Gung-Ho Wedding

I waited anxiously by the corridor. We hadn’t talked or seen each other since we parted that morning to get ready for our big day. With my eyes closed, I couldn’t help but be amazed by how it was only 5 years ago, on that very same day, that our families, the Gung family and Ho family, met each other for the first time at the Cherry Blossom Festival in my hometown of Macon, Georgia. And like the flowers themselves, we blossomed since that day forward. Over the years, even though circumstances had kept us miles apart, and even countries apart, we had always stuck together. Why? Because I knew she’s the one, and nothing could come in between us.

Standing in the hall with my eyes closed, I could sense her walking towards me from behind. She gently laid her hands on my shoulder.ย I turned around and opened my eyes. There she was, my bride, and she was beautiful.

This past week had been one of the most amazing weeks in my life —ย Irene and I finally professed our love for one another in front of our dearest friends and family, said our vows to each other, and officially gotten the blessings from our parents during an intimate Chinese Tea Ceremony.

We feel so thrilled to be able to celebrate with all our loved ones. It’s not everyday that that so many of our friends and family are together in one place, so it was really good seeing everyone. Most of our guests had traveled far to come to Miami for our wedding, some even traveling from overseas. I got to catch up with my college roommate of 4 years, Carl, who I hadn’t seen since we graduated from Washington University in St. Louis nearly 7 years ago, as well as my aunt Jeko and her husband Hank from California who I hadn’t seen since I was a scrawny little kid in high school. I saw my cousins and relatives from across the country, as well as second cousins from Taiwan. I saw long-time family friends and my best friends from AUC. I met a lot of people important in Irene’s life. It was an honor and a pleasure to have shared our special moment with everyone that night.ย Thank you so much everyone for being there with us. You made it a magical night for us.

Special thanks goes to our parents for raising us to become the individuals we are today and for hosting our event, our long-time family friend Mr. Okuma for leading our ceremony, our friend Vicente Lai for his violin playing, Jimmy and April Ho for the photobooth, guestbook, and everything else you’ve done for us, our bridesmaids, groomsmen, and parents for the awesome speeches and skit, Ana and Lester for the decorations, Tresha Titus for the planning of this most amazing night, Nikki Kidd band for the beautiful music and spirit to get the crowd moving, and the one and only Jim Colman for his amazing work behind the camera!