with pink flowers and wedding decorations! :P) drive up later, so greeted everyone. The official family photos were just beyond the pavilion, so it wasn't too far a walk for Vivian to get flip-flops later for dancing. I was slightly surprised to learn that Harmony's parents had gone home and come back - but then, I guess they had to if they left stuff out instead of putting it back in the fridge this morning! (the photographers and makeup people had been there at 6 AM!) As Auntie Wing Yee said, we're family now! (which was repeated to me and Steph by a couple other relatives at night when they were leaving)
Dinner was bread, goat cheese with beets (candy cane and otherwise), salmon, and some dessert. I socialized with people after I'd finished eating: Michelle told my mom that enemas before birth weren't done anymore. Talked to Cindy about Megan's bridal shower Evite (she was surprised I didn't reply earlier); also to Dianne, Brittney, Alan, Tracy, Andrea, Chuck, Stanford, Andy, Megan, Sam, Emily, Dylan, Deb, and more. Found Chinese Eric at the banquet, too. Nathan's slideshow was hilarious - I liked the placement of the BOOTY LOGO (Mom recognized it), and his choice of Monster Magnet's SPACE LORD as part of the soundtrack. He had "written" letters from Harmony to Jon and vice versa, blaming the "found excerpts" on a fake Hong Kong "cousin" named Tobias Wong. Of course, that had to be an ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT reference! Then he included the Teen Girl Squad from Homestar Runner as part of an "excerpt" where Jon "confessed" to knowing lots of other girls! HAHAHA!
The bridesmaids' PG presentation of the honeymoon package was personalized by name (Tomlin and Harmony!), and included such items as lip balm, honey, aromatherapy oils, and more. Jon and Nathan decided to put my durian wafers to use during the kissing games: for a $2 donation to the Darfur fund, you could drink a secret concoction. One person tried that, and then nobody else wanted to - they preferred the $5 and up donation! (the ingredients of that concoction: cough syrup, hot chocolate, some LA FUN DU MONDE / white wine, durian wafer, apple cider vinegar, and more!) Steph's Febreze later got into some of the beer as Harmony was trying to make that area durian stink-free!
Steph did a good job as MC despite leaving notes at home, and not really having time to prepare during the day... unless you count reading over the timeline at the coffee shop. Jon mentioned the sexual innuendo, and clarified for everyone present that there was nothing going on between him and his sister! We are an oddball family, but we're not THAT crazy! Dad had a speech where he welcomed Harmony to the family, cautioned her about Jon's tendencies to be late, and also had another pair of earplugs for her! (one of Harmony's friends later remarked to me that he had quite the sense of humor... well, maybe...) I talked to the bridesmaids Anita and Colleen, and got asked dozens of times how I was doing - I was tired, but not as exhausted as the bridal party must have been! (they must have been running on adrenaline by 8 or 9 PM...)
A few Delta people got Jon and Harmony to play "the shoe game" - that was hilarious! Jon and Harmony gave their thank-yous at the end, and referred to me as "Sarne" - I guess it's now the family nickname. He also managed to get in some digs amongst the praises for Eric's family and others - oh sure, just tell everyone who's left that I'll drink anything that's put in front of me! They acknowledged my pleasurable work with the centrepiece images, thanked Uncle Adrian / Aaron / Johnny for doing sound, and more. There was a bouquet toss, but not its equivalent. After the flower bouquet presentation to the mothers, it was time for the first dance and the parental dance to Frank Sinatra. (Vanessa and Vivian were discussing how Gabriel likes jazz, so I suggested the Jazz Festival as an idea - Viv will have to suck it up, since the only thing she dislikes more than jazz is rap!) My mom looked so awkward, but it was still cute. Steph expected people to flood the dance floor after a minute or so, but nobody did - we all waited till they were done.
I stayed on the fringes, yelling into Chinese Eric's ear - Aaron's music was loud, as it should be. The Blue Rodeo concert was probably still going on not too far away, haha. Jeremy wanted me to get on the dance floor after I witnessed a side of him I hadn't seen before - getting totally crazy in the hot room after having a few drinks! Shake, shimmy, jump! Hahaha. We touched hands for a bit, and it was really a celebration. Let's scream and yell to STAYING ALIVE and other things! A bunch of us literally kicked up our heels, haha. Shook hands with Eric when he left - it was indeed a wedding where our side of the family took precedence since it was CRAZY! Harmony referenced our dogpiling her at Christmas, haha.
Swayed with Holly and Peter to the last song (CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT?) - Nathan KNEW that Jon / Aaron had a cheesy side, hahaha. Eric drove himself, so he didn't need a ride home. (Jon had thanked Eric for driving on Friday nights so his phone time with Harmony was freed up, haha) Jeremy gave Jon some wedding night advice that his parents had imparted to him: take the first night off for tiredness reasons and other factors, since you have the rest of your lives! Jon thanked a few of us for staying until the bitter end (lots of people had left while the bridal party was toasting the tables / before the dancing), and Holly said she could use a bowl of noodles. Jon cited DRAGON BALL, but of course it was closed by then since it was past midnight! (Mr. Dragon Ball, on Jon and Harmony's impending marriage, a few days ago: "Well, it's a nice thing to do!" Jeremy and Jon found it hilarious!) Steph and Vivian went out to help load centrepieces into the car, while I stayed behind.
Jeremy said something about calories expended on the dance floor (he mentioned that he was glad I'd joined them on the dance floor - it was his "job" to invite people even if they couldn't dance), and Jon said he'd be surprised if any of us (Nathan, me, Jeremy, Eric, Vanessa, etc.) were up for church tomorrow. He thanked Vivian for staying so long even if she didn't have church tomorrow (synagogue's on Friday) - she later said that she could sleep till Monday! When I got home, I noted that Henry had called me at the usual time... I'm going to have to bug him about that during the week, maybe. I did remind him at Clinton Park last week, but he probably forgot. GOOD TIMES, and now I have a sister-in-law and her extended family!
Hilarious Mom quotes from the morning:
1. "Don't smash your makeup!" (she meant SMUDGE)
2. "Your valley [cleavage] is more permanent than your sister's!" (she meant PROMINENT)
Labels: brittney, christine, eric h., eric m., family, grandma, harmony, hilarity, holly, jeremy, jon, maxed-out tags limit, mom, myles, nathan, peter, photos, steph, vivian s., weddings
posted by Flami at 1:43:00 AM
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