Weddingbee

Guess what?! We finally got our professional pictures back!! I love them soooo much. I love our photographer soooo much. So, people, let’s get started!

The first part of our day was the Chinese tea ceremony, and the only person who knew what was going on was my MIL, who was late (ha ha). For awhile we just chatted with Mr. Cream Puff’s family, who were beginning to trickle in. I will say, it was very surreal to realize that the tea ceremony was about to begin. I had to remind myself, “hey, this is it. This is the tea ceremony!”

Mr. Cream Puff, MIL Puff, me, SIL Puff and FIL Puff. I think I am trying to get MIL Puff to tell me what to do. This will be your first glance of my qui pao (Chinese red wedding dress), which I absolutely love.

First, we served tea to my parents. Sadly, MIL Puff didn’t do a very good job of explaining what we were supposed to do, so most of the tea ceremony was really funny to me, Mr. Cream Puff and my parents; we all thought we were going to screw up somehow. I am sure the video of this will be hilarious, because there was a lot of giggling as MIL Puff said things like, “NO! Use TWO HANDS for the lai see!” and, “Okay, NOW go.” In this photo, you can see Momma Puff, trying not to laugh:

Momma Puff, about to give us our Lai See (Chinese red envelopes with money inside):

Serving tea to MIL Puff:

MIL Puff gave me some very beautiful heirloom gold jewelry:

Right after we finished with the tea ceremony, we did the signing of the ketubah (Jewish marriage contract).

Mr. Cream Puff and I asked our moms to be our witnesses (usually the ketubah is signed by the bride, the groom, two witnesses, and a rabbi), and our officiant served as our “rabbi,” because we didn’t have a rabbi. This is one of many benefits to making your own ketubah. Instead of “rabbi,” it says “officiant.”

For the ketubah signing, Mr. Cream Puff donned a yarmulke (Jewish skull cap), which I bought him for the wedding. Check out the gold jewelry I’m wearing! These were all gifts from MIL Puff during the tea ceremony. See the jade necklace I’m wearing? Years ago, MIL Puff bought two: one to give to her daughter on her wedding day, and one to give to her son’s new wife. How awesome is that?

A close-up of his yarmulke:

The ketubah signing is very straightforward: everyone signed it.

After the ketubah signing, it was time to get ready. Mr. Cream Puff went with the groomsmen to a different room in the hotel, and all the ladies stayed with me.

One of the most exciting things about getting our professional photos back was being able to see the things that I didn’t know happened. For example, Mr. Cream Puff and I didn’t know that our officiant, Miss K (a close friend of ours), was preparing for her job while we were getting ready:

She brought a book to read out of (so it looked pretty in pictures), and was taking notes! Seeing these pictures made me feel so blessed to have such a wonderful friend officiating our ceremony. We seriously would not have wanted anyone else to do it. More on that later!

Next up, the girls get ready…

• Gettin’ Trashed—W...
• The First Dance