Man I wish I had that when I was Planning

Google recently launched a website for those getting married.  It is a simple concept really for Google.  Merely have great applications that those planning a wedding can use and then create a website that shows users how to use these services can be used for wedding planning. 

Now if only had that and the time to investigate the apps a little more, the planning for my wedding in 2009 would have been so much simpler.

Karen & Erick Yuen's Wedding

Vancouver - Yesterday was my first Cantonese Chinese Wedding (Peter and Alice gave me my first taste of a Chinese Wedding).  I had a lot of fun. 

First we had an afternoon reception.  I got to meet my Wife's large extended family (you need a programme to keep track of them all) and then dinner later in the day at the Rainflower Restaurant in Richmond. 

It was a lot of fun being part of the Groom's family.  At one point, the Bride, Groom, Wedding Party and the entire immediate family travelled to each table and toasted.  Over twenty-five tables later my glass was empty. 

The food was delicious.  We had everything from fried pork, to fish, to shark fin soup.  I've really enjoyed the past couple of days enjoying true chinese food traditions including "Dim Sum," "Yum cha," and now a Wedding Banquet.  

A few videos from the banquet....

Little Petey got Married!

This past weekend my little (or not so little) brother Peter got Married to Alice Xu at the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario.

It was a wonderful wedding at an interesting place. The wedding took place after the McMichael Art Gallery closed for the day. The ceremony itself took place in the lobby of the art gallery and following the ceremony cocktails were service and attendees were allowed to wonder the art gallery at will. Following that dinner and dancing occurred.

The only downfall is the lighting in the lobby and in the gallery's multi purpose rooms is not that great for pictures. So I only have a few found here.

CONGRATS LITTLE PETEY & ALICE!

What happens in Vegas...

...is sometimes videod!

On our Honeymoon after the Wedding, I did some videotaping of the interesting sights and sounds that I came accross and uploaded them to YouTube.

So without further ado here we go (for a full description of the video, click on the video and read from the Youtube page):


















For photos of our Honeymoon in Las Vegas, Nevada please visit here.

Wedding Day Memories

A few wedding day memories will be with me forever. Still, just over two weeks later, there are some that stand out.

I woke up the Wedding Day, Saturday July 11th, and flipped on the television in my old bedroom at my parents place in Aurora. I stopped at Rogers Sportsnet to catch the latest scores and to kill some time before getting out of bed.

The station was showing recaps from baseball at first. The San Francisco Giants were playing the San Diego Padres. The San Francisco Pitcher had been started in place of a hurting Randy Johnson (a major league All-Star pitcher) who was on the disabled list. The father of the starting of the pitcher had a made a long distance treck to visit his son for the first time at a Major League Baseball Park. The father had complained the trip was too expensive but the son insisted his Dad visit. So his father did.

Not only did the son replace an almost unreplaceble pitchers that day, the son through a no-hitter along with his Dad's first Major League Baseball game with his son pitching.

On my wedding day, this seemed pretty incredible and brought back memories of me saying to my own father "watch me Dad!" growing up. In this case, after the game was done, I think the pitcher must have been saying "Look at what I've done Dad!"

A few clips later the CFL recap from the Friday July 10th was on. The Hamilton Ticats were visiting the BC Lions. The Hamilton Ticats won the game over the BC Lions becoming the first team from the Eastern Time Zone (e.g. Toronto Argonauts, Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Ticats) in three years to defeat the BC Lions in Vancouver. A forward to my wedding day: My Uncle owns the Hamilton Ticat football team and my Bride's family is from the Vancouver area. Did I plan the wedding for this? No, I didn't even know the Hamilton Ticats were even playing the Friday before.

So eventually I rolled out bed, showered, got dressed and assisted with helping set up my parent's backyard for an after wedding party. It was an overcast day and then a song erupted in my head as it started to pour....

"Isn't it Ironic...don't you think. It's like rain on your wedding day." - Alanis Morissette's Ironic.

Just like thirty some odd years ago on my parents' wedding day, it was raining on mine. But I didn't really worry for long that my wedding day would be a wash out. No sir!

Around 11 A.M. the clouds started to clear and bright sunshine greated us. But at least I could say it rained on my wedding day....

Further on as I walked down the aisle shortly after 1 PM with my Bride at my side, I happenned to notice that my Cousin's 3 year old daughter Abigail was waving at me. I thought about waving back at the innocence of a three year old but thought better of it. I giggled later on that night over that simple innocent wave.

While sigining the Bridal Registry I felt a little weird. Not in a "finally I'm Married" type of way. But I realized that a ring was on my finger and I had never wrote (Newsflash! I'm left handed writer) with a ring on before. So to say the least my first signature wasn't the best I've done.

I noted the bright sunshine for the pictures that afternoon. It was like the best lighting artist in a movie was working the outdoor lighting for my wedding day. The skies were magnificent with bright blue skies and white puffy clouds. Such perfection.

That night I was one of the first to receive Strawberry Wedding cake that evening.


Again Abigail made an appearance wondering if she could have some cake too. I did some quick thinking as the youngster's Mom grabbed her hand to lead her away. Instead, I offered to put Abigail in my lap and to share my first slice of strawberry shortcake with her alternating feeding a forkful to her and a forkful to myself.

Wedding memories, there were a lot. But there were even more Honeymoon memories in Las Vegas as well. But that is a subject for a totally different blog entry. Some of the pictures are starting to go up here though....

So I'm Married...

Yesterday I was married to the love of my life, Yvonne. It was the happiest day of my life. We'd been looking forward to the big day for quite sometime and prepared for quite sometime.

Our parents also helped out immensly with flowers and redecorating our apartment so the newly minted Mr. & Mrs. Suddard could start a new life together and continue on where we left off from before.

Also we'd like to thank our families, extended families and friends who attended the wedding ceremony and sent best wishes from afar. It was really touching to walk down the aisle with someone I love so much in my life.

I sit here staring at the ring that she put on my finger and realize how lucky I am to have someone who cares for me so much. It is really touching to know that whether we are together or apart we will always share a special bond.

Today I will marry my friend...
The one who shares my hopes and dreams
This is my beloved, and this is my friend.
- Song of Solomon 5:16