Chris and Christine became Chris(tine) officially last week.
And part of me is still somewhat feeling like “Wait! They’re so young! No way…”

I met Chris and Christine nearly eight years ago. We all used to work together at the Disney store in the mall. I worked there during two Christmas seasons between my other job with Paramount Parks. But during those two busy, crazy, insane-christmas-shopper-filled seasons I made some amazing friends.

And I can say, to a small degree at least, that I’ve been able to watch this relationship grow from “I think there’s an interest there” to “Awe, how cute they’re dating!”, and all the way to this point now… Married, and sitting on the beaches of Mexico on honeymoon as I write this.

I remember all sorts of silly stories with Chris, while him and I worked the stock room dealing with a million boxes of product. Late night floor moves with Christine who was always soooo shy and quiet – and people at one point trying to figure out if she was being mean, or really just THAT shy.

Many of you may recognize these two from the Disneyland engagement shoot that I posted last Fall. Seriously, we had so much fun.
It really was touching when Chris contacted me and let me know that the two of them were interested in me shooting their wedding. And then of course went on to plan out the Disneyland engagement photos, etc, with me.

My weekend with the Nguyen and Pingel families was a blast.

I remember Christine getting ahold of me because she was concerned about the rain in San Jose that was blowing in for a very un-seasonable June.
I said I wasn’t worried and we’d make it work. That either way we would rock out with some awesome photos and have a great time. Then… It turns out that Christine ordered six bright white umbrellas to use – how amazing is that? A bride that brings her own props for the photos!

The rehearsal was at the church – St. Joseph’s in Downtown San Jose – and went pretty smooth. And despite everyone being really hungry and eager to leave and get to the dinner, everyone made sure to learn what to do and how things had to happen. The parents all seemed excited, but a little nervous at their roles in the ceremony.

And the wedding was beautiful. Rain was mixed in with some sunshine, lots of clouds, and both cool and warm weather. But when things finally started moving along, everyone was in great spirits. It was awesome. And just like I expected, everyone had fun and barely let the small amount of rain slow them down.

I don’t want to write a novel here about the day – even though I know I could go into all sorts of detail. I’ll leave a lot of what I want to add with the captions. But I will say that I had an amazing time. To be able to be included in Chris and Christine’s engagement, and now their wedding is a huge deal to me. I don’t think I would have ever expected to be such a major part of either of their lives years ago when we met.

So, Chris and Christine, Thank You.
I had so much fun sharing such a milestone in your life together. I hope you enjoy the photos below, hopefully we have a few that you’ll cherish as much as the shots we created for your engagement.

Click the break for nearly 200 images of the Nguyen wedding weekend.

Getting started for the rehearsal at St. Josephs.

Gorgeous location and church for the ceremony.

Organizing the walk-in

All the ladies discussing how things are going to go.

Practice makes perfect for the handoff by Dad…

“Yep. Got it. Hand the rings… ok… ok…”

Later on, at the rehearsal dinner I had a whole table to myself before the rest of the family showed up!

Awe, how cute!
Disney theme!

They even had Mickey shaped sugar!

All the guys were laughing at Chris’ groomsman gifts.

“Thanks for backing me up.” USB sticks! Hahaha!

Kids just like presents… period.

Robert and I.
Know him eight years now. He drove with me when I moved to Michigan to finish my degree in Photojournalism.

Met up with the ladies the next morning as they started all their prep!

Christine starting her long process of getting ready.

Christine’s dress was gorgeous!
Very much a princess style dress. I remember thinking “Yep. This is DEFINITELY what I would expect her to wear…”

Christine’s slippers, her garter, and a pin that belonged to her late best friend Juanita.
Juanita was a great friend to many of us. And as one of Christine’s closest friends, it was important that she be close to her that day.

You need a lot of tools to get ready as a woman…

But the guys… they just have to get dressed. Easy.

Chris was trying to help with that last button…

But the neck was a litttttle too tight.

Christine’s something-borrowed.

All the ladies laughing. Getting closer to the ceremony… nearly time for the dress

John and Robert came upstairs, made themselves a mimosa, drank it, and left.
Men on a mission, apparently.

“Let’s see if we can do this…”

“I’m ok… but my veil is caught!”

All the ladies watching Christine get her dress on.

Mom and the bridesmaids workin on getting the corset laced up properly.

Christine gets a little help from Mom with her earrings.

I really liked this brief second where Christine smiled at her mother after she finished with the earrings.

And Dad started crying as soon as he walked in and saw her in her dress!

Piling in the elevator!

We had quite a bit of time to pass before the limo picked us up. So, we took plenty of photos.

Christine made a stunning bride.

We were all pretty sure that we would need these later…

Champagne on the way to the church!

A little wet outside. Have to keep that hair dry!

Everyone getting their seats. Alllllmost time to start.

Chris, seeing Christine for the first time.

Both of Chris’ sisters spoke at the ceremony. Tina says her reading here.

As things are starting Chris and Christine are smiling and cheery.

But, as with everyone full-mass wedding I’ve seen… everyone quickly hits that phase of “yep… and we’re sitting here..” Haha!

