I got hitched!

Well, this took a while to write! On October 6 of 2018 at the Cathedral Saint Matthew the Apostle, I married my favorite person.

We got engaged after a work OktoberFest happy hour. We had just come back from a trip to Paris, where I thought we would get engaged. As romantic as it sounds, I was very understanding after knowing the many logistical nightmares. First, he ring was his mother's, which is so much more valuable than any store bought jewelry, but it had to be adjusted to fit my finger after our engagement. Also, we stayed in a AirBNB, a charming apartment which was a 20-minute walk from Ile de la Cite. The building however was in the middle of on-going renovations, and the apartment did not include a safe.

On September 29 2017, I had an incline of what was about to happen. Sean with excitement told me he had a surprise, and that I must sit in the bathroom as he set it up our one bedroom apartment for the surprise. I came out about 5 minutes later, but all the lights were off. The only thing I could see were a lit Eiffel Tower in the kitchen table, and a Champagne bottle on the cooler. It was so dark I missed the little ring on top of the tower, which Sean had to point out to me. Even though I thought it was coming, I was still surprise.

We got married a year later (almost to the day)! How was the planning process? Though we started with the best intentions not to complicate our life, the designer in us would not be satisfied until every detail was created to perfection. We both knew we wanted a reception by water, since we both had such a strong connection to the beach as kids. A boat in the Potomac river was the closest thing we could find to the water. Then we painstakingly created every detail of our wedding, from the 12-step manually hand crafted wedding invitations, to the cake, to the table center pieces that provided guest their table assignments. Everything was seamless, included each hand written note to thank each our guest for spending such an important day with us, which just the color of their nametag let the staff know their dinner selection.

We had wedding vendors, of course. Our favorite was the florist "All in the Details", which took all our notes and make the rest of the components shine. Kira was easy to talk to, uncomplicated, with an understanding of good design. The floral arrangements blended in the space throughout, but creating such a luscious look. The bouquets were so full, and they smelled wonderful. The price was very affordable for the great service we received.

Our photographer was awesome as well. Joshua Michael Johnson came down from Philly, where he resides. He and his brother work in photography together, and a family connection highly recommended him. He arrived a day before to our big day, and he made sure he scouted the places we wanted selected around the National Mall, and found gems of his own. He made sure he capture every detail of our wonderful day, giving us pointers but letting our personalities shine.

The day was really long. My day started at 4am, with a cold shower and my cousin Andrea (Maid of Honor) starting my makeup. We had a morning ceremony, with a four-hour interlude for photos around the Mall. We reconvene at National Harbour for an evening reception, follow by a water taxi ride to The Wharf for the after party. We were done around 12 am. One last diehard invitee kept us company and was ready to continue the night! But we could not go on any longer, we head for our hotel room at The Mayfair for a post party snack (to prevent a hangover), after which we passed out. Sorry to disappoint, but honestly, who has the energy to keep going after such a long day? We made up for the lack of energy in our honeymoon, and the rest is history.