Toasts for the Bride and Groom

I have to admit that I was pretty terrified when it came to time for the toasts from our Maid of Honor and Best Man. My sister had been joking about stories from my childhood for months leading up to the wedding... "Remember when your head got stuck between the banisters and we had to butter you out?!" Would this become a celebrity roast?

I wish I had the transcripts to the speeches because they were both suiting and emotional. Plus, it's pretty ballsy to stand up in front of a crowd with just a microphone and some champagne to sip for liquid courage.

Kyle exposed the inner workings of our late night conversations. This poor guy had to listen to hundreds of phone calls between two love birds on the opposite ends of the country.

Debbie's speech made us all a little teary-eyed at the end after she had welcomed Brandon into our female-heavy family. "Even our dog is a girl"

Shh...don't tell, but here I am faking sipping my champagne because I absolutely cannot stand the taste of alcohol. I'm not they type to believe in superstitions, anyway.

Pictures by Hannah Suh

Welcome to the Army!

One of the only things I was certain about for my dream wedding was the saber arch where I would be officially welcomed into the Army. Major thanks to Groomsman Paul for getting the sabers for us!

My bridesmaids and bridesman were first escorted by the handsome men in uniform to the song "Chariot" by Page France. The song was supposed to continue for our entrance, but there was a bit of a mixup with our wedding coordinator and the Army Strong song played instead. It was brutal, but fitting.

Swing, like a chariot
At the trumpet call
When we're all unsaved,
Swing like a wrecking ball
Like the heart of god
What a mystery
Filled with the wedding feast
For the snakes and bees
With the angel teeth, swing

Come and carry us
Come and marry us
To the blushing circus king
And dance like elephants as he comes to us
Through a fiery golden ring
With a violin and a song to sing
As he brings for us our wings
Now he's one of us
Plays the tambourine
Breaks the bread for us
And sings

Will you wait for us
Will you stay for us
Will you grace us everything
You're a wrecking ball
With a heart of gold
People wait for it, swing
Like a chariot
Swing it low for us
Come and carry us away
So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending

Fire come and carry us
Make us shine or make us rust
Tell us that you care for us
We need to hear a word for us
Let your body stand with us
Or let our rags be turned to dust
Chariot you swing for us
We think that you can carry all of us
So we will become a happy ending
So we will become a happy ending

This next part was my grandmother's favorite part of the wedding. Anytime someone asks her about our wedding she talks about "those boys with the big swords."

Kissing to pass!

Bracing myself for a swift smack on the butt...

Best man, Kyle, hit me a lot harder than he had to. (Picture by Antonio Gomez)

You can't see, but I'm giving him a dirty look here.

But I quickly got over it, and prepped myself for our first dance.

Pictures by Hannah Suh, unless otherwise noted.

The Gals (and a Dude)

I had my own support on my side. My bridal party all looked gorgeous in their red dresses and Tony in his dazzling suit and red pocket square.

Three of the girls were caught peeking in at the cupcakes being set up. Yum!

We sat down for some portraits.

The chair was dirty and Hannah didn't hesitate to lay down the jacket off of her back for us to sit on. That's someone dedicated to her work!

Here is one of the entire wedding party. The men never looked so handsome and the women so beautiful.

Photography by Hannah Suh
Girls chose their dresses from Forever 21. Debbie's was from Macy's.

The Guys

The boys all looked so handsome in their uniforms. Let's take a closer look at Kyle, Paul, Rico, Henry, and J.Lo. Pictures by Hannah Suh.

Here is a close up of Brandon's spiffy uniform with his blue cord. He had an issue with his button. The boys got right on it and tried to fix it. Notice the look of concern on Henry's face.

A bro handshake was exchanged.

But then the button fell off again so Paul took off his own button and let Brandon use it. That's brutal. What a good groomsman.

We took our portraits with the guys by the helicopter. That's brutal, too.

Don't they all look amazing?

Brandon ran off somewhere so I had a chance to be alone with the boys.

Surrounded by a bunch of Army guys. Every girl's dream.

