Bitearsweet

I have a brother-in-law now!!! So the wedding was this past Saturday and it was excellent! The whole wedding process up to Saturday will definitely be memorable! It was busy and hectic but it turned out the way it was meant to in the end ^_^. Thursday we had the rehearsal at Citadel Theatre and it that was pretty easy. I kept forgetting to pause at the places I was supposed to and almost fell down the steps cos Dave paused (Richard's brother and the groomsman I was paired with for the wedding) haha! We went for dinner separately after and then it was off to our house to decorate for the tea ceremony! I didn't have work the next day so I went to the reception hall and helped decorate. We were there from lunch until about 5pm to transform the place (looked beautiful when we finished ^_^) and the caterers were there to set the tables and buffet lines up. Then we went home to drop some stuff off and then it was off to Richard's mom's place for the rehearsal dinner. HUGE BBQ... I had a sirloin steak and some sides, and my cousin gave me half of her chicken. Needless to say, I ended up having to throw a lot away >_< But then it was back to our place to get ready for the candle ceremony at midnight. My uncles, aunts and cousins from BC just arrived so we got to see them for a bit before they left. Didn't sleep until close to 2 am but I couldn't sleep anyways cos I was sharing a room with my cousin and when she said she snored, boy did she mean it! lol! I ended up crawling to my mom's room and sleeping on her floor but my grandma was sharing the room with her and she kept waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. So I was pretty pooped at 6:30am when I had to wake up.

Saturday morning we all got ready, makeup and hair done, family from both sides of my parents came and it was basically just waiting for the guys to show up for Bride Haggling. We had it all figured out. At the door we did the bartering, then before entering Richard had to answer a math question which I asked in Chinese and he had to answer in Chinese (which he got correct by the way!) Then each one of them had to eat a tablespoon of Sofia's mom's famous tumeric and honey which is supposed to be good for your health but tasted horrible. Then we had Richard fold a basket of laundry which was filled with embarassing clothing (lingerie Sofia borrowed from a friend!) and then each of the groomsmen and Richard had to "wear" an item of lingerie. While wearing it they had to do the Macarena and YMCA. It was priceless! After that Richard finally went to go get my sister from the room she was in, by serenading to her. He sang "You Are My Sunshine" lol! Finally the tea ceremony began. It was kinda long cos aside from the parents we had from my mom's side my 3rd Aunt, 4th Uncle, 6th Uncle and Aunt, from my dad's side my 2nd Uncle and Aunt, 5th Uncle and Aunt, 6th Aunt and Uncle, and then Richard's eldest sister, brother and sister-in-law, his 2nd older brother. My 4th Uncle, who was complaining how it was a waste of time and money to do such an elaborate wedding, started crying! He'd never received tea like this before and he was so touched that he started crying! After eating a little bit, the guys went to the Citadel first and we helped my sister into her wedding gown and waited for the 1952 Jaguar that she rented as a surprise for Richard. The car was really nice and everything, but it smelt like gasoline the whole time...

Finally got to the Citadel and it was ceremony time! I remembered all my pauses (yay!) It was like paparazzi throughout cos there were SO many people with cameras! I faught back the tears when I saw my sister coming out with my mom. I tell ya, music always get me! I probably would have been fine if there wasn't any music but when her song came on for her to come out, my eyes just welled up. After the ceremony it was time for pictures with the families... that took quite a while! Then we went to take wedding photos around the city and boy did it get windy and cold! Mags and Richard came home not long after the wedding party finished taking photos with them cos it was too cold and windy for her to continue the couple photos like she wanted. The girls fussed around a bit while the guys... sat and watched Fringe on TV lol! We then piled into the cars and off to the reception hall!

