Part I: Pre-Wedding Stuff

Our wedding was mainly composed of our friends and family contributing their special talents or just a little of their time and effort to bringing everything together.  In my mother's words, it made the whole thing "more ours."  It also meant that the time we spent getting everything ready for the wedding was also time we got to spend laughing with our family and friends, probably over the damn paper lanterns and LED lights...

Assembling the paper lanterns at wedding headquarters (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

The best man and the groom's grandmother made the sign, the only decoration at the ceremony site (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

Although we didn't actually rehearse anything, we still had the rehearsal dinner so everyone could get together the night before and socialize (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

Susan, one of my henchwomen, made all 218 cupcakes for the wedding at her parents' house (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

My other girls pitched in on the wedding day to help get all of the cupcakes frosted (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

Mocha even helped...she made sure the frosting was acceptable!  (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

My mom, my aunt and my cousin put up paper lanterns at the reception site (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

My sister's boyfriend provided tech support for the DIY photobooth.

My henchwomen showed up to help me get ready.  Emily did my make-up and convinced me that, yes, I did need to wear mascara (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

Susan helped me put on my overly complicated and troublesome necklace.  My girls spent the entire night fixing it for me (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

My sister tying me up!  (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)

Last bit of make-up (Photo by Christy of Carpe Diem Photography)