Last Saturday I and Nga got married here in Hanoi. The temperature was a scorching 42°C, but still 450 guests (8 Swedish) defied the sun and came to share the day with us.
This was the first time I had ever seen Nga wearing make-up, so I was quite worried I might not recognize her. It turned out that I didn’t need to worry at all, doesn’t she look lovely?
In the meantime, I was struggling to survive in the heat.
It was ridiculously hot outside in the sun, but we were able to get a few great pictures despite this.
Our ceremony was neither traditionally Vietnamese nor Swedish, but rather something in between. Unlike in Sweden, the ceremony and dinner is in the same room, with the food already being on the tables before the guests arrive. Somewhat untypically for a Vietnamese wedding, we had a clear theme – purple. The florist did a great job!
The ceremony itself consists of three parts: exchange of rings, cutting the cake and pouring the wine.
At this point one would normally offer the parents on both sides to drink wine, which we eventually did, but first we spliced in a bit of Swedish tradition – my father giving a speech. I hope to be able to post the transcript and Vietnamese translation of that speech later.
Once the ceremony on stage was over, we walked to each table to thank the guests for attending, taking plenty of pictures along the way.
For those who have Facebook, more pictures are available in Nga’s wedding album. I leave you with a final picture of the new international family.
Congratulations to both of you! You do make a pretty couple! And again, sorry we couldn’t be there for the ceremony, hopefully we can compensate that at some later point, perhaps when you are in sweden.
Nga is most stunning! Awesome wedding photos -- looks like you had a great time! Congratulations!!
Stort grattis till er. Ni är verkligen ett vackert par! 🙂
Hi,philip.Congratulations!Very beautiful bride, wedding and pictures and very handsome groom .Enjoy your honey moon!:)
恭喜，恭喜！
早生贵子！
Congratulations !!!
Perfect!
Congratulation Philip...to you and your beloved wife.
Long live and prosper 🙂
Congrats to both of you! May you enjoy a lovely life together!
新婚快乐! 美满幸福!
BTW: 新娘很漂亮，新郎很帅!
你的中文很不错，不说，简直看不出来是老外写的。你是怎么记住那么多中文单词的? 我的英文单词就经常记不住呢，hehe...
Congrats! just visiting, after watching the html5 webinar.
THAT was pretty interesting you saw your wife with makeup for the first time (whoaaa). She’s right go natural.
have a happy marriage.
THanks for sharing the wonderful pics of your special day.
Congrats to you both. And yay for East-meets-West families.
Nice pics mate...
Congrtulations on your wedding.
I just googled you as well after watching the html5 video and great job with the explanation.
Cheers...
Pingback: My father’s wedding speech « Philip Jägenstedt
Philip and Nga, belated contratulations! I recently received a copy of what might be Philip’s father’s wedding speech from another Swedish cousin along with a link to this blog.
Philip’s father is a 3rd cousin to me, his mormor Ester my 1st cousin. I corresponded briefly with Philips father prior to the wedding regarding a photo of his grandparents David and Ester he found on my genealogy website.
Best to you both for a long and happy life together.
JB Peterson
Many thanks! The speech is available at https://foolip.org/2010/08/03/my-fathers-wedding-speech/ in 3 languages, if there is any doubt about what you have received. If there is any part of it that is of interest for genealogy purposes, feel free to copy it!