Ceremony Details

If I would think that you would enjoy it, I would do a single post completely dedicated to my tissue pomander balls, but I don't know how many of you would appreciate that. Instead, here is a picture-heavy post on the details of our wedding ceremony.

Here is the entire set-up for the ceremony. (Taken by Linda Ko)

I found these paper lanterns at Target, 2 for $2.50 (Taken by Linda Ko)

Remember how I saved almost $300 by making our own bouquets? Here are the final results. The girls had their initials sewed on so that they could identify their own bouquets.

My bouquet had a little silver locket engraved with the letter "M" that Brandon gave me. Inside was a picture of my grandfather. Two charms house the pictures of Brandon's grandpa and his stepfather, Albert.

We had programs and bubbles for our guests to grab, but over half of them were left untouched. At least it made a pretty picture!

Brandon helped me make these programs. Total cost was about $15. $13 for the stupid stapler that we had to buy and $2 for the paper. Pomander balls! The hours and hours spent on these beauties were absolutely worth it in the end. They really made such a difference

Thanks to Tiff S. for fluffing them the night before the wedding!

Instead of purchasing a separate arch, we took two of our centerpieces and placed them on tall brown boxes at zero cost!
Ah, so gorgeous.

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.

The First Look

Traditionally, the groom does not see the bride until she walks down the aisle. Some bad luck superstitious mumbo jumbo. But we were already married at this point, so why wait? Also, this allowed us to do all of the portraits beforehand so that we did not have to fight the sunlight.

Hannah had Brandon wait in the gardens for me while I crept around the corner.

I love how excited he looks here as I walk towards him.

At that moment all I could think about was how my hair was too curly for his liking, how I had much more makeup on than he was used to, how maybe this was not the dress he had pictured me in...

And then I thought about how handsome he looked in his uniform, even though I could only see his back.

I tapped his shoulder and we saw each other for the first time.

And then we kissed a lot.

Here I am checking out his blue cord

He backed up to get a good look of his bride

Always the sweetheart, he told me how beautiful I was.

Ha! He's caught checking me out!

As always, pictures by Hannah Suh.

What Do I Do If I Have to Pee?

The day did not start off according to plan. I was behind schedule by about 45 minutes because of last minute packing, hair and makeup touch ups, and trouble finding a parking space. Any time I hit traffic or if someone decided to walk slowly in front of me in the parking lot I became instantly annoyed and thought, "Don't you know I'm getting married today?!"

Despite this hiccup in the time line, I made it right before Brandon arrived. I ran into the bridal room and stripped down to my bra and undies right away, only to be reminded that Hannah needed a shot of my dress on its hanger. I waited not so patiently to slip into my beautiful dress, but not before sucking myself into some Spanx-like underwear. I don't know how well it held in my love handles, but it did keep me nice and warm. It also made it difficult to go the bathroom. I'm sure my bridesmaids are thankful that I was able to manage that on my own.

It took many hands to get me ready for the big day.
I hit slight panic mode when the corset would not tie, but was also relieved that the dress fit.
The gorgeous detail on the back of the dress was the main reason why I purchased it.
The last task was to put on my something borrowed: diamond earrings from my mother (which I also wore on our prom night).
Debbie did the final makeup and hair check before I went out to meet up with Brandon.
And the boys? Well, they're just sitting around upstairs waiting to get the show going.
(Picture by Antonio Gomez)

Thank you for all your help dressing me, ladies. Thanks to Tony for running back and forth between the guys and gals as my personal messenger.

Pictures by Hannah Suh unless otherwise noted.

How Sweet It Is

Brandon and I received some really great gifts from our friends and family. The following are pictures of Brandon opening his first wedding gifts when he came home before the big day. I was not considerate enough to wait for him to open the gifts that were trickling in for us so I let him have a go.

I love Crate and Barrel's fancy packaging

As a thank you for our guests, the caterers provided a candy buffet. These beautiful pictures were taken by our photographer, Hannah Suh.

We also placed little red baggies on each person's place setting. My mom purchased these adorable pouches for ten cents each in China. The Chinese symbol represents happiness. Brandon patiently helped place little Chinese candies in each bag while I worked on some other wedding project.

Each bag contained a photoshare card, candy, a free ticket to the Nixon Library, and a little note that read: "If Brandon loves history and Min loves Brandon, then Min loves history, too. If you share this love, please come back and visit the Nixon Library's beautiful gardens and amazing exhibits for free with the enclosed ticket. P.S. We love you, too."

I hope our guests will take advantage of this when the weather is a little nicer.