My cousins were manning the guestbook table and my 5th Aunt (Aunt Julianna) was greating the guests. Basically they wrote or signed a card that looked like a shamrock or fortune cookie, had their photo taken, and then both pieces were stuck into a guestbook my sister made (she made pretty much EVERYTHING for her wedding!) The wedding party was supposed to walk out, followed by lion dancers and Richard and Mags, but there were people still missing from the lion dancers so we had to wait. We were a little behind, but they finally arrived and into the hall we went! Seth, the little ringbearer, had to go to the washroom and wasn't back yet when we were walking in. It was about time for him and the flower girls to walk in and all of a sudden his dad came flying out, carrying him and then plopped him on the floor. It was so cute!!! The lion dance was really loud cos they did the dance right in front of the head table but it was fantastic! They did such a good job!!! They had 2 lions, 8 cymbal players, a drummer, and a main cymbal player. It lasted 15 - 20 minutes long and they even had confetti poppers at the end! Everyone was mesmerized and a lot of people hadn't seen something like this before (especially because Richard's Irish, so his side of the family most likely hadn't seen anything like this at all!) They loved it though! We got served our food at the head table while everyone else did the buffet thing. We did speeches, mingled a bit, and then Richard and Mags did their first dance. They didn't really practice since learning how to dance at our house (my godparents were teaching them) but the dance was beautiful! They did such a wonderful job, and so professional! Then the wedding party had to dance with them. I was so scared I would step on Rob's feet, but I was fine (plus he said he drank so much already that he wouldn't be able to feel it even if I did step on his feet haha!) He knew what he was doing, but other than hip hop I don't know how to dance! No feet stepped on though (thank gosh!) Richard had his dance with his mom (her eyes were teary awww!!) and then the dance started. They did the cake cutting and the bouquet and garter toss. I got to hang out with my cousins from BC whom I don't get to see often, as well as my Aunt Julianna and Uncle Jimmy (5th Uncle). I didn't really get to spend a whole lot of time with my 2nd Aunt and Uncle though, but at least I was able to spend a little bit of time with them. I talked with my brother's godmother a bit and my sister's godbrother David, who insisted on talking about when I was like 5 years old and how I was such a chatterbox and once stole all the 2's from the deck of cards when they played Big 2. I swear I didn't do it lol! It was nice to see people you haven't seen in years gather together!

We cleaned up and by the time we were able to leave, it was really windy and cold and quite late. Luckily the rain stopped! I didn't get to bed until 3am though.

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Supposed to go for brunch at the River Cree with my family from BC but my brother wasn't feeling well. So my sister and brother-in-law came home to open the millions of gifts and cards they got and stored at our house. Then it was off to hip hop for me which, by the way, I got into the advanced animation class!!! YAY!!! The class was so large they had to turn it into an audition class and luckily I made it cos I planned my entire year around it! I was still half asleep though so when Harman asked me a question about what fast-forwarding was I kinda just stared at him with a blank look. He probably thought I was stupid or something haha! Then I had to bolt to Children's Choir class and didn't play as well this week cos I was SOOOOO tired. After, I picked up my grandma and my cousin from her dorm and it was off to another feast!!! My great uncle on my dad's side's birthday is soon but since my family from BC was here for the wedding he decided to hold the feast earlier. So more eating!! I arrived at the restaurant and no one was there! It was so strange cos I've never been the first one to these dinners before! My great uncle wasn't even there yet! I ate SO much food I felt sick! My cousin Iris had to leave earlier cos she had early classes while the rest of my relatives stayed for the dinner since they were driving back to BC. My cousin Mary didn't have class until 6pm so my Uncle Jimmy was joking how they should just drive her straight to school when they get back so they can take longer on the road haha! I hope I can see them more often. I really miss them >_<

So now we've got lots of stuff to clean up at home! It might take a week I think!!! Great weekend though!!! Oh yeah, and I got new godparents!!! Connie (the lady helping us with all the traditional Chinese wedding stuff) officially became my godmother the night of the candle ceremony! My mom was kinda joking when she said she should be my godmother, but she was serious and gave me lucky money and everything! I poured tea for her and that was that! She didn't tell her husband until they arrived for the tea ceremony the next day. He was a little shocked cos she already has 7 godchildren but apparently I left a really good first impression the first time I met him and he said I was a good girl ^_^. So now I have godparents!!!!!!! It's so cool too cos my godmother is SUCH a hip lady and she's ubber nice and sociable!! My godfather is ubber nice too and he's a REALLY good dancer. He's quite well known in Hong Kong and is even in the "history books" for dancing!!! AWESOME!!!

Mags and Richard are in Kelowna right now for a short one-week honeymoon. The official honeymoon starts when we go to Hong Kong for the 2nd half of the banquet (for relatives that couldn't come over). Hopefully I can start an entry soon with "I'M AN AUNT!!!" hehe!!