Real Weddings Monday: Presenting See Yang and Jong Xiong

The Couple: See Yang and Jong Xiong
Wedding Date: May 27, 2012
Photography by Justin Buettner Photography
Tell us a little about you and your beloved: Jong and I are so different and yet similar in so many ways. We met on the University of the Pacific campus in 2003, and had a casual friendship with occasional emails saying, “Happy Birthday” or “Happy Holidays.” We maintained a friendly relationship for five years and finally in November of 2008 we went on an actual first date. That first date led to me telling him, “Come join my family for Thanksgiving, since you don’t have somewhere else to be,” and the rest is pretty much history. Jong instantly became part of the family.
Jong and I are two independent individuals who enjoy each other’s company. Jong is a Budget Analyst and I am a Mechanical Engineer. He likes to get things done no matter how sloppy it may be and I like to pick at the small technical details. But we both share similar loves for food, traveling and the outdoors. In the last four years, we became each other’s best friend and so we married our best friend.
What was the most amazing part of your day? The most amazing part of the day was seeing all of our plans materialize. There were so many people who made the day go smoothly, that every moment was so meaningful for us. Everyone ensured that we had fun and enjoyed all the moments of the day.
What else would you like to share about your big day? Tequilla shots are not for weddings. We realized after the wedding that it was a bad idea to have tequilla available because multiple guests couldn’t remember what happened at the end of the night. So don’t have an open bar. Plan for everyone to have fun and enjoy the night, but also make sure everyone can go home and remember the fun.

Ceremony Site: University of the Pacific, Morris Chapel
Reception Venue: Kirst Hall, Hutchins Street Square
Photographer: Justin Buettner Photography
Videographer: Johnra Films
Caterer: Siamese Street
Cakes: The Table Experience by Phyllis Gilmore and Joan Frazier (I had a two tier cake and lots of cupcakes with different flavors. Since I didn’t want to worry about having the cake cut and served, I opted for guests to have a self-serve cake bar and choose their own cupcake flavor. Just don’t forget to save yourself one of each cupcake flavor for the next morning because you will forget to try if they were as good as during your cake testing.)
Flowers: DIY by the bride and bridesmaids
Favors: Candy Bar
Wedding Dress: For You Dresses
Bridesmaid Dresses: David’s Bridal
Hair: Saven Tep
Makeup: Shana Beals (I loved her work! I have bad acne and told her I just wanted to cover up all of the redness and keep it natural and she did an amazing job. All day, I had people coming up to me asking “who did your makeup?” I received lots of compliments and would highly recommend her. She knows exactly what she’s doing and she’s very good at it.)
Invitations: DIY by the bride and bridesmaids
DJ/Entertainment/Band: Randy En
Photo Booth: PF Studio (We didn’t have a photo booth exactly, but we hired a separate photographer from a studio to take pictures of guests at the door. So before we arrived, guests got the opportunity to take photos with each other, and after we arrived, we took pictures with guests and mailed them the photos with thank you cards.)
Honeymoon location: Maui
First Dance Song: “Amazed” by Lonestar
Any advice you’d give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now? Be a bridezilla before the wedding, but not on the day of the wedding. On the day of, just have fun! Smile, laugh, joke and let loose! The best thing I did was have a friend of my sister commit to coordinating the day. If you are like me and didn’t hire a coordinator because of cost, get someone to keep things in order and in a timely fashion. This person can be a friend of a friend or family member who wouldn’t hold a grudge about having to work the wedding and not be completely involved. A day before the wedding, give her everything you have and let go of all the planning details. Trust this person to coordinate everything you won’t be able to and trust your maid of honor to coordinate everything else to ensure that you are well.
(I am one of those people who love making sure the details are perfect and so when I started to have other people help me, I was such a bridezilla about making sure everything was done the same way. There were several people helping me with decorations and I wanted to make sure that each one of them understand what was important so that all the decorations didn’t look like they were done by different people.)
Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance? Taken more photos and taken time alone as a couple. I would have loved to have been able to hit pause and take a moment to soak in the beauty of a year of hard work. After all of the stress and endless weekends of working on details for the wedding, I just wanted it to be over. But it was afterwards that I realized I didn’t even get to take nice photos with the groom alone.

Blog post by Real Weddings Magazine’s Social Media Maven, Aimee Carroll.
Photos courtesy of and copyright Justin Buettner Photography.