The Drive and the Preparations (1:00PM-4:30PM)
The drive to Milpitas was uneventful; in a good way. No traffic, no accidents, just smooth sailing. We arrived in Milpitas at about 3 PM (we had a bunch of bathroom breaks along the way) and at The Great Mall Mayflower shortly thereafter. The waiters and waitress were setting up the restaurant in preperation for the wedding reception. Our florist’s, Nona Tai of Floral Design Studio, staff were busy setting up the floral decorations for each of the tables and Nona arrived shortly after to finish setting up the head table. The flowers all looked absolutely amazing; Nona did an excellent job! Minh, one of the Mayflower Managers and our restaurant coordinator, was there to receive us and adjust for any of our last minute requests. Of all the vendors, Minh and Nona were the most pleasurable to deal with.
Andrea went to the dressing room that the Great Mall Mayflower provided for us to get changed into the traditional Chinese outfit to greet the guests with and take pictures in for the first part of the reception.
The people who we hired to setup the chair sashes and chair covers and the photo section showed up close to 4 PM and began setting up the chairs to our specifications: one table with red sashes and the next table orange sashes to create a nice alternating color scheme.
By about 4:30 PM we were starting to worry because our wedding cake still had not shown up. We had read some warning that Tran was notorious for showing up late. We still went with her because she was able to provide us with the closes of what we wanted in terms of the wedding cake. Nona needed to leave soon and she still needed to add the decorations to the cake. We called Tran at [bakery name] to see what the status was and was told the cake was enroute. About an hour behind schedule. The wedding cake finally arrived and Nona Tai was able to complete the decorations on it. The cake definitely looked awesome; but the fear that it was going to arrive late, had us all panicked.
And So The Guests Arrives and The Pain of Sitting For an Hour Straight and Smiling(4:30PM-7:00PM)
People were starting to arrive at about 6:00PM. My cousins, Lily Anne, Quinn, and his girlfriend, were manning the guest book table and directing Andrea and my guests to their appropriate tables. We had a special seating chart for our guest and my parents had one for their’s. Lily Anne and Quinn’s girlfriend did an amazing job getting the guest book signed and fielding guests to take their welcome pics with us and then Quinn did an amazing job showing them to their appropriate tables when necessary.
After guests had signed the guest book, they would come over to where Larry, our photographer, Andrea, Hoai, Linda, and I were at to take photos. We spent an hour seated in one place to greet the guests as they arrived. And we had to smile. It was painstaking.
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