Mike and Chang's Wedding

This past weekend my brother Mike and his fiancee Chang got married at the Grand Summit Hotel in Summit, NJ. It was a beautiful wedding and the weather was absolutely perfect, after much prayer since it has literally been raining almost every other day here. It was breezy and sunny, almost spring-like weather all weekend so we are so glad that it held up for them!

Andrew was the Best Man in the wedding, I was the Matron of Honor and Benjamin was the Ring Bearer. Nate also came to the wedding and because the rest of our family was involved, and because he is glued to my side when there are unfamiliar faces present, he became an honoray member of the wedding party as well. He got to wear a tuxedo, ride in the limo, and hang out in the bridal lounge for cocktails and appetizers. Not bad for a 16 month old's social life, huh? :)

Fortunately, both kids did fairly well all weekend. They napped for us at my parents' house, gave us no problems staying up incredibly late for two nights in a row and Ben didn't even balk for a minute about walking down the aisle as ring beaer. Nate has a lot of stranger anxiety but once he warmed up to the crowd he was fine. He also got upset during the ceremony when we all were up front but fortunately my 10-year-old cousin Margaret came to the rescue and took him out for us so his disruption was short-lived. Phew, thank you Margaret! Overall, we were really grateful that two little kids held up so well for all of the festivities and we were glad that Mike and Chang opted to have them be a part of their big day since it was such a special family event for all of us!

Here are Mike and Chang at the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night.


Chang and her mom Anna at the dinner...
And here are all of the kids at the rehearsal dinner. My dad's entire family was out-of-state so most of them were with us Thursday night for the dinner. These three children are my two cousins' children so they are my second cousins (I believe...). Margaret and William are brother and sister and little Kate is their cousin.
Wedding day! Here is Mike's childhood friend Andy with junior bridesmaid Veronica in the limo. Note that Nate also got to ride in the limo. Good thing he was dressed for the occasion - ha ha!

Mike and Chang on our way to get pictures taken. We did photos before the ceremony so they were not officially married yet in this photo...what a lovely couple they make! Chang looked stunning in her beautiful wedding gown...and she certainly put me to work getting it on her. The entire dress laced up corset-style in the back! I have a new appreciation for women in former eras who used to wear those daily!

Our family of four (and a half!) in the limo...

Me and Nate...

Best Man Andrew...

Benjamin in the limo, so excited for his very special job of carrying the pillow down the aisle in a few minutes :) He loved wearing a boutonniere and dressing like all of the other men in the wedding!

Nate! The big camera cheese :)

The boys sharing a chair during the cocktail gathering in the bridal lounge before we were all introduced at the reception.

Mike and Chang dance together for the first time as man and wife at the reception. Per Chinese custom, Chang changed into a red dress for the reception. It was beautiful!

Ben getting down on the dance floor. I was actually shocked to see how excited he was to dance at the reception, he loved it! He kept telling us all weekend "I'm so excited for the party!" and when the time actually came, he lived up to his words.

Here he is dancing with 4-year-old cousin Kate who was visiting from California. What a smooth little ladies man in his tuxedo!


Here I am with Nate before he got his second wind. He seemed as if he were going to fall asleep around 9pm and just sat in my arms for a while as I ate my appetizer and salad. Then, he got his second wind and was up walking and sporting his fancy threads for the next two hours! Is there anything cuter than a size 18mo tuxedo??


Meet Emily Robertson, my cousin Lauren's beautiful 8-week old. She's the first girl on my side of the family and the newest member. How adorable does she look in her little party dress for her first big night out?!?!

And here is Nate meeting Emily for the first time. He was enthralled with her and kept saying "baby" and pointing at her. Hopefully he will love his new sister this much in the fall - ha ha!

Here's Nate high on his second wind, cruising around the dance floor by himself in his fancy duds. He walked around for about 2 hours, and the entire time we were eating dinner, so he had the floor to himself for a long time. He kept going to visit my parents and other people he knew and would occasionally make his way to a table of people he did not know and "introduce" himself. So funny!

Mike and Chang at their sweetheart table during dinner.
And here is the beautiful cake!

Chang and Mike. Chang, here, is in her third change of clothes of the night - her going away outfit that we helped her put on just before the cutting of the cake. Lovely!

Nate's night is now coming to an end...at 11:30pm! We couldn't believe that he lasted so long without becoming cranky or anything. Here, he is getting that blank stare in Andrew's arms and will soon be fast asleep. We took him upstairs and put him down alone for a little while as we said goodbye to everyone. Hopefully child services won't come after us for leaving him alone in the hotel room for a half hour or so! :) Ben, on the other hand, was busy dancing until the end of the reception at 12:30am!!

What a beautiful wedding and I cannot wait to see the professional photos when they come back since (obviously) I missed photos of so many people on my camera since I was busy with my wedding duties and the kids. I know the photographers are great and will capture lots of great candid shots of everyone I missed.

Prayers for Mike and Chang as they spend the next two weeks in China for their honeymoon. They will be exploring a few cities on their own and will also be visiting Chang's hometown for a few days for a celebration with her family since they were not able to come to the US for the wedding. They arrived safely this morning!