One year ago, we were deep in the final preparations for the wedding of our first child, Chris, to his bride, Tiffany. The Kuo family arrived early in the wedding week, from NYC, and stayed with us, so that we could spend time getting to know each other, and work together on the details of our kids' nuptials. Their visit began with a celebration of Christopher's birthday. Jack, who is a chef by trade, prepared an eight course feast for all of us to enjoy. I am so sad there are no pictures; we were all too busy eating the gorgeous food!

The next few days were a blur of activity, but we managed to have some wonderful dinners together, with Tiffany's parents, Jack and May, her brother, Teddy, and her two aunts from Taiwan, Kate and Doris.  

I am nothing, if not a planner. In the months before November 14, I mulled over the plans for the rehearsal dinner. Chris and Tiffany's wedding would be an amalgamation, a fusion of different cultures, families and friend groups. In my mind, I saw the eve of the ceremony as the perfect setting to facilitate this blending, using our love of food as the common denominator. And so we invited friends and family to our home for an evening of feasting and celebrating, with an Asian-Southern-Mennonite dinner, prepared by the Kuos and the Schlabachs. 

The frenzied food prep was on the scale of a foodnetwork show. I have a large kitchen, as well as a kitchen in our downstairs apartment, and an outdoor cooking area on the deck: all three were put to use. The menu included hundreds of dumplings, egg rolls, sushi, fried rice, three deviled turkeys, scalloped potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower salad, homemade dinner rolls (thanks to my sister, Linda), whoopie pies (kuddos to my sister, Sharon), and homemade sugar cookies with white frosting and wedding sparkles. 

Halfway through that preparation day, I was momentarily overcome with the enormity of the undertaking. I put some nice wine in my coffee cup, went into the laundry room, closed the door, and took some deep breaths.. This is the selfie I sent to a friend. :)

The evening was everything that I could have dreamed of and then some! My three sisters manned the cooking fires until we returned from the rehearsal at the church. Sixty+ guests ate and laughed and chatted in groups throughout the house and spilled out onto the deck, into the cool autumn night. There were Schlabachs around the dining room table, college friends around the warmth of the chiminea, and there was Hershberger laughter heard from the direction of the blazing outdoor fireplace. Aunts Kate and Doris, and Jack, kept preparing platters of food for May to pass. And Larry made countless trips to the wine cellar, keeping the glasses of cheer filled for celebration. I'm not sure what I did, but I know that I was busy. I only ate two things all evening, a cookie and a dumpling that May insisted I taste. Sadly, there are no pictures, only weary, heart warming memories. That dinner is one of my favorite memories from Chris and Tiffany's wedding: it encapsulated their lives in such a beautiful way. 

The next day was November 14, wedding day! Everyone worked hard to look their best, but the beaming bride outshone us all. 

And then it was time to walk down the aisle. The sweet exchange between Jack and his daughter was the most heartfelt giving away of the bride I have ever witnessed.

Friends and family gathered at The Chattanooga Golf and Country Club for a reception of dinner, dancing and celebrating.