A Beautiful South Korean Wedding

My brother was recently married to his long-time girlfriend Yoon Mi in South Korea. Due to Hadley's hospital stay, lack of a passport or proper shots, my inability to leave her for more than 2 hours at a time, and the loss of income, we were unable to go. It is one of my biggest disappointments in life. Family is so important, and especially my love for my baby brother and his wife, it broke our hearts not being able to be there. That being said, my parents took the 14 hour flight and 23 hour travel time to go to Daegu, South Korea to be a part of the festivities.

On their wedding day, they had two ceremonies. The first was in front of 200+ guests. Some of the highlights included a runway, bubbles, and fog machine. Can I take this time to ask if you've ever seen a more picturesque bride? Yoon Mi is a vision of beauty. She is glowing like an angel.

I would also like to take this time to state that I am not going to use this space to make a joke about how my father looks like Yoon Mi's butler. It is so very hard for me, but I'm going to take the high ground.

Following the large ceremony, the immediate family went to a separate room to have a traditional korean ceremony. I never thought I would say this, but fuschia is a great color for my brother. I also LOVE the backdrop on the wall. I would like to order some wallpaper please for our office.

Here is a great family portrait of Yoon Mi with her parents, younger brother and younger sister. What a handsome family.

And finally, there was a part of the ceremony in which my parents had to toss the newlywed couple some dates and nuts representing how many children (boys and girls) they would have during their marriage. By the looks of it, you can see they caught everything thrown at them. You better get cracking you little rascals.


Should your curiosity get the better of you because I was not descriptive enough, feel free to ask any questions that you have about traditional South Korean Weddings and I will have my brother and Yoon Mi chime in with all of the answers.

ONE YEAR

One year ago today, we were getting ready to head to the wedding rehearsal. Our close friends and relatives had all come to town and were on their way over to our house to hang out and eat food. It was a magical time for us that we look back on with fond memories.

Holy crap, DG and I have been married for one year! The actual date is this Sunday, but we will be going out Saturday night to celebrate. Here's to eternity, and children.

Wedding Video

We got our wedding video in the mail yesterday that my Dad edited and burned to DVD. It includes the rehearsal dinner in our backyard, everyone getting ready before the wedding, the wedding, the reception, and then us leaving. It was great to watch, especially all of the good wishes that everyone gave us at the wedding. These were fun because we did not know that my Dad had filmed people. My favorite moments were Roxanne being so sweet in her message, Mark getting verclempt, Joy getting verclempt, and Holly's husband Bruce saying "The advice don't go to bed angry is really great advice. I would like to add to that, when you go to bed, don't go to sleep." I'm working on DG putting some video clip links here. In case you did not see his site, he posted a couple of minutes of our vows HERE that Erin took. I will say that our vows were LONG, too long, longer than my toe nail. My mother had warned me, but I brushed it off because I wanted to be done with the planning.

Happy Wedding Day

In our travels, we went to two vastly different, yet gorgeously done weddings. After we came got back from Alaska, we went to Kevin and Kim's wedding in Seattle. Now the picture below is perhaps not the best view and honestly, I don't know that they want their picture on the blog, but this shot is actually about the green kissing ball. These flower balls, made from green kermit mums are my absolute favorite. Their ceremony was held on a grassy lawn and these lined the aisles beautifully. Had I been able to splurge on flowers at our wedding, I would have ordered dozens of these green balls. LOVE THEM.


The next wedding was for my MBFITW3 Joy and her husband Mark. It was held outdoors in front of the Island Inn in Monegan. Have I mentioned that you need to go there? No really, fly cross country and go, or drive, you will not be dissappointed. Did I mention the lobster strata at breakfast every morning? That alone is worth the plane fare.

