Yesterday, the Rathidas celebrated one year of marriage and I’ll take any excuse to relive their day!
There are 1 billion pictures on this post (roughly) because it was a 1 billion picture kind of day. I’ve never done any sort of wedding ceremony or event like this and now, frankly it may be hard to beat.
I met Claudia and Patrick at Panera one afternoon to hear their story and their unbelievable day they dreamed up. Patrick moved from Laos to the US and Claudia moved from Chile to the US and they met at a house party of a mutual friend. I mean what are the chances?? Patrick and Claudia have 2 totally different stories but they seem to find the perfect balance of celebrating who each other are and bringing out the very best in each other. October 29, 2016 was no different.
It was important to Patrick to have a traditional Laotian wedding and it was important to Claudia to have her father walk her down the aisle and have a big reception afterwards…..so they did it all! In one day, people! It was genius and beautiful.
Claudia and Patrick reserved The Standard in Knoxville, TN as the venue for their all day events and man, it was perfect. The Laos ceremony started early in the morning and all the natural light streaming in from the sky lights was so dreamy. I learned a lot about a new culture throughout the whole morning thanks to a sweet lady that kept whispering the symbolism of what was happening in my ear. It was all so interesting and makes me grateful for the value placed on tradition by Patrick’s family. It was truly a testament to his heritage and the legacy he is carrying on. After the ceremony and pictures, there was a break for a couple hours and then I met Claudia and her make-up/hair team right back in front of the mirror for round two! She wasn’t even chugging coffee all day – so impressive. The room downstairs was transformed into a gorgeous reception with traditional food from Chile and Laos, lights, a DJ, enough cupcakes for everyone to have 7, and ready for Claudia’s arrival. In the morning ceremony, Patrick entered by a parade to find Claudia waiting for him, but at night, Patrick and the wedding party waited at the front of the room for his bride and her father to enter. Then, a packed house ate, drank, danced, and laughed until the wee hours. And the fact that there were at least 3 languages happening at once didn’t keep anyone from feeling like family. I think marriage it worth celebrating and I mean, they celebrated. Thank you, Rathidas! You guys are the best.
Happy Anniversary!
