When American wedding traditions merge with Asian traditions

To continue with the wedding posts... I enjoyed Stasia and Justin's wedding in Austin and then had to drive back to Dallas in time for Daigo and Nancy's wedding.  Who knew November would be so popular for weddings!

Daigo and Nancy had their ceremony outside at the Dallas Arboretum in the Women's Garden.  The forecast originally was rain for the entire weekend but it turned out to be gorgeous weather for both weddings - yay!

I've never seen Daigo happier.  He was grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

 Nancy couldn't stop grinning either.

She was absolutely stunning!  

Some wedding ceremonies are completely serious and intense and make me tear up.  This was definitely not one of those.  Daigo kept making silly little faces at Nancy; you couldn't help but smile and be happy for them.  And Sam, the minister, kept things light hearted and funny.  When he said, "you may now kiss the Bride," he prefaced it with "this is the moment that Daigo has been waiting for!"  And then Daigo didn't kiss Nancy normally... he peeked her on the left cheek, then the right, back to the left, etc. just to be goofy.  Everyone laughed.  It was sweet to see how fun and goofy they are together.

I **LOVED** these bridesmaid dresses.  I'm a huge fan of the one shoulder look, am currently on a flower obsession, and red is one of my favorite colors.  If my company holiday party were a formal affair, (sadly it is not) I'd so want to wear this dress to it.  THAT is how much I love it.

Red is the traditional Asian wedding color so I intentionally wore red to both weddings.  It was my way of providing them with some good luck from me.  And then I ended up coordinating with both weddings - oops!

The reception was a traditional Asian wedding reception held at Maxim's Chinese Restaurant.  There's really only two Chinese restaurants in the Dallas area that are big enough for wedding receptions and can do the typical 10-14 course smorgasbord of food.  Daigo and Nancy had 10 courses and we ate and ate and ate and ate until it hurt.  We also drank and drank and drank and drank.  So we were the rowdy table... so what?

The first course had animals carved out of carrot as decoration.  

Dog?  Rabbit?  We weren't sure either.  But whatever it was, it was cute!

I was too busy eating and drinking to take more pictures of the food.  Let's just say there was seafood soup, pickled jellyfish, LOBSTER, more meats, vegetables (but who needs that?), fried rice (definitely did not bother to save room for rice when there was LOBSTER), and much more.

Here's their cake.  It was delicious.  

The traditional Asian cake that is so light and airy it practically melts in your mouth.  And the icing just melts too.  YUM.  (I've yet to properly recreate this in my kitchen.)

They chose to play the "Beauty and the Beast" song from the movie while they cut the cake.  Since Disney FINALLY released this beloved, childhood all-time favorite of mine from the vault, Josh bought it for me for my birthday.  I watched it with him recently.  

I LOVE THIS SONG. 

I LOVE THIS MOVIE.  

I started tearing up.  Josh told me to get a grip on myself.  What can I say, alcohol makes me emotional.  And I'm already emotional on a daily basis.

It was perfect.  Nancy looked like a princess.  She found her prince charming.  They are so in love and so happy.  I love weddings!

An Intimate Vineyard Wedding

The last time I was in Austin, Brittany and Korey got married.  Fast forward seven months, and this past weekend I went to see Anastasia and Justin get married at Spicewood Vineyards.  It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding.  An intimate affair arranged beautifully with decorations made by Brittany and Stasia.

The lovely bridesmaids (Maggie, Caroline, Brittany).

The Bride and Groom - Look at how happy they look!  

At one point, Justin shed tears.  It was moving.

The ceremony was different in that it didn't have religion overtones, Bible verses, or traditional vows.  But I really liked it.  The officiant was serious but not boring and spoke from the heart about love and marriage.  I don't remember the actual vows but one funny part stuck out.  Justin appeared to stumble (possibly out of embarrassment?) when asked to repeat "lover" while Stasia appeared to yell/emphasis it.    

Mr. and Mrs. Teague!

I found it amusing that the officiant wore his sunglasses the entire ceremony.

I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures - I had too much fun just enjoying myself!  It was great to see everyone, drink some good wine, eat some delicious food (Opie's BBQ - I'm determined to recreate their tater tot casserole and Britt's working on their spicy corn and then we'll share!), and be a part of their special day!

A yummy and pretty cake from Lux Bakery!

They had a fantastic guestbook.  It was a time capsule and guests were asked to pick one or more dates (1, 5, 10, or 25 years from now) and write a message or prediction to the couple.  It could be anything we wanted and they provided examples like "where will they be living" and the more random one "how many robots will be living in their home."  It was a SUPER cute and fun idea.  I already told Stasia I'm definitely stealing that one from her!  (She did take my red color so we're even, right?!)

All in all, a fun weekend trip to Austin and a beautiful wedding!  I'm so grateful I was able to share in Stasia's special day and see her marry the man she loves.  Congrats Stasia and Justin!