Ok, back to the wedding. It was sweet, beautiful, and just so filled with Joy's personality. One woman on the island with an amazing flower garden, created all of the boquets for the entire group. Even David got a bout that we kept because the aroma of whatever plant she used was amazing. After Joy and Mark gave their vows, a whale spouted in the harbor behind them creating this magical aura over the event. Afterwards, we went inside the Inn and dined on Lobster, blueberry soup, and cake. It was a perfect week-end.


Congratulations to all the new brides.

Just Married

DG posted some good pics too. All of these photos were taken by Trevor Brown, Jr./Trevor Brown Photography.

I Do

Once upon a time, a boy and a girl arrived at the Mansion.


The FOB walked the girl down the aisle.


The boy and the girl said "I Do"



You may now kiss the girl


The boy and the girl officeally became Mr. and Mrs. Team Gibson.



And the story continues....

From Here to Eternity

It was a perfect day.

It's the final countdown

Yes, now sing along with me...

The familly arrived Wednesday evening and tomorrow is our rehearsal and dinner. We had fun, but now I've got so many things to do that I am unable to fall asleep. I am insomnia blogging. Rare as I usually am asleep before my head hits the pillow. Literally, I can be out before DG finishes brushing his teeth.

Maybe I will try to hypnotize myself..."My eyes are so heavy, I am getting very sleepy."

What do people do when Leno is over?

I just ate the last piece of pie. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not.

I better fall asleep soon as bags are not pretty on a girl.

Next time you hear from my, I will be Mrs. C A G.

Marriage License, CHECK

We walked down to the court house at lunch yesterday and got our Marriage License. It was thrilling and surreal all at the same time. It made me realize how much the government is involved in our affairs. They had an arch in the waiting room, covered in blinking lights which made us realize that we could have saved ourselves a lot of time and just come down to the Justice of the Peace. ::I can hear my mother groaning from here:: Though our pictures would not have been so nice.

The entire process was completely painless, until the woman at the counter asked if we were related. "Um, second cousins don't count do they?" I replied. Then I was gently scolded for making her nervous and doubtful of us. Other than not remembering where my parents were born, we were issued a license. Full throttle ahead to eternity.

Peas in a Pod

It's like we are meant to be together, like peanut butter and jelly, salt and pepper, pizza and beer, boobs and wieners.

Got My Hairs Did

Saturday I had my hair trial for my wedding day. What you didn't know you had to practice? Oooh the details.

She didn't actually do it the exact way it will be with hot rollers and all. Instead she pinned it back and sprayed the heck out of it. It's going to look something like this.

A Tour of Our Location

We had our final walk through last night to cement some of the final details for our wedding day. Here's the 5 cent tour:

The ceremony will take place on the rooftop facing City Park. 80% of the guests will be sheltered from the 90 degree sun. ::keeping fingers crossed for sun::


Following the ceremony, we will invite the entire wedding over to City Park to take a group photo. Mmmm, pretty green park.


After photos, we will retire to the ballroom for brunch. We will have larger tables than the ones shown here. And following brunch we will drink mimosas and listen to Cocktail Revolution until we are kicked out.

It's getting to be that time. Need to go check things off my list.

The Countdown Begins

It's official. We are one month away.

My alter ego, the Avatar is ready and waiting. See you at the altar DG.

Shower games

We had a few fun shower games on Saturday. Jinnie, my future sister-in-law asked me a list of 20 Newlywed type questions and video taped my responses. Little did I know that she had recorded DG answering the same questions which she played back afterwards.

Beyond the 'where was our first date?', 'how much toothpaste does he use?', and 'what's my bra size?' type questions, the raunchiest one was 'Besides the bedroom, where was the last place we had nookie?' I was given one pass and thank goodness was able to pass on that question. I mean really with my mother (The Rev.), aunt, and DG's mother there, I was beginning to sweat like a whore in church under all the pressure. I was foiled however when DG answered the question in the video portion. *doh* He thinks I'm an A minus by the way. He also did a great rendition of me spritzing on perfume.

