Wedding in California

Bill and I had a small, casual wedding on St Patrick's Day at his Aunt Patti's beach house.  The back of her house is made of glass so we had an incredible view of the ocean.  I spent the morning eating fresh fruit and cheese from a local farmer's market and watching an old movie with my sister while she curled my hair.  It was much more relaxing than I thought wedding mornings are supposed to be.

My 6'4" brother-in-law led the processional as our flower girl.  He was followed by a bridesman, 2 bridesmaids, and 2 groomsmen.  All of us wore Hawaiian shell leis.  For the music, my sister composed a mix of "Here Comes the Bride" and "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood, a song from Camelot in which Guinevere laments the fact that she is getting married because she wants men to fight over her.  It has such genius lines as, "Shall a feud not begin for me?  Shall kith not kill their kin for me?"  My sister and I couldn't wait for my Dad to hear it and shake his head at us as he walked me down the aisle.

The ceremony was short and sweet.  Aunt Patti was our officiant and at our request, she started her speech with "Mawwage is what bwings us together today" in the style of the priest from The Princess Bride.  Bill read his own vows off of his iPhone.  My Vietnamese grandma gave a touching speech and recited a poem she wrote for us.  Our wedding rings were presented on pieces of coral, and at the end of the ceremony, we combined two little bottles of sand to symbolize our unity.  All our guests signed a shell for us to take home as a keepsake.

Dinner was a buffet of kalua pork, teriyaki chicken, fruit salad, steamed vegetables, salad with ginger dressing, and sweet bread.  We also had plenty of beer, wine, and champagne.  The crowd pleaser was the 8 different flavors of cupcakes: lavender, Kahlua, chocolate amaretto, margarita, dulce de leche, chocolate raspberry, coconut, and basil.  It was far more food and alcohol than we could consume.

For our first dance, Bill and I danced to La Vie En Rose.  Later, my Dad and I waltzed to Moon River.  My sister, brother-in-law, and I had spent weeks creating a unique playlist for the reception consisting of Beatles, Queen, oldies, and jazz.  The other guests must not have loved it as much as we did, because nobody wanted to dance until halfway through the evening, when someone switched our playlist to generic dance music.  I guess not everyone likes to dance to Louis Armstrong, but we enjoyed it.  The video below was filmed by Bill's brother Kevin, who was also our wedding photographer.

Bill and I spent a total of 5 days in California.  Most of our 33 guests were busy, so it was very easy to hang out with everyone who wanted to spend more time with us.  We went wine and beer tasting, played board games, walked on the beach, went hiking, visited Hollywood, and ate lots of amazing food.