What a year it has been

2013 has been an incredible year...

- We put in an application for my fiance visa early January (which was approved literally 3 days before the wedding in October).

- Andrew experienced his first Chinese New Year with my extended family (and his last collecting angbaos).

- We climbed a lot of spiral staircases in Paris and had our engagement photoshoot in cold, cold weather.

- We held our Chinese tea ceremony and lunch in June and my father-in-law flew all the way to Singapore for a weekend!

- We hung out with my friends in Hong Kong and visited a lot of rooftop bars.

- I left my teaching job so that I could prepare for my move to New York.

- We flew my family in to New York for the wedding and the Tans and Savinos met for the first time.

- We got married on a beautiful autumn day in Long Island surrounded by our family and friends.

- We settled into our cosy lovenest in Midtown and started our Eating through the Alphabet adventure.
- We celebrated our first Thanksgiving and Christmas as newlyweds!

We are so grateful for His blessings and the love and support of everyone around us and cannot wait for what 2014 has in store!

Chistmas on Mulberry

Because Chinatown and Little Italy are located right next to each other (with the former slowly taking over the latter), it's impossible to tell where one ends and other begins. 

I was pretending to be back in Singapore, dragging Andrew around like a hapless tourist when we chanced upon a Christmas parade on Mulberry Street.

There was a Chinese dragon dance troupe, colourful floats and marching bands, poppers and confetti and plenty of revellers along the street soaking in the festivities. It felt like Chinese New Year and Christmas both at once!

Can you believe that we are two days away from Christmas? 

Photos taken on my iPhone 5C

Coney Island

Back in October when the weather was a lot more pleasant, we took a train to the end of the N line and found ourselves in Coney Island. 

Coney Island used to be the biggest amusement area in America and a trendy seaside resort in the first half of the 20th century, but it started declining in popularity after World War II and fell to years of neglect.  

Andrew had never been himself, and he didn't even know it was still running. The area had clearly seen better days, but there was still a good crowd of young families, local dwellers and tourists  alike enjoying themselves. 

We didn't do much except wander around taking photos and ate our ice-creams while walking along the boardwalk, but what I wouldn't give for that weather again!

Photos taken on my Canon Kiss X5
P/S: Coney Island is a seasonal center that operates between Easter and Halloween. Rides and attractions are generally open on weekends, except from Memorial Day until Labor Day when they are open all week long. Find out more about Coney Island here.

A Singaporean yum seng

My father-in-law wanted to bring a little Singapore into our New York wedding, so he gathered my father, my sister, her fiancé and my best friend to lead an impromptu yum seng.

For the uninitiated, yum seng translates to 'drink to success' in Cantonese and is the equivalent of "Bottoms up!' or "Cheers!". The yum is dragged out for as long as the crowd can hold and ends with a triumphant seng, and this is done three times with different auspicious sayings for each toast.

It was, as expected, a boisterous affair and the crowd loved it... best idea yet!

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

Cheek to cheek

Because we were always long-distance, the only opportunity we had to practise our wedding dance was when we were in Singapore waiting for my visa to arrive. It was too last minute to sign up for dance classes so we decided to rehearse in our hotel room. 
Andrew had Frank Sinatra on Pandora and we were deciding between "Fly me to the moon" or "Come fly with me", but for some reason I really wanted "Cheek to cheek". In my mind, he was the Fred Astaire to my Ginger Rogers and we would look like this-

Unfortunately Andrew complained that I bopped too much and it wasn't long before we dissolved into fits of giggles and gave up. 
Thankfully on the actual day, we had a professional emcee and deejay and the most amazing wedding guests who got on their feet and boogied the afternoon away. No one seemed to notice that I have two left feet, or maybe they were being nice to the bride.
"The music was hot!" my mother enthused after the wedding. I had never seen her dance before, so it was great to see her having such a wonderful time. (But I am still not sure about her using the word 'hot'.)

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

With gratitude

If I could sum up in one word how I felt on our wedding day, it would be gratitude.

The frantic running around trying to sort out my visa issues, the increasing possibility of postponing the wedding compounded by the fact that most of our out-of-town wedding guests had already flown in to New York while we were living out of our suitcases in Singapore wondering when my passport would be returned... 

Andrew was amazing. He dropped everything and flew in to Singapore to be with me. He had told everyone he was returning with his bride and he wasn't going back on his word. Even writing about it now brings tears to my eyes, because this man loves me so much it's incredible.

Despite all the craziness happening around us, I was also filled with a deep immovable sense of peace. God was in control and His ways were higher than our ways. We cried, we laughed, we prayed and we waited. 

Three days before the wedding, my passport was finally ready and we literally took the next flight out. After twenty-four hours in the air, we were welcomed by a cheering mob of family who stood at the Arrival Hall waving handmade signs declaring their love and support. 

We are so, so blessed!

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

Classic black and white

For our bridal party we went with classic black and white, because you can never go wrong with that.

We suited the men up in tuxedoes from Victor Talbots while the ladies wore one-shoulder dresses from David's Bridal. My sister-in-law ordered the flower girl dress online, and she looked exactly like a miniature version of me... I loved it!

Andrew picked out his shawl-collar tuxedo and polka-dotted pocket square from a store in Manhattan, but his crowning glory was his very fancy pair of double monk strap Edward Green shoes.

I bought my lace-and-tulle White by Vera Wang gown last year and ordered an additional black sash to go with it, and the veil and poofy petticoat came from my sisters-in-law. Andrew picked out my pearl necklace from Etsy and the best part is that it doubles up as a fun statement piece for everyday wear... Score!

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

We're married!

I didn't mean to disappear for two months, but life got in the way. Mostly, we're married!

It truly was the happiest day of our lives. I was marrying the love of my life and we were surrounded by family and friends, many of whom had flown an extraordinary distance for us. 

Because of a delay in our visa processing, we were only able to fly in to New York three days before the wedding. I don't think either of us slept very much the entire week but everything came together beautifully by the grace of God.

Here are some of my favourite getting ready and first look photos.

Wedding photography by Brian Calabrese Photography

3.1 Phillip Lim X Target

I love it when a high-end fashion label collaborates with a discount retailer to produce their designs at much more affordable prices. 
Most of the designs sold out within minutes of the launch, but here are four looks that I especially like.


I guess I'll have to wait around for the next big collaboration!
Love, Trish

Of aliens and ninjas

Andrew and I share a lot of silly moments together.

Like the time we were on on a shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto and we both happened to look up from our seats at the same time. There was a group of boys travelling together, and I promise we weren't being mean but one of them had what we thought was the most cartoon face we had even seen. Nobody else in the train even noticed or found it funny, but we couldn't stop giggling like schoolchildren for the rest of the ride.

Or the time we were taking engagement shots in Paris and the photographer kept urging us to "look natural" while we were acting like the most awkward couple in the world. He eventually told us to put our foreheads together and look lovingly into each other's eyes but it was freezing cold and my nose was running. "You look like Cyclops from this angle," Andrew declared and we couldn't keep a straight face for the next few minutes. The photo actually turned out pretty good, but now and again we like to do the pose in public just because.

And the time we found ourselves at Changi Airport at 4 in the morning sending my father-in-law back to New York. We were sleep-deprived and both looking at the glass display of contraband items. Andrew suddenly turned to me and said, "What, you mean I can't bring my nunchucks along?" and before we knew it the two of us were mock kungfu-fighting like 8 year-old boys and held each other laughing until our bellies ached.

I know, I know.

Love,  Trish