Wedding Blog

With all four bridesmaids, my mother-in-law, and myself all scheduled for hair and makeup, we girls started the day bright and early at 8AM so that we would be ready for the traditional Chinese tea ceremony at 1PM.

The only problem with this plan was that we had booked our photographer, Danny Weiss, for 10 hours. Would we sacrifice “getting ready” pictures for more photos of the reception?

In the end, Mr. Peony and I decided that reception photos were more important to us. As a result we scheduled Danny to arrive at 12 noon. He got to the hotel just in time to catch Claudia Pedala, my hair stylist, add finishing touches to my ’do (all photos by Danny Weiss):

By this time my bridesmaids had been prettied up by the wonderful team of Sachiko Yanese, Maureen Pedala, and Claudia Pedala.

My maid-of-honor, my one and only sister. We don’t look anything alike! What do you think:

Although I longed for a dramatic shot of my dress against the window, our tiny Manhattan hotel suite came equipped with tiny windows as well. Alas, my dress was delegated to hang over the bedroom door:

But no touching yet! As much as I wanted to start shimmying into my wedding gown, I first had to dress in a qipao for the Chinese tea ceremony. My bridesmaids and I quickly kicked Danny out of the bedroom to squeeze me into the tight, form-fitting red dress.

What do you think? Can I pass for Chinese? (FYI, I am Korean)

The dress was a gift to me from my mother-in-law. It was custom-made at a shop in Chinatown. I love the detailing in this shot:

While getting fitted for the dress, I remember that my MIL insisted on high slits along the sides. I was embarrassed and kept asking the seamstress to bring it down, but my MIL insisted that we keep it high. Boy I’m glad I listened, because even with slits halfway up my thighs, I had trouble moving!

My bridesmaids and I managed to sneak outside to the hallway before the boys came to pick us up:

Meanwhile, in the boys’ suite…

I just love mirror shots, don’t you?

Mr. Peony’s best man was his younger brother, who happens to be Mr. Poppy! Here he is, making last-minute changes to his speech (and yes, that’s Mrs. Poppy sitting next to him):

Mr. Peony had insisted on buying an actual bow tie, not a clip-on or an elastic back. He had practiced the entire week leading up to the wedding…

His mother helped make some adjustments:

Done!

All the boys, together:

My handsome groom awaits!

Next up…the boys come to pick us up!