My Brother's Wedding

This last weekend was my brother's wedding, and it really was a wonderful day. It was crazy for sure, and being his best man as well as his brother, it just made things even more crazy.

We were very fortunate, well he was very fortunate that he had a really good wedding manager, who was really just a friend who took charge. He really kept on top of things and got everything in order and took the lead. But even with him taking care of all sorts of stuff, I was still there frantically trying to make certain everything went smoothly without a hitch.

I have a lot of photos on my facebook account, so I'm not going to repost them here. I just wanted to blog a little about my whole day.

We started at around 10am. Supposedly we were going to all meet up at the San Gabriel Hilton to get the bride. They rented a little suite there and stayed the night before there.

Well, I woke up about 845am to get ready. I slept at 4am the night before finishing last minute stuff like the third freaken slideshow with the karaoke for my brother's singing that night. Well I went and took my shower and then got out and saw a bunch of text msg for me to go help them pick up a few more flowers. I was like eek. I was supposed to also go to the bank. But now I have to do this too...and I wasn't going to say no...argh.

Well I went to the bank and picked up some more money with a friend of mine as my escort. I needed someone there since it was a bit of cash on me....quite a bit...crazy. Anyways, I got that, and then went to the home of the person making the flowers. Well before I went, I asked the bride...since my brother told me to ask her...and she really was the only one who really knew anything, and asked if they know already. She turns to her bridesmaid and ask, and they confirm yes...as I heard it over the phone...well I arrive at the home of the woman, and she was surprised I was there and thought they needed it later that day...what a way to start the day.

So 15 mins later, I finally got the flowers and then headed over to the Hilton, and 20 minutes late. but I suppose it's not a big deal that I was. They were still taking some pictures. Then they performed the tea ceremony. We then went downstairs to the lobby for more photos. The limo finally arrived and we were ready to go to my house and have another tea ceremony there and lunch.

We got to my house at 1130am. My family kept the freaken door closed because they were just finishing up getting something ready...and I don't even know what it was...it definitely wasn't important at all. I kept knocking and said that they needed to just open the door cause we are burning outside. The weather this last week was just totally crazy. On Monday and Tuesday of last week, and even sort of into Wed, it was raining and pretty cold. I was like, wow, winter came early this year. It was one of the heaviest rainfall we've had for a while in October, since it rarely rains this early. Usually starts in December. But then Thursday came and it was 90+ degrees. And Friday and the wedding day Saturday was just about the same. It was crazy.

Anyways, they finally opened the doors and we went inside. We had the tea ceremony. Even I got a cup of tea for this, since I was his older brother. I gave him a BIG red envelop, really really really really really big red envelop....not in size...in monetary value....well his is my one and only little brother. Then we had lunch there. My parents had a friend making us some food as well as got some dim sum from New Capital Seafood Restaurant where we are also having our banquet.

We left my house at 1pm and headed to the church. It's awesome that we had a limo taking us everywhere, so that I didn't have to drive. I had so much going on that I would have went nuts trying to drive us everywhere too. I was answering all the phones already starting at this point. Talking with the Limo driver and talking to the wedding manager with anything that needed attention. I then also delegated a ton of stuff. Looking back on the whole day, I didn't physically do a ton of stuff, but I basically non-stop delegated a bunch of duties to people. Usually it's me starting to do something, then I get called to do something else and so I have to get someone else to finish up what I started. Like talking to the Limo driver to give him directions, and since I didn't have the addresses of half of our destinations, I just know where we were going, I had to find those addresses, and fortunately the groomsmen were great in helping with all of that. They really were a great help and was there whenever I needed them to help with something.

We got to the church and then got things ready. The wedding manager was awesome already getting everything in order. I was half taking care of the family coming in, even the bride's side. For some reason, I ended up having to deal with the flowers for the bride family too ... I won't say too much about this since it was a bit annoying for me to have to deal with this too ... But anyways, I got it all done and I was pretty much on my feet the entire time making sure everything was good. I tried to sit down for a bit, but then even when I'm seated, I just can't get myself to stay there cause I felt the need to make sure all is well.

