What a beautiful wedding...

I finally attended a wedding that was what I had wish my wedding would be like. It was not too small and yet not too big (125 ppl). Just the perfect size and was really intimate. (This part was similar to my wedding). Unlike mine, the ceremony started at a small church in Carmel by the Sea (w/around a hundred, you really can't have it at a big church like mine). The bride and the groom were really considerate. They asked the guests to park their cars at the reception parking lot and the shuttle bus drove them to the church because parking by the church was hard to find. The ceremony took less than 1/2 hrs. (just like mine, except mine started 1/2 hrs late 'cuz my bridesmaids' hairdresser was late to set their hairs). Then the couple took pictures at the garden outside the church while the guests headed over to the reception area.

The reception took place at The Lodge at Pebble Beach. It was a beautiful place. Delicious hor'dourves, like prawns covered w/bacons, were served at the patio and the lounge overseeing the ocean view with sailboats. In the lounge area, there were pictures of the bride and grooms' parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents' wedding pictures. It makes you feel like you’re invited into their families. At this time, you can also write your wishes to them with the papers they prepared in advanced. After you write your wishes, the couple had instructions for the guest to pick up a scroll with their wishes for you.

The couple, with their bridal party and families, joined us an hour later and chatted with their guests for 15-20 minutes before everyone was invited into the ballroom where dinner was to be served. The ballroom setup was nicely done since the place can actually fit at least 200 hundred something people. Each table only seated 8 people and they spaced each table to fill up the place. The couple didn’t sit where the stage was (our mistake at our wedding). Instead they sat by the window side (1/2 of the ballroom had ceiling down window overseeing the ocean) with no extra spaces betw. them and their guests. This allowed them to see the nice view and for the guests to see them and the view at the same time.

The couple came in and had their 1st dance then appetizer was served. All thru dinner, the bride’s dad, best man and matron of honor made their speeches. When dinner was almost done, the couple came out for their 2nd dance before the father-bride and mother-groom dances. Once that was done, the party got started (I mean people really went up and dance the whole time, unlike my wedding). The M.C. was really good at keeping the evening moving (ours’ totally didn’t follow what we asked, especially with the music selection) . The party was intercepted when the bride’s dad, groom’s dad and the groom gave more personal speeches (just realized that the bride didn’t make any speeches). Wedding cake was cut shortly after. The party resumed while the cake was passed around. Most people were still there when we left at 10ish PM ‘cuz we had to drive 2 hrs. back to the bay area. The day and nite ended nicely…

I have to say that I like American style weddings over Chinese. I think there are more interaction and more intimate. Chinese weddings usually have over 200 people (the more people the more bragging rights) and the only times you get to talk to the couples are when they go around the tables for the toast. The couple usually end up making money ‘cuz the amount of money they receive from their guest usually are more than their banquet cost. In my experience, most guest give more (especially in cash) when they attend a banquet because they think with all the food on the table, it costs more. Actually, in most cases, that’s not true. But that also depends on the guest ‘cuz there are guests that just don’t care either way (hey, it costs more than $25 per person going to a nice restaurants nowadays, so why would they think giving a $25 gift for two people attending is enough).