I read that there are 4 times as may people who got married on 8/8/08 – well, 8/8 happened to be our anniverary! (off track – did you read about that baby who was born on 8/8/08 at 8:08, weighing 8 lb 8oz, and her initials are HH – and H is the 8th alphabet?)
Since I am Chinese, people thought we picked 8/8 because 8 is a lucky number in Chinese – in Cantonese, 8 = rich/wealth. But hope, it was just a coincidence – (a) we had to marry within 90 days after I landed in the US from Australia per INS requirement (or whatever INS is called now), (b) the venue was that day, and (c) family was available that day (though our wedding was very small – 22 people!).
Is marriage easy? I don’t think there is an easy answer about that – I think when 2 people living under one roof, there is always going to be moments of disagreements which is normal since we don’t always have the same view on every single thing. The important part is how you deal with the differences – do you compromise? Do you try to see it from another point of view? Do you always (not) get your way? Do you respect the differences? Do you learn from each other? I don’t claim to be an expert on marriage but we have agree not to go to bed mad at each other. Okay, I suggested that, since I couldn’t sleep otherwise :p
We have all heard about “walk in other peopl’s shoes” – my own little verion for couples would be “sleep in the other side of the bed”. Why? We have an Ikea platform bed with slates. One slate on Justin’s side broke, and he complained about it that it hurt his back. I told him to stop complaining about it – I mean, really, only one of the many slates broke right? It should still be supportive enough? He wouldn’t stop whinging (=US whining) about it so I got fed up and told him I’ll sleep on his side of the bed from now on instead.
What happened? I had a very sore back the next day. Served me right. I wouldn’t stop whinging about the sore back the whole day.
Our solution? Getting a new bed was out of question since we just bought a house, and we didn’t have time to go to Ikea to get new slates (it happened last summer so I was busy with photography most weekends), and we got a box spring instead (which usually isn’t needed for a platform bed). And the bed was actually more comfortable than before! Yes I still sleep on the broken side but don’t have a sore back anymore.
We haven’t really celebrated yet – I was very tired on Friday 8/8 as I was at work from 6:30am-5:30pm (at my Mayo job – Yes I do have 2 careers, which I plan to talk about in an upcoming post, a fact that most of my clients know), then on 8/9 I had to photograph a wedding so was gone from noon to 10pm, then today 8/10 I was at my friend’s baby shower from noon – 6pm (I’ll write more about that later). So it had been a very busy weekend. Justin did make ribs on Friday night though since we both love ribs, and he skipped his jujitsu class that night to spend more time with me (though I was sleepy the whole night!)
And of course, I had to look at our wedding photos again on our anniversary – I just don’t get sick of looking at time! (well apart from getting frustrated that I am not the same size anymore!!). We LOVE our photos – taken by the very talented Allegra from http://allegrasstudio.com/. So I hope all my clients would feel the same way – that when they look back at their wedding photos that I took for them, that they would relive those moments, and smile, and laugh.
My mum did my hair and I love my necklace! It is pewter and blue.
Something blue.
I love my long veil – it was given to me by a friend from Singapore, who wore that at her wedding and she generously gave it to me. The veil made me feel the most ‘bridal’ – to be honest, the reason I love viels aren’t really about what it is supposed to symbolize, but that they can look stunning in photographs (as you can see some flying veil shots that I took on my website!)
Ceremony – pretty rose petals on the short aisle. Justin is catholic, I don’t have a religion, and we have a Japanese monk officiating the ceremony. He’s such a sweet person! We wrote our own vows and he said he won’t change a thing because he wants our ceremony to be what we wanted.
Exchange of rings.
Chinese tea ceremony – my youngest sister had funky hair back then! My 2 sisters were my bridemaids/maids of honor (same title for both, hey I don’t play favorism! 
They wore tea length deep red dresses in different styles that flattered their body styles. I like being a little non-traditional
Tea ceremony to my parents – justin’s face is too funny. Our only musician was a violinist.
Bridemaid’s flowers with freeshia and hydragena. My bouqut (ummm I should find a picture of it) is very simple with a big white lily and some dangling greens.
Notice the deers picture in the background? Takes an observant photographer to catch that!
NOT posed!
High heels made me taller than I actually am…
I love pictures of hands. That’s about the only time I have long nails (yes real nails) because long nails bother me – I had piano lessons since I was little, and had to keep my nails short. And it’s just more practical for me now to have short nails too – with typing and photographing.
This is one of my favorites – it looks stunning in black and white, I just feel too lazy to convert it now. It was windy then. See why I love veils?
Love shadows too.
Another favorite. I should have this enlarged to hang on the wall. Our wedding was up in a B&B (Mountain View Inn) in the mountains in California, about half hour north of SF. We were planning on having some portraits done at the beach (bottom of the mountain) but it was foggy that day, so the coordinator at the inn said it’s best to go up to the mountains instead – what a great suggestion! Look at the clouds! At the bottom of our feet! Couldn’t have asked for a better backdrop (even though I am probably more of an ocean than mountain person!)
The clouds looked painted. Trust me, they weren’t digital/photoshop backdrop!
Love this one too – would look great as a panoramic. Want this one enlarged too. Look beautiful on metallic paper!
Sun set (veil again!)
I love the photos of just the 2 of us – that’s why I always suggest to my clients to give us some time between the ceremony and reception (if possible) to have some romantic portraits done when (i) you are both dress up! (ii) you just start your life as husband-wife (or husband-husband or wife-wife, whatever suits your situation). We actually had these shots done after the reception (it was very short with dinner and chatting… we can’t dance so we didn’t have any dancing!) but being a photo freak than I am (I hadn’t started my business back then) – I timed it so that the reception will finish early and we’ll have the right lighting for these portrait shots
Okay, I didn’t know that 4th Anniversary is a “fruit/flower” anniversy (British) or a “linen/silk” anniversary (US). Ummm… I did buy a plant for myself for the office that day (and bought some flowers for my administrative assistant since it was her birthday) and I did eat a pear and some pineapple. Does that count? I didn’t even know the British and the US versions are different! Oh well, you learn something new everyday (isn’t the internet great?!)
If you have made it to the end of this very long post – thank you for reading. This is more of a post for myself, as a reminder, that the wedding day is just the beginning.
Thank you Justin, for loving me for who I am and what I am.