Well the ceremony started like 20 minutes late cause people arrived late, and apparently a lot of people didn't show...I guess it was because they didn't have a separate RSVP for ceremony versus the banquet. We ended up with about 60-70 people at the ceremony instead of the anticipated 100-120. Long story on that, but no need to go into that here. It was still a lovely wedding. The hall was just fantastic and looked great. Susan, the bride, really did a great job designing the decor on this.

When we did get out to stand there for the ceremony, my feet just started to kill me. I was in pain. I guess the shoes were just awful and had no padding. So I was in a bit of pain. But I bit my lips and stuck it out for my brother. I just kept telling myself, it's once in a lifetime, I won't have to do this again. And I got through it all.

Then the photo session happened after the ceremony. I was in a few pictures. Dealt with the family a little bit. I took some pictures myself. I've been either taking pictures whenever I'm not doing something, or passed my camera to someone to take pictures when I was doing something. I did sit for a little bit more during this time, more so then any other time during the whole day.

4pm, we left for the other photo session at the San Gabriel Mission. I kept track of time for him, even though my brother did too. But I was for sure dealing with that too. We got there, took pictures till about 540pm. Way too long, but my brother was really trying to squeeze as much time as he could there to get pictures. What can I say... Also during this time, at around 5pm, I get a call from the wedding manager asking where the cake was. I guess it was late, and he didn't have the number to the company. I didn't have that number. One of the groomsman called his dad who works with that bakery to ask, but he didn't have it either. They couldn't even really remember the exact name of the bakery either. But the groomsman did sort of remember and found it on his iphone. What would we do without iphone?

Well we went to the banquet hall then, and when we got there, none of the centerpieces were put together. I had to get everyone to put that all together in like a matter of 20 to 30 minutes. It was crazy. There were 18 tables, for 170 people...though we eventually ended up with 17 tables only. We had to first place a mirror on every table. Then a cylinder vase. Then clear pebbles in the vase. Then put 2 orchids inside the vase. We had to break off the end to shorten it enough so it could be completely submerged in water. Then we had to add water to every one of those vase. Then put a floating candle on top. Then we had a second candle holder on the side on the mirror with another candle inside. Then we had to get some flower pedals, but we didn't have any, so I just used the left over orchids. And finally we had to light the candles. I was just running around doing some of that, and delegating the rest to everyone else there. It was just pure insanity.

Then after that, it was just dealing with one issue after another at the banquet hall. Sound system was a mess. Problems with the seating arrangements. Late guests. Program order was really problematic. And a bunch of other little things. Just so much.

Anyways I guess these are just some of the highlights. I don't even want to sit here and write out all the little things that happened that day...to much to think about.

All in all though it was a very smooth wedding with not a single dull moment. I was just so busy that literally had no time to enjoy any of it. I actually did not feel how fun and happy and exciting it was until Sunday afternoon at 2pm. Seriously... Cause even after the banquet, I had to supervise the exit, and making sure we got everything. I had to deal with the logistic of the people, since all our cars (groomsmen) were parked at the hilton across the street, but I just didn't want us to walk there, and I was just so freaken tire to walk. I did find the rides needed to get us all over there, I just needed to coordinate it. My brother kept saying they could walk, but I was just thinking...maybe you can, but I can't anymore. Cause even after getting to my car, I had to drive my brother to my sister-in-law's sister's house to pick up some stuff. Then back to my home to drop off some stuff. Then take them back to their home. By the time I was done and home, it was 1230am. And even then, my brother had to call me a couple times asking about some more stuff....because he couldn't wait till the next day since he had to go to the airport at 5am the next morning...that's like in 4 hours...and I had to take them there. Yes, I slept at 130am, and woke up at 430am to take them to the airport. I got back home at almost 7am and had church at 10am. I wasn't even sure if I should go back to sleep or not...cause I was afraid I wouldn't be able to wake up. I tried to eat some breakfast and talk to a friend on the phone, but I finally fell asleep at about 745am. I did wake up again at 9am to go to church. It was just crazy.... Crazy, Crazy, Crazy....

But it was fun, a lot of fun...and I really did enjoy it, after all of it, I finally can reflect on it all and how fun it all was.