One Month Wedding Anniversary

I can't believe it has been a month and a day since our wedding day (May 17,2008). The last month passed by so fast. Our friends and families keep asking us how the married life is? Joe and I moved into our new home last June and had been living together since. So, our daily life has not really changed much, however, I did notice some changes though. Instead spending every night working on the wedding stuff, we now have time to enjoy each other's company. When we were planning our wedding, having a night out or going to the movie was a luxury to us, as we simply could not afford the time to do so. Now that the wedding is over, we are back to the real life, and things are finally, back to normal. What a relief! :-)

For the last few days... I was busy writing thank you cards. I have been procrastinating in writing the cards, but I guess, the one-month mark has come and gone, and it is really time to write the thank you cards. While I was working on what to say on the cards... I suddenly realized that I did not really give a stunning speech at the wedding... with a mix of too much champagne and an empty stomach, it was just hard to give a speech. That makes me wonder what my speech would have been if I did not have three glasses of champagne before the speech:

There are a few people I would like to thank... without them this wedding would not be a fairy tale.

My parents:
My dad and my mom have put in a lot of work in helping Joe and myself to plan this wedding. They live in Vancouver, though the planning was done mainly via e-mail and telephone, the geographical distance did not hinder the progress of the planning at all. My mom is a very talented, loving and caring mother in this world. She made the pew bow decorations and she did all the flower arrangements at the receptions. My mom is a Martha-Stewart in my heart. Throughout the 15-month wedding planning, she had given me a lot of advice, from finding the "killer" wedding dress, searching for the perfect reception place, looking for the wedding favors, finding lots of tulle and ribbons to wiping my tears at the church. She is a truly amazing woman whom I am proud that she is my mom.

My dad gave an awesome speech at the reception. Though it was a short speech, it was a very direct speech. He thanked one and only one person in his speech. My dad said that if it was not this person, he would not have the chance to walk me down the aisle at the church, he would not have been able to attend a magic-filled wedding reception. This person, of course, is my mom! By the time my dad finished his speech, my eyes were filled with tears (yup... there went my $100 bridal make up!) It was the world's most amazing speech!

My sister, Loretta:

She flew all the way from Hong Kong (17 hours flying time)... do I need to say more? I have always been very close to my sister. She moved to HK a few years ago to pursue her career in Banking then Global Recruiting in Banks. Though we live in different ends of the world, we have never drifted apart. The pearl necklace I wore on my wedding day, is a gift from her. It is a stunning pearl necklace! I almost fainted when I saw the price tag!

My bridesmaid, Rose:

When I was the assistant buyer in Service Deli Department at Costco Wholesale, Rose was my service deli supervisor in W.257 Sudbury. Two people who have never met, only talked on the phone a few times a month about work, suddenly became friends. We met up twice in the last 7 years but we are close friends. I went to Hamilton to visit her twice, the first time she took me to chinatown in Toronto for dim sum (an Italian taking a chinese to dim sum...), the second time, she took me to Niagara-on-the-Lake for wine tasting. Rose is a very lovable person and has a great sense of humor. I trust her and she knows all my "dark" secrets and she is able to turn a stressful situation into a hilarious one.... what is not to love her?

My in-laws:

Carl and Sandy: In a nutshell, they are amzing people! My mother in law, Sandy and I started e-mailing each other 4 months prior to the wedding. She is a very nice person and I really enjoy chatting with her via e-mail. I find that there is something special in her that she is able to send warmth and hugs through the e-mails. On the wedding day, after the ceremony, we all went to Dow's Lake for family photos. It was a cloudy day, just when I was crossing my fingers that we could get all the pictures done before the rain came, I felt the very first drop of rain on my arm. My wedding gown has a super long train and it makes walking in a pair of three inch high heels next to impossible. My mother in law silently picked up my train and place it onto the hook that was sew onto the back of the gown. Rain started to come down noticeably when we were done with the pictures, the rain, compounded with wind, simply sent shivers to my bone. My mother in law, once again, came to rescue. She had Carl, my father in law, took off his jacket and she gently put it around me, to keep me warm. Others might think that it was a small gesture, but to me, it means a lot and at that time, I knew I had become part of the Vautour's family.

A few days prior to the wedding. My in laws came to our house for BBQ. Both sets of parents had never met, so Joe and I thought it would be nice if they could meet prior to the wedding. In the chinese culture, both sets of paretns meet prior to the wedding to discuss about wedding plans, gifts etc. Due to our cultural differences, it is extremely difficult to explain to Joe about all these traditions and rituals in great details. My awesome hubby went onto the internet and started researching on some of these wedding cultures and he had asked his dad and Sandy to help. So, when they came for BBQ, they presented my mom (my dad did not arrive till the day after... so he missed a wonderful meal prepared by Rose) a huge gift basket which consists of some of the gifts listed under the chinese wedding traditions. My mom was amazed and I was simply shocked. I did not expect my in laws would go through the trouble to find all those items and then place them in a basket with tons of ribbons and stuff. The two mothers started to talk, my mom speaks little English and I acted as the translator. My mom was happy and impressed, and I was happy because my mom was happy! One thing I must mention is the letter my in laws wrote to my parents.... I read it so that I could translate for my mom... OMG! It was a very beautiful letter and I had tears in my eyes when I was reading it... Getting acceptance from my in laws was the one thing that I really worried about before the wedding, and after reading the letter... my worry was gone instantly. They had welcomed me into the Vautour's family with open arms... I simply could not ask for more!

Well... this is a much better speech than the one I gave at the wedding reception....