I am so glad that all of them made it out to California for the wedding. Even snow storms and the holidays couldn't stop them from joining us.

Gifting the Wedding Party

I have mentioned gifts for our wedding party before, but I can actually share them with you now.

For the ladies (and man):

A tote bag made by my grandmother out of fabric I found at the swap meet for $3.


Personalized name tags with our love birds logo

Luggage tags from Forever 21

Chocolate brown cashmere pahminas from Ebay

Packaged nice and pretty


Red flip flops (that no one really ended up wearing)

They also got manicure sets and the bridal party survival kits that I previously blogged about. Bridesman Tony got a gift card to In N Out instead of a pashmina.

For the guys:

Cigars are a West Point tradition. I ordered engraved cigar cutters for them.

Add a cigar, some ribbon, and a personal note from the groom.

The parents received framed 5x7 pictures of us.

Thank you for being a part of our special day, everyone. We love you!

Meet the Groomsmen

Brandon met some truly amazing people at West Point, and he chose five of them to stand up there with him as we get married. Over the past four and a half years they have become my friends, too.

We consider these guys family, and I have sent them enough cookies, brownies and candy to prove it.

Since Brandon has no time nor the interest for blogging, I am going to try to do these soldiers justice with their short and sweet introductions.

(From left to right of the bottom picture)

Kyle (aka Kodo) is Brandon's very tall and considerate best man. He likes to tease us, but we know it's out of love. Kyle just proposed to his girl on Halloween, and I couldn't be more excited for the two of them.

David (aka Rico) is amazingly friendly, speaks Mandarin better than I do, and is incredibly polite. He always greets me with a great big smile and a hug.

Henry (aka Hank) has a brilliant mind and likes to break awkward silences with witty sarcasm. He also dreams of owning a Beaglier because they are like Beagles, but Beaglier.

Paul will be a newlywed by the time he attends our wedding in December. We will be spending plenty of time with him and his new wife when we both make our way to Fort Hood, Texas next year.

Jonathan (aka J.Lo) was Brandon's second roomie. He has a tough exterior, but is actually an absolute sweetheart. Brandon describes him as one of the nicest (and strongest) people he knows.

I am so thankful for these five men because they have proven to be wonderful friends to Brandon. They also tolerated all of Brandon's late night phone calls with me almost every night along with Brandon's inability to sleep at night without keeping the fan on and windows open, even during winter.

I can't wait to see them again in December.

A Pocket Guide

WeddingBee is one of the wedding blogs that I follow daily. One bride blogger, Mrs. Apple Cider, is insanely crafty, and her wedding themes and colors are remarkably similiar to mine. I had already decided on love birds, dark red and brown colors, and fonts before she started blogging so imagine my surprise when I found out that she was using the same combination of ideas.

Instead of having a Bridezilla "She-Stole-My-Ideas" moment, I happily followed her posts because she has given me some great ideas. I shamelessly copied her pocket guide for her bridal party. Here are my results:


This is the cover of the "guide," which is tied up with Martha Stewart ribbon I got for a buck at Big Lots. The guide includes important phone numbers, the wedding day schedule, and the address and map to the Nixon Library.

I will hand these out to the bridal party and family members during the rehearsal the day before the wedding.

Three Generations of Crazy

The most important women in my life are also going to be the only family members of mine who will join in on the wedding celebration in December.

When my mother confirmed this with me the other night, my heart sank. Brandon's side of the guest list is mostly composed of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. While all of my family members are invited, no one but my mother, grandmother and sister are attending the wedding.

How is someone supposed to take such news? I knew from the start of the planning process that it was going to be difficult to have everyone fly out to California. I told myself not to get my hopes up, and I didn't. But when you actually hear it, you can't help but hurt.

And then I realized that the only family members who have ever been consistent in my life are these three strong women, the ones who have molded me into who I am today.

My mother and grandmother, who are both a full head shorter than I am, are going to walk me down the aisle and give me away to my husband. And my sister will be standing right up there with me. It will be quite a sight.