This is a wedding from 2003. My good friend Art and his new wife Kat were married in Chicago's DePaul/Lincoln Park neighborhood. Art is from Chicago and Kat is from Rockford. The reception was held downtown in the Chicago Cultural Center. You may have seen the stairwell used in the Brian dePalma's film The Untouchables with Kevin Costner and Robert DeNiro.
This is one of the first weddings that I attended. It was held in Cedar Rapids Iowa with the reception in the Five Seasons; that's one more season than I am aware of! Anyway, my University of Chicago classmates Maria and John Michael were married here. It was a party for our former undergraduate classmates.
You can see in the pictures, our college housemates: Stephanie, Dave, Rick, and Lisa. George, the one with the glasses, was Lisa's boyfriend at the time, and we were on the wrestling team together. In fact, you can see us dancing! I was going out with Mary at the time, she is an Art Institute of Chicago graduate. At the time, my roommate was Rick, and is seen hugging his beer bottle. Today, Maria and John Michael remain happily married and living in California
In 2003, my cousin Rebecca married Franklin in Seattle. This was the first wedding of my generation! The reception was held in Vancouver. The Chinese food is much better in Vancouver, because many former British Commonwealth Hong Kong immigrants have recently moved there. One reminder, at a Cantonese (Guang Dong) wedding, it's all about the food!
The wedding was held on a Saturday and the reception on a Sunday night. Traditionally, there are a number of costume changes for the bride, and you can see Rebecca in white, red, and black dresses. Also, there was a 10 course meal, and I am building this web page. Also interesting is the 'egg game,' see the bottom row center picture to see how this works.
A cantonese wedding is measured by it's food quality. Traditionally, the second or third course of the meal is the soup. It is the quality of this that portends the rest of the meal. As shown here, the number 1 soup is served: shark's fin soup. Bird's nest would be number 2, and everything else would be cause for concern. In San Francisco, a single bowl sells for 10 to 48 USD. In London's Mayflower, the price is £108. It was a very nice reception.