Weddingbee bios

The cornerstone of our relationship is respect, and with that, the acknowledgement that neither of us are subservient to the other. In fact, we are equal partners who support and strengthen each other, making up for each other's weaknesses, and growing together.

We survived a long-distance relationship and are now settled in sunny California!

The year it was announced that Beijing had won the rights to host the 2008 Olympics, he and I had, on opposite sites of the world, planned to visit Tibet in Summer.

However, protests around Mount Everest against China's lackluster human rights records resulted in Tibet being closed off to foreigners - like us. I then managed to rent a 4WD and a driver to explore the border area outside of the Chinese-enforced 'Tibet Autonomous Region', but needed other travelers to split the cost.

One post on the LonelyPlanet forum, and I received several replies. My future husband, then yet unknown, was one of the first few who responded. Ultimately, four of us, all solo travelers, banded together to split the cost and explore the isolated region.

It proved to be the most amazing trip of my life - not only did I witness some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, experience the warmth & generosity of a pious and unassuming people, I found the one with whom my own heart, mind, body and soul resonates.

In the least expected places, the least expected times, I found, wandering the harsh Tibetan plateau alone - my American.

We stopped for pictures at a 4,700m (15,420 feet) pass while driving through Tibet.

Left, in blue jacket is our Tibetan driver, Gungpo, and in brown, our newfound Israeli friend, one of the 4 travelers in our 4WD. -- Photo by my husband. Read also his travel blog.

 

I am a woman who doesn't like bling, and we both wanted our bands to match exactly.

After trying out a whole bunch of rings in LA's jewelry district and in various shops in Asia, we pretty much nailed down the exact style we liked.

Being in a long distance relationship for most of the year also meant that we couldn't really physically go ring-shopping together whenever we wanted.

In came eweddingbands.com and we managed to find THE perfect pair, with significant cost savings over the brick-and-mortar shops, yaay!

Photos by my husband

Surprise surprise! After collecting inspiration photos of bouquets/flowers for months, I ultimately decided to NOT get a bouquet at all!

Why?

Because I didn't really feel THAT attracted to flowers anyway.
In the end, we had a wholly non-floral wedding - no boutonnieres, no bouquets, no centerpieces.

Did anyone notice at all?
Nope!

Only when I said, "... and I don't even have a bouquet!" did our guests/vendors go "OMG you don't! Wow we didn't even REALIZE!"

No regrets there at all :)

We didn't plan for a wedding cake, because our venue was already offering a full platter of french desserts for our guests. For the record, initially I had wanted a macaron croquembouche (a la Laduree), but the high costs and "not everyone likes macarons" factor caused us to nix it.

Four of my gal pals, including my 2 bridesmaids, ordered a custom 'suitcase' cake for us as a surprise, and we were thoroughly tickled. Our wedding had a travel theme, we met while traveling in Tibet, and this cake could not be more apt -- it featured many of the places we've traveled to before. 

The 'stickers' say: Tibet, Gobi Desert, South America, California, Singapore.

Interesting Snippet: Our Polish friends, whom we met while in Mongolia, flew all the way from Austria to attend our wedding. I nudged off the 'Gobi Desert' piece, and they delicately wrapped it up in napkins and brought it all the way home! Their flight was 4 hours after our wedding ended that night :)

Me, in my 'Kill Bill' awesomeness, going for the cake. Total glamor, I know...