At the very end of the video, Jinnie asks him to give final words to me, and they cut to him sitting in a bubble bath. Needless to say, this brought a tear to my eye as it was not only funny, but the bubbles were starting to dissipate and I was worried about the shower seeing his man jewels.

When the bride is hungry, it's time to eat!

Here comes the wiener, all dressed in....

Friday afternoon, when my mom and I were running errands, we went into a cute shop called Macy Macy. It is a mix of handmade dog clothes and eclectic people stuff. The store was closing, but the owner who has a little Chihuahua was promoting a "Doggie Prom" as a benefit to a local Animal Hospital next week-end. I looked at my mom and asked her if she could whip up some outfits for the babies and I believe I got the eye roll.

Later, during the shower, when I was opening my gifts from her, I became quite verclempt when suddenly before me, was a pearled white knit outfit. Upon closer inspection, I find that it is a wedding dress for Tica, with a matching Tux for Mr. Gibson that she had made. I almost started sobbing uncontrollably in front of everyone.


Tica is not really interested in wearing her veil, but I am thinking that they will be the hit of the prom.

Showered with Love

Saturday morning, we were at Cynthia's house by 11:00 a.m. for a lovely Wedding Shower brunch. It was more than I could have asked for. She had the tables set with green ribbon and beautiful flowers and she cooke all of my favorite dishes including a Spinach Strata and the best carrot cake ever. My friends also brought dishes, including Erin who made THE best Cardamon coffee cake I have ever had in my life! We will be requesting the recipe for that very soon.


Aunt Betty, me, my mom

I will be posting more pictures all week. I have the most wonderful, generous loving friends a girl could ask for who gave the most beautiful thoughtful gifts. Previews to come!

The Meet and Greet

The week-end has been a whirlwind of good times, great eating, and families meeting. Like any good mom would, mine is picking broccoli out of my teeth at the table in front of everyone. Now what would dinner be without conversation about dogs peeing, broccoli in your teeth, or discussions about other bodily functions?

I took the day off on Friday to hang out with my parents and Aunt Betty who came to town. In the afternoon, we toured the location that the wedding is going to take place and then headed back to our house for our big dinner. I gave my parents a few simple instructions: 1) BEHAVE and 2) absolutely NO talking about politics. I told them they may be lured into talking about politics, but to resist. I said, "Even if you are on the same side, RESIST!" I find that politics in general just make discussions tense.

We had a great time, good meeting, and made it through dinner without politics coming up once. It wasn't until I was cleaning up afterwards that Aunt Betty came in and told me that one of my rules was flying rapidly out the window. But even political talk did not dampen our evening. We still all had a really good time.



At the end of the evening, Jinnie let me open one of my shower gifts early that she and her mom Mary had gotten for me. I LOVE my new drink dispenser. Could it be more beautiful? How many bees knees will I need to make to fill this up?

The whole Famdamnly is coming

Well not exactly everyone, but my parents and my aunt are flying in tomorrow morning for my wedding shower on Saturday. I am so excited I could just pee my panties. DGs parents are coming too and we are having a big meet and greet this weekend. Can you believe they are 20 years apart in age?

So tonight is totally task oriented. Purchase food for the masses at Costco and clean the house. Not just pick up and dust the corners like we do for our other guests, like get out the q-tips and bleach and scour clean. Weed the whole garden clean. What is our obsession to still please our parents? Do we feel we are more respectable children for weeding the garden and having a clean home? At 35 why am I still trying to impress them? It is like grade school all over again. Back then it was look at my report card with straight A's, now it's see how cute my family is and have you checked out the immaculate toilet? Will I be 60 doing poop patrol in the back yard so my 80 year old mother can go sniff the rose garden?

I DO!

I purchased these letters on EBAY to decorate our cake table at the wedding. They are really fun and I would recommend them for anyone wanting to spell your kid's name on their bedroom wall! You just pick the font, color, size, click, and buy. They even send some double sided tape for you to stick them to the wall.

