a holiday celebration

I usually spend the winter holidays in Taiwan with family, but this year we were all together in the Bay Area, since my sister was getting married on New Year's Day.

What this meant for me:
- I was one of (two) maids of honor, so I had built the wedding website. Luckily most of the site was completed way, way before the wedding. The other maid of honor had to make the slideshow, and as she was a perfectionist about it, she was still tweaking it on the morning of the wedding. (It was awesome, though.)
- I was partially responsible for figuring out what to do with everyone on New Year's Eve. The wedding was in SF so there were a variety of parties and events nearby, but we also didn't want to pay cover, and we didn't want everyone to be super hungover at the wedding. We ended up partying in the groomsmen's suite until 1-2am (six bottles of champagne and one bottle of tequila seemed to suffice), at which point half of the bridesmaids went to bed. The other half went to a house party down the street and got to sleep at 4am. We were up around 6am for hair and makeup. It was pretty brutal.
- I gave a toast at the wedding. I don't really mind speaking in public much (having done a billion demos at the Media Lab way back when) but I talk really fast, and half of the guests were flying in from Taiwan. I decided it was a good idea to have translations projected behind me, which meant I had to finish writing the speech several days before the wedding. Of course, other people were busy too, so the translations were being revised up until few hours before the wedding.
- I also did some assorted manual labor, like scoring and folding placecards, wrapping vases, etc. but I think my mom took on the brunt of that work.

The rest of the weekend went pretty smoothly, with only a few hiccups:
- One of the groomsmen's wife got quarantined in Seoul due to vomiting, and was unable to make the wedding. She may or may not be pregnant again; we're not quite sure.
- The best man got trashed at the rehearsal dinner and puked his guts out. As a result he drank very little at the wedding itself, which is perhaps a good thing.
- The valet service lost my dad's Mercedes after the rehearsal dinner. At first my dad was pretty okay as the restaurant comped him some drinks, but after over an hour of searching, the police got called in, the valet guy called my dad a liar, and things got ugly. My dad actually missed the countdown because he was still waiting at the restaurant, before they finally found the car, a few minutes into the New Year. We eventually got a couple hundred dollars of additional compensation, but methinks we will not be returning to that restaurant, or using that valet service ever again.
- We took some wedding party photos at Yerba Buena Gardens. During the shoot, we noticed some creepy guys hiding behind bushes taking photos of us. Eventually we scared them off, but I'm sure they had lots of photos already. Oh well.
- As my sister and her husband were doing additional pre-ceremony photos in various locations around the city, it started to sprinkle a bit. Luckily the dress she'd chosen was pretty forgiving, and there was no visible damage.
- The bridesmaids had nothing to do between 2-4pm, got sleepy, and some tried to nap in the bridal suite. Napping without crushing your expensively and elaborately styled hair is basically impossible.
- During the reception, my brother discovered yet another creepy guy hiding between the curtains and the windows in the ballroom. He was also taking photos. He ran off before my brother was able to accost him. What's with the creepy photo-taking wedding crashers?
- All of us were pretty much dead on our feet by the time the wedding ended around 1am, but we still helped clean up a bit, went back to our rooms to wash the pounds of makeup and hairspray out, and then got up in time for the 11am brunch the next day. The photos from that morning are probably less than flattering.

The wedding itself was gorgeous, of course (given that my sister is a total perfectionist). D was the officiant, and he was pretty great, if I do say so myself.

Some photos of the reception decor...

escort card display:


tablescapes:



the lounge area next to the dance floor: