Weddingbee bios

We are two newly-wed optometrists enjoying married life and ready to explore the world together =)

I was born in Missouri, lived in Mississippi, and eventually moved to California when I was 6. So I pretty much consider myself a California girl at heart. I grew up in the Bay Area, went to college in San Diego (go UCSD!), and moved out to Boston for 4 years for optometry school.

Joe was born and raised in San Francisco. He also went to UCSD for college and then he was off to New York for optometry school.

We dated over 5 years before we got engaged and had a 2 year engagement for a total of 7 years before we eventually got married. Five of those seven were long distance-- between CA & NY, Boston & NY, and Boston & CA.

We finally got married August 8, 2009 and have been loving it ever since! It feels incredible to finally be living in the same city and starting our lives together as husband and wife =)

 

We met in the fall of 2001. I was a freshman and he was a sophomore at the University of California, San Diego. We were both part of the Asian American Christian Fellowship on campus. He saw me one night after our fellowship meeting and decided to talk to me. Actually we had many opportunities to meet each other previously, but it so happened that we met on just another ordinary day. Acquaintances led to friendship and friendship led to more than just friends and that led to dating (along with lots of drama!) and the rest is history

**Disclaimer: We both wrote our point of views of what happened the night of our proposal. It's super long so why not just get a cup of coffee or some popcorn if you decide to read this! =) Enjoy!

 

Our Engagement Story (August 27, 2007)

Karen's POV (Point of View)

This summer, I only had a month of August off because I had to stay in Boston for summer session and to study for the National Boards. My parents had planned a 2-week trip to Taiwan. Before I left for vacation, Joe told me to save Monday and Tuesday (August 27 and 28) to hang out with him since it was his birthday and that would be the only time we saw each other before Joe had to return to New York and I, to Boston. He told me he already had a fun day planned in San Francisco for that Monday but that it was a surprise. I didn't suspect anything since Joe likes to plan fun events and keep them "secret." Although I did find it kind of weird that he planned something for his own birthday. Wasn't I the one that was suppose to plan something?

I return home from Taiwan and Joe still doesn't tell me what we're doing on our "fun day." The thought did cross my mind, "I wonder if he's going to propose?" But I decided to brush that thought aside. I figured he would most likely propose during Christmastime or next summer.

Monday, August 27 rolls around. At 10:00 am, we took a lovely 3-hour food-tasting tour in the North Beach and Little Italy area of San Francisco. The places that we went to included Caffe Roma, XOX Truffles, St. Peter and Paul Church, Liguria Bakery, Italian French, Pallermo Delicatessen, Victoria Pastry Co., Caffe Trieste, and the Purple Onion. We got to sample so many different items—fresh ground coffee, French truffles, focaccia bread, croissants, french bread, biscotti, macaroons, olive oil, deli meats, and eclairs—mmmm…all so delicious! I would recommend this tour, by the way=)

At 2:30 pm we set sail for Alcatraz, also known as the Rock! This totally brought back childhood memories of field trips to Alcatraz. We enjoyed the beautiful sites of the bay and the city and took an audio tour of the island. Then we sailed back to the city around 4:30 pm, walked around by Pier 39, and enjoyed the hilarious entertainment of the Bush Man! He sits on the side of the sidewalk dressed in a straw hat and straw skirt while holding up tree branches. As innocent, oblivious pedestrians walk by Bush Man scares the living daylights out of them. It makes for great laughs and I would also recommend stopping by to visit the Bush Man if you're ever in San Francisco! =D

For dinner, we go to a quaint French restaurant called Annie's Bistro. Before we had even ordered yet, Joe was complaining to me that his stomach as hurting really badly. I told him to go poo. So he goes to the bathroom and says that he feels slightly better. Thirty minutes into dinner, he tells me that he feels nauseous and has a slight headache. I thought he was probably catching a cold from the crazy wind and chilly weather when we were going to Alcatraz. I told Joe to try and go to the bathroom again. He tells me that the bathroom is really small, dark, damp, and located right next to the kitchen. He says that he feels uncomfortable in the small bathroom and that the odor of feces and food didn't mix well together haha!! Joe tells me that he really wanted to take me to a pretty public garden that his friend recommended. The garden supposedly had extremely nice, fancy public restrooms that had great architecture, décor, and even smelled like flowers! He said he wanted to check out these fancy restrooms and that it would probably be a more comfortable setting for him to "do his business."=) I, being the gullible one, agreed that we could go check out this place after dinner.

Throughout the evening I noticed that Joe barely ate which is very unlike him. He even had to get a to-go box for his leftovers, which rarely happens! I, on the other hand, was totally pigging out! We ordered an appetizer; I ate that. I ordered a bowl of soup for myself and finished it. I also scarfed down my entrée so I didn't have any leftovers. Joe complains of feeling nauseous and having a stomachache so I suggest him to go to the bathroom again. When he is away, the waiter asks me if we wanted dessert, like some crème brulee, and that it was going to be on the house! For some weird reason, Joe and I were the only ones at the restaurant this whole time and the waiter wanted to thank us for giving them business for the evening. Of course I said yes! Who can resist or deny free dessert, especially if it's crème brulee?!

When Joe came back from the bathroom, I was already cracking into the shell of the crème brulee! I tell him it was on the house and he kind of rolls his eyes at me haha! He said he couldn't really go to the bathroom at the restaurant and that he really wanted to leave and go to the fancy public bathrooms. I say okay but that we needed to finish the crème brulee first! Joe agrees and takes one bite. That's it? There was no way I was leaving without finishing it. So with a few gigantic scoops with my spoon, I finish the crème brulee all by myself=) See, talk about pigging out!

We finally leave the restaurant around 8:15 pm. Joe is almost running to the car. I'm thinking, "Man, he must really have to go!" We get to the public garden, which is located in this posh, ritzy neighborhood. I admire the beautiful houses and the gorgeous view. We get to Lyon's Street Steps (the public garden). As I'm approaching, I notice that there are candles leading all the way up the steps. There are runners going up and down the steps and I'm thinking, "Wow, this place is so fancy! They even light up candles at night so that the runners can see!" As I get closer to the first candle I notice a small card. I tap Joe and tell him, "Look, there's a wedding going on!" I read the card more closely and it says, "Welcome to Our Adventure: Karen and Joe's journey through the past 5 years together…" I think to myself, "Whoa, the couple's name is also Karen and Joe? Wait, that's me!" I was super confused. Then I see a framed picture of Joe and I together next to the candle. The next 10 minutes or so were a blur to me. I just remember walking up the steps with Joe, looking at our pictures together, and quickly reading the cards. Then we reached the end where there was an empty picture frame that was reserved for a photo from this particular moment. The next thing I knew, Joe was saying a speech, I was kind of listening but not sure if I heard everything, and I was laughing hysterically throughout. At the end of his speech, he told me that he loved me for the very first time in 5 years, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him! Of course I said yes=) This is getting really long so I will spare you some details because I know that Joe will include it in his point of view.

More surprises were yet to come. We go back to Joe's house to celebrate with family. Then all our close friends from high school and college came out of the backyard and surprised us! Joe had set up a surprise engagement party so that our family and friends could celebrate with us in this particular moment=)

Thank you so much to our family and friends who helped tremendously in making sure that this day went smoothly. I'm really impressed that my parents kept this from me for 3 months! Thank you all for your friendships. We thank God for blessing our lives with people like you!

Joe's POV (Point of View)

I decided that Karen was the ONE pretty much 2 years into our relationship. However, since we were in undergrad and going to Optometry school after, gettin married wasn't an option yet. Especially when God did not place us both in NY and we ended up being 4 hrs away on the East Coast, marriage didn't seem appropriate at the time. So when this past year came around and it came to realization that I would be graduating in a year, marriage again became a constant thought in my mind. It also helped that everyone around me was getting engaged and married...that along with constant playful whinings of Karen saying, "It's not fair everyone's getting married! We've dated longer than anyone else!" Hahahaha..so true..so true =P

So Karen and I have all along talked about marriage the past 3 years. We've casually discussed how we wanted it, who we would invite, the style and food, even color schemes. We would pretend to shop for rings when we walked around in malls so she could hint to me what kind she liked and basically did what any already engaged couple would do. I think it really did weigh on Karen's mind that it would take forever for us to be hitched since we had so much school ahead of us. And it was kinda weird talkin about our future wedding when we weren't even engaged yet. So marriage was def on her mind.

I decided to propose this summer because we planned to have the big day Summer 2009 after Karen graduates. Why 2 years early you say? Well Karen would know for sure I would propose sometime in 08 and would be second guessing my every move. So I decided to do it a year early to surprise her and catch her off guard!

I seriously began thinking about it early this year on how and when exactly I should do it. However, it was so difficult because I wanted to be original and not corny and wanted it back in SF or SD..but since I was in NY..it just gave me a headache..haha. I finally decided on the last week of August 2007 since that was the only time I get a break from rotations and both Karen and I will be back in SF. Having a time frame in mind help me set goals in terms of buying the ring, meeting with her parents, telling my fam/friends, creating the proposal idea, setting it up, and throwing a possible surprise party after. OH man...the stress has BEGUN!!

I kinda put everything off for a couple months since I was getting too stressed out about it and I figure it was still more than 1/2 a year away. But as always, time creeps up at you and May hit. I was bored one day of studying for my last set of finals of my 3rd year..and started looking at ring websites that I bookmarked over the past years when I was ring searching. I had an idea of what Karen liked from our many discussions and to my amazement I landed on a ring that was perfect! Im like..am I really gonna make the biggest purchase of my life by just clicking the "Buy Now" button?? It was too good to pass up and being afraid of losing this ring to someone else, I closed my eyes and clicked the right mouse button solidifying the start of the new beginning. The following wkend, with Karen in LA for Christie Yamada's wedding, I had my shot at askin her parents for their blessing w/o her knowing I went to her house. So on Memorial Day wkend, I snuck over to San Jose and was accepted into the Li family =)

Getting the ring in my possession pushed me forward in my proposal planning. Through the summer, I researched multiple places in SF that I could do it. I didn't want somewhere too touristy or too generic but it had to have an ocean/scenic view. I somehow landed on a wedding blog site and the Lyons St. steps was recommended as a relatively unknown romantic spot. The pictures on the website impressed me displaying beautiful views from a historic staircase in a posh neighborhood close to the Palace of Fine Arts. I knew I had to choose this place. The perfect idea started to form in my mind over the next few days..I would use the steps to symbolize our journey in our relationship over the past 5+ years. I would put candles up the stairs to make it romantic and do it during sunset. I would place various photographs of significant moments in our relationship showing how far we've come since we 1st met. And the top..facing the Bay and all its glory, I would place the last photo frame..and empty one..for that moment when I am down in one knee..the climax to all things..my proposal to her.

My excitement continued to grow as August approached as I had a plan! Now i had to plan the surprise party after. I started compiling emails of our friends from various points in my life and created a guestlist for a dessert party at my place after I would propose. Thanks to my family, they pretty much took over with the food and decorations at my house. I just had to make sure no one accidentally slipped to Karen about anything since by the time I proposed, over 70 people knew!

THE DAY OF...

I planned a fun day for Karen on 8/27/07 as we always have fun days together. She was gone the past 2 wks in Taiwan so I wasn't really able to speak and of course not see her for a couple weeks. So I used that as an excuse for our excursion. I first surprised her by takin her to a food tasting tour in North Beach/Little Italy. For 3 hours we had a guide take a small group of us to local hotspots where we sampled Italian breads, olive oils, truffles, pastries, meats, and coffees. We also learned how they made these various items to perfection. Full of sampling, we hiked over to Pier 33 where we jumped on the ferry to Alcatraz! Both of us haven't been on the Rock for many years so we had a great time taking the audio tour and pretending to be prisoners..hehe. After our island excursion, we chilled for a bit walking along the piers finding our favorite friend..the BUSH man! Taking some laughs at adults being scared we headed back to the car to drive over for dinner. This is where the FUN begins...not!

We arrive at the French restaurant which is near my proposal spot around 6:30pm. We place our order and start chatting when suddenly a wave of anxiety hits me. I have NO idea what happened since the whole day I was feeling fine although i was OCD and kept checking my left pocket to make sure the ring was still there. But I started feeling nauseous and light-headed as I knew the time was approaching. We had a lot of food come so I did my best to act normal and eat everything but the wave of panic and stress kept coming and coming. Not only that, I had to coordinate calls from my friends and sister who were setting up everything a couple blocks away w/o raising suspicion. I could barely force down my food w/o throwing up and by then Karen was noticing I was uncomfortable. I made up a story that I was getting sick (altho pretty much true) and that my stomach was acting up. My trips to the bathroom concealed my secret phone calls to the proposal crew as well as harbored my time of prayer for relief as well as practice my proposal speech. I was planning on getting to the spot at 8pm but we were running kind of late as I stepped out of the bathroom around 7:50p. Getting to the table expecting to leave..I see that our waiter has comped Karen a free Creme Brulee! Normally I would be elated for free food but since we were not on schedule and I was already nervous as heck..it did not help at all. I made Karen scarf it down as I complained about bowel movements and such and the need to go to these "really nice public bathrooms in this garden a couple blocks away that has flowers inside since I couldn't go poo in the restaurant cause it was small and dirty". Sensing an impending doom in my plan, I crossed my fingers she would believe me and thank God she did. We finally left the restaurant and headed over to the spot.

Giving the fake call to my sister (who was actually Christina Lee) to let them know we were here, we approached the steps. Whispering a prayer to myself that everything will be set up we walked up to the beginning. And there it was:

Candles lined the steps all the way up the hill..surrounded by a lush garden with foliage to keep the area secluded..a vast fog lined the city skyline and covered the deep waters of the Bay behind us. Karen approaches a big candle with a little tag. Confused and thinking out loud that someones wedding is taking place now, she reads the card: "Our Adventure: Welcome to Karen and Joe's past 5 years" She exclaims, "WHAT THE HECK?!" Looking at me w/ shock and disbelief, everything begins to unravel in her mind. I urge her to continue walking..

She follows the candles to the 1st picture..one of our 1st pictures ever taken together..before we were dating..at La Jolla Cove. She reads the tag which begins the poem that would lead her up the steps to 4 other pictures that were significant to us. Following the trail of light..Karen comes across our 1st year anniversary..our 1st dance together..picture w/ us both wearing glasses signifying our joint profession..and our last 5th year anniversary. Finally reaching the clearing..surrounded by already present flowers..a last frame was stood..empty..with just a message in front: "Love Eternal" The last frame was for that moment..the pinnacle of all things..so I got down on one knee and held out the box..and asked Karen to marry me.

More shocked than anything..and giggling nervously..and w/ my friends hiding in the bushes taking pictures..she says "Of course"! I carefully slip the ring on her left hand and all the anxiety, stress, pain, and suffering left my body as I knew at that moment, it was perfect. I had Karen forever =)

So the plan now was for my friends to congratulate us and then pretend to say goodbye as we would leave to go back to my house for a party with JUST our relatives. However, the only slip up of the day was to be unfolded. It seemed that as I exited Karen's car on route to the proposal spot, I was so nervous I ripped the key off the keychain when it was still in the ignition. Thinking I had her keys in my hand, we locked the door and walked to the spot. Therefore, the key was locked in the car!!! Flipping out, since 30+ people were waiting at my house for us..and that we were running late..the stress quickly rushed back to torture me. Breathing slowly, I conferred w/ my good friend Kellen on what to do and we decided that we would all squeeze into his car and he will drive us back to my house since Karen's mom had a spare key. We could just come back later that night to pick the car up. So thus we started our drive back...

Feeling a little better that we were on our way to the surprise party and happy that we were engaged, I started to easen up. It was still a little difficult to breathe since I probably held my breath the past 2 hrs prior starting at dinner but I just wanted to make sure everything followed thru. We entered my house and our parents were there to congratulate us and such...then...out of nowhere..our friends appeared from the backyard streaming into the house surprising Karen and offering their congratulations as well. The night was rounded out by myriads of desserts, champagne toast, a Pastoral blessing, a nervous speech by me, cake cutting, and catching up w/ old friends. It truly was a great experience.

WOW! If you've read up to here..you've probably either 1/2 passed out, extremely bored, or you really are interested in our story! Either way, thank you SO much for being part of our lives. It has been a long road, marked w/ many highs and lows, but in the end our story ended happily ever after with a Rock on Karen's finger and a fun story to tell. We look forward to our wedding where we can again celebrate w/ everyone who came to the party as well as many of those who were not able to make it. I'm sure I left out many details but feel free to ask any one of us about the day and we'll be more than happy to share w/ you. Also, there will be pictures and postings on xanga and facebook so look out for that!

Again, THANK YOU for all the congrats and well wishes!! We are honored and blessed and are excited for many great things to come!!

~KAREN & JOE~

 

All images by Junshien of Junshien photography www.junshien.com.

If you would like to borrow our images please credit me and our photographer. Thanks! =)

 

 

 

 

I decided to get my dress custom-made. I used these 2 dresses as my inspiration. The first one is "Piper" by Vineyard and the second one is "Christina" by Enzoani. I'm still waiting on pro-pictures to see the final out-come =)

My seamstress was Lucy Pineda of Lucy's Alterations and Dress-making. She's located in San Bruno, CA. She did an excellent job~vendor review to come soon!

 

My bridesmaids wore Wtoo dresses (by Watters) Style 320 in Brook Luminescent Taffeta. I ordered all the dresses through netbride.com and they turned out great! Had an awesome experience with NetBride.

The groom's and groomsmen's tuxes were all rented from the Men's Wearhouse. If you rent 4 you get one free. Luckily we had 4 groomsmen so my husband's tux was free. The vests atched really well with the bridesmaids dresses.

 

All the groomsmen wore:

*Calvin Klein two-button Super 100's notch lapel

*Herringbone Periwinkle vest

 

 

All inspiration boards from www.stylemepretty.com

Our main color was blue and our secondary color was silver. Our florist added bright pink flower accents so that the blue wouldn't be washed out.

I love these blue/grey/silver inspiration boards from stylemepretty. The colors exude such peace and tranquility.

 

The inspiration:

Jessica Alba

 

Kate Beckinsale

 

Other (First photo from theknot.com; next two photos from tristalerit.com)

 

My Hair Trial (by Jira of Wowpretty)

My wedding day makeup was also done by Jira of Wowpretty

The Inspiration:

Ziyi Zhang

 

Kelly Hu

 

Lucy Liu

*Necklace from etsy.com

 

*Single pearl drop earrings by Laila Rose (bought in NYC store, image is close but not exact)

 

*Like all other brides, I had to get myself the b628 Haute Bride bracelet =)

My engagement ring (platinum cushion cut solitaire from bluenile.com)

 

His & Hers (from bluenile.com and novori.com)

"Desire" by Coloriffics from http://store.elegantbridaldiscount.com

I opted for a plain cathedral length veil. I wanted something simple yet timeless and elegant =) My veil was also custom-made by my seamstress who made my dress (Lucy Pineda of Lucy's Alterations & Dressmaking in San Bruno, CA). I think she did an amazing job of capturing what I wanted!

 

I found a lot of inspiration here on weddingbee and from previous bees

 

Real Weddings: Angeline & Jack

 

Mrs. Daffodil

 

Mrs. Eggplant

 

Mrs. Caramel

 

Katharine McPhee

 

First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto

*Candid Shots*

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant-Cupertino, CA

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Candid/Non-pro pics

*First Dance*

 

*Best Man & Maid of Honor Toasts*

 

*Father/Daughter & Mother/Son Dance*

 

*Cake Cutting*

 

*Bouquet & Garter Tosses*

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*Dancing & Having fun with guests =)*

 

 

Cakes By Ana (San Jose, CA)

Moorea (Intercontinental Moorea-3 nights)

Activities:

*Swimming with the dolphins, Tiki Village, kayaking, snorkeling, ATVing

 

Bora Bora (Intercontinental Le Moana-4 nights)

Activities:

*Shark & ray feeding, 4x4 safari, 1 hour massage and access to spa at Intercontinental Thalasso, jet skiing