Engagement Pictures

We went to City Park this morning to meet with our wedding photographer Trevor to take some Engagement Pictures. All I can say is wow, our expectations were exceeded beyond anything we could have imagined. I found Trevor on Craigslist.com. He put in an ad for trade. He needs a website and we need a wedding photographer. Trevor is currently working full time as a photographer for the Denver Broncos and Rockies. Not only does he photograph the games, but he also travels with the teams to their away games, and photographs their big events and banquets. He has done weddings before, but would like to move more into this arena. When David originally met with him he was convinced it was a perfect match. After today, there is no question. He is not only a great photographer but he and his wife/assistant Kristen are very endearing fun people. The one above is unique because the trees flowers were falling as we were kissing and it smelled so good. Here are a couple of the highlights.

This is the bandstand at City Park that at one point was a Contender for the ceremony location.


This one was taken behind the Museum of Nature and Science. Yes, that is the Downtown Denver Skyline behind us! On the left of David is the boathouse where we had started our photo shoot.


And finally, another one with the dogs.

Backyard Clean-up Phase 1

Last spring, Dave and I hired workers to take down our old metal fence and put up a new 6' privacy fence around 3/4 of our backyard. Truth be told we got a great deal and we love it. Then last fall in the 1/4 part of the yard we had not built a fence, our neighbor cut down all the ghetto trees and shrubs separating our properties leaving us a view of their not so scenic backyard.

These are pictures of them working last year. Here are DG's before and after shots from last year.

Since we are planning on having the rehearsal dinner in the backyard, we decided to start Phase 1 of our backyard clean-up. Yesterday, workers came to put in that last part of the 6" privacy fence. So now the dogs are now safely barricaded in the back yard, (sneaky Tica can't get out anymore), our house value goes up and we are now ready for nude badminton games. Sunday we start phase 2 which will consist of a patio put in by our garden. The grass does not grow back there, it is lower than the rest of the yard, and the sprinkler system does not go back that far. Win win for us. Phase 3 will begin when we start planting shrubbery and flowers. Pictures coming soon.

Engagement Party

Holly and Bruce threw David and me an engagement party on Friday night for 40 of our friends that are coming to the wedding. It was set up as a wine tasting at their house, and we had just the best time. Some highlights of the night:

Cynthia and Jeff getting a babysitter for the first time in 4 1/2 years and having over 2 hours of uninterrupted adult conversation. It was so great having them there and Jeff is smiling!!! Cynthia is my bridesmaid, and though she had a baby 2 months ago, she is already back down to a Size 4 and ready to go dress shopping. It's ok to be jealous it truly is unreal.


Great Food as shown by David's sister Jinnie and Lora (My usher). Notice Lora drinking, what is that, a soda? Someone has just announced she has a bun in the oven! Also, Sarah made a dip from the Friend's recipes she won at our Christmas party and it was a big hit as well.

Good Wine - Bruce typed up some sheets with descriptions of the wines they had. This is Holly, thrower of the party and my Maid of Horror, I mean Honor. It's ok, it's a pet name, really. You would think I would have a better picture of Holly?!? After 10 years of living in the house, she and Bruce painted and refinished the stairs to have it done in time for the party. Sometimes you just need a push to get you going.


They had a scrapbook at the front door with a Polaroid camera. Everyone took their snapshots and signed the pictures. It will be such a great memory to have.

Shoes, almost check!

I went to one store a few week-ends ago and thought I found a perfect pair of shoes to wear for the wedding. 1) They give my little sausage toes room to breath in the August heat, 2) yet don't strap in anything to bloody them up; and 3) no flip flopping. Now it may seem too early to be thinking about what shoes to wear, but I needed them to try on with my dress that she is ready to start hemming.

I had my 2nd dress fitting this week and stood in them for about 15 minutes while she pinned the dress. Now I'm not so sure that they are as comfortable as I thought they would be and they are not a good shade to match the dress. Conundrum! If I find a new pair of shoes, they have to have this EXACT same heel. Stupid meaningless decisions.