Wedding Recap Part III

Oooooops, I forgot to post this before I moved on to the conclusion! Better late than never...

Previously, on Wedding Recaps... Let's see, I got through the ceremony, so it's on to the cocktail reception!

9. Cocktails were a very "happy hour." We were originally going to have the cocktail hour in the side hallway of Mount Stephen Hall (where we dined and danced), which I was happy about at the time, as it is a cute area with character and a lot of cool benches for seating. However, when we decided to change from a plated dinner to the Night at the Castle food stations, we had to change venues because a couple of food stations would be taking up that area. At one point it looked like our only option was in a totally separate part of the hotel, far away from the Petrak (ceremony) room and Mount Stephen. We hated that idea, and for a while it looked like that was going to make the plated meal vs. food station decision, which was sad (we were all rooting for the Night at the Castle). We also didn't like sending people too far away from Mt Stephen, thinking we might lose a guest or two before dinner! But then when I was talking to the coordinator at the hotel one day, she told us that she had noticed that the Riverview Lounge had freed up, and that she had booked it in our names. We were really excited, because not only was it right next to the Petrak room, but it is an absolutely lovely room with huge windows that look out into the tree-scattered mountains. As I said before, we took bridal party photos before the ceremony so we could enjoy this time with guests, which was one of the best decisions we could have made. Cue photos!

The view out of one of the windows of the
Riverview Lounge (Amy F)

Here are some of the big armchairs that keep the castle
theme alive in the hotel. L to R, that's Andrea, Jen,
Sindy, Alisha and Lara (?)

Danny and me. He was so adorable, trying
not to come to close because his mom told
him to be very careful of my dress! (Amy A)

10. It was a blessing to have extended family at the wedding. Weddings are about friends and family, and before ours, people told me what a great excuse they were to have bring everyone together in one place. When we were creating the guest list, it was exciting that our families would be coming together not only symbolically but literally, too. As I mentioned before, we know each others' more immediate families pretty well. Over the years, we've also been able to meet other family members when they were in town to visit in Calgary, Vancouver, LA and San Francisco. The wedding was a great opportunity to truly join our two families, and it was lovely to see aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents again, or meet new faces. Our photographer did a great job of taking larger family photos, but we haven't gotten them yet, so I'll just post some smaller group pictures here. I'm sorry I don't have photos of everyone, but hopefully more are on the way! My family's covered (a pretty small contingent), but I'm missing Ruby, Andrew, Brian and Miguel, as well as Brian's Dad's side of the family - they contributed photos but aren't in many of them!)

My cousins Di Yi, Cheung Dat, Li and Kam (Li F's camera)

My cousin Allan, Uncle Steve, Uncle and Aunt Ho Fai (Li F)

Brian's mom's side: Ah Ma and Ye Ye in front, then
2nd row L-R is Peggy, Aunt Wendy, Ah Ma's sister and her
sister in law, Aunt Winnie, cousin Michelle (who's getting
married to Jesse, standing behind her, in August!)
3rd row L-R is Ginny, cousins George and Sean (hiding behind),
Uncle David and cousin Nolan (Wendy S's camera)

Up next, we move from the Riverview Lounge into Mount Stephen Hall for a dinner full of laughter, tears and grooves...