Chris’ other sister, Nicole, gave a reading as well.

No yawning!

Starting the vows!

Oh no! Rie locked her knees!
She was ok, just had to sit down for a moment when she started to lose balance.

Mrs. Pingel and Mrs. Nguyen had small rolls in the service too.

First kiss as husband as wife.
This is a small frustration I have with traditional church rules. I was told many times, and even got in trouble, over rules that say as a photographer I’m not allowed to stand on the marble… any of the marble. But it’s more upsetting that the pastor stands right in the middle of the aisle blocking any view I would have to get a clear shot of the married couple. Unfortunately this is the not first venue/set of rules that kept me from getting this shot.

Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen!

This is one of my favorite moments of a wedding. After the bride and groom get away from everyone and it’s just them for a few moments before a long crazy night.

The boys, kicking back waiting for photos.

Heading out of the church

The same shot as the first in this blog.
I love the background with the church. And we lucked out that there was no one around for the few moments we were shooting.

“I’m keepin’ it classy, John!” – Christine
Don’t worry… Chris did it too right after. hahaha!

Toast to the new bride and groom!

Heading to the Fairmont for some photos!

I honestly don’t know why Christine didn’t just walk around and be seen everywhere that afternoon. You should have watched how many heads she turned in the hotel lobby, the restaurant and bar they walked past, even people in the shops in the hotel walked in to the hall to look…

Go you Christine! Way to work it!

I have no idea what they were huddling about… but, they were figuring out some sort of game plan.

I stood back for a bit and just let everyone interact as they normally would.

Here the girls are all laughing and chatting about stories.

Kissy-face-girl photo. There’s an inside joke from the bachelorette weekend here that I’m not aware of..

I think it was Robert that wanted everyone to pick up Chris… I think..

Christine walked over and pulled the hat down harder on Chris’ head!
They special ordered these from Disney. Again, as big Disney fans there were quite a few Disney elements added throughout everything.

See! How do you not just want to walk around all of Downtown with your entourage of people to just be the center of attention for the afternoon.

There were quite a few moments where we were racing the rain to get around. So even though it was clearing up during photos, we had to get at least one shot with the umbrellas…

Goofing off in the park, killing time.
We did so well rocking through all our shots that we had over half an hour left!

Gotta get a shot with me in it!

This is actually one of my favorite shots. The clouds look menacing – which works considering it rained that morning – and the moment between Chris and Christine is cute.

Loading up for the trip to the reception.

Saratoga Country Club.

Check out that cake!

Robert and Amanda broke it down!

 

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Chris Nguyen!

You got to dig speeches that have at least one embarrassing fact thrown in…

Christine and Chris take a moment to thank everyone for being there.

This was awesome!
The Nguyen’s made an entire book out of the photos from the Disneyland engagement shoot we did, and many other shots they have together and used that as their guest book for the wedding!

I realize that I take photos for a living, and that people hang those photos on their wall, etc. But it’s still always really cool to see how people use those shots and what they mean to them!

On the way to the reception Christine told me about her cake topper.
This is a white chocolate topper that she special ordered from Walt Disney World in Florida. She said that after thinking about she decided she definitely wanted it and had it overnighted to California for her wedding day.

To everyone out there – if there is something that part of you feels you have to have for your wedding day. Get it. That simple. You will be so much happier that you did.

Watching a slideshow of photos from growing up.

I have to say, there were some pretty hilarious images in there.

But, they still love each other… so those dorky childhoods must be ok…

 

First dance as husband and wife!

They actually took lessons and had all their footwork down!

Chris looks so happy here!

And any of you who read my blogs on wedding know that the Daddy-Daughter dance is my favorite.

Mrs. Pingel watching Christine dance with her father.

So sweet.

John, giving his dad a hug after the dance.

Time to break it down!

 

Christine and her brother, John.

Chris and his new father-in-law.

Wait! Um, we don’t know how to do this!

There was a brief moment there where it looked like Chris was worried that she may smash the cake in his face..

Each layer of the cake was a different flavor. There were four flavors… I only had two. Haha!

Amanda was determined!

Swagger.

Tina, lookin up at her brother.

Again, as I mentioned earlier it was extremely important that Juanita be close by during the wedding day. And she was right there the whole time.

One of the last dances of the evening.

Robert and I after the long day.

Chris, Nicole and Tina!

Don’t stop! Belieeeeevin!

Me and the Nguyen’s!

Awe! Me and Tina, used to work with her at Disney as well!

Nicole and me!

Nessa, me, and Jessica crammed into the limo with everyone. What a longgg day!

On the way back. What an amazing wedding.

 

Again, I had a wonderful time being part of Chris and Christine’s wedding day. Having known both of them so long it’s still a little strange to think that we’re now as old as we are and not just a bunch of kids working a job one winter in retail. That after moving on and forward with life, everyone is still close and can be part of such amazing occasions with one another.

I hope you all enjoyed the images! Hopefully you went through everything, I know there was a lot. And once again to Chris and Christine, Thank you! It was an honor.