Nothing Really Poignant - James in Taiwan

A friend and co-worker of mine asked me to give a speech at her wedding. After writing down a bunch of ideas and talking on the phone with Yuyi, I decided to cut it back, make it a little less humorous and a little more heart felt. I have attached my speech below.

When Ivy asked me to come up here and say a little speech at first I was very nervous and I didn’t know what to say. I was married myself in June of last year and only two people attended, but here there are so many people to celebrate the joining of Owen and Ivy. For a second I though that I could just show clips from my wedding video to fill up the time and then I could give Ivy and Owen advice on how to have a happy marriage, but I decided against this because Ivy and Owen are both smart, capable people and they can find this out on their own.

Over the past few years I have had the pleasure of working very closely with Ivy. She is dedicated to her work and she can stand up to the toughest challenges. Many nights Ivy would work late into the evenings so that she can meet her tough deadlines and she would still have energy to overcome new hurdles the very next day.

Ivy appears innocent at work, but she really has a sharp wit and sense of humor and can keep up with my banter. Additionally, Ivy has an air of elegance that doesn’t require pounds of makeup or over dressing. Ivy is both a confident and experienced designer who can work independently and accomplish anything she sets her mind to.

Anyone who works with me knows that they cannot get married until they have my blessing. So when Ivy first met Owen and told me about him I had to ask her as many questions about what he likes, what he does for a living, and what his hobbies are and so on. Ivy told me how artistic and thoughtful he was and pointed me in the direction of his blog where I could see some of his photography.

When I finally had a chance to meet Owen in person, I immediately felt that he was a great person and can take care of Ivy. Many nights while Steven would be waiting downstairs for me to get off of work, Owen would be at his side waiting for Ivy. When Ivy and I would go downstairs he would tell me that he is concerned that Ivy works too hard, but he was still there to wait for her, and that is what really matters. Some nights after work Owen would meet Ivy to play badminton near the office with our other coworkers, and on the nights when Ivy would have to work very late, Owen would show up and bring dinner for ivy. Owen is a patient, sweet guy and I know he will always be at Ivy’s side.

After meeting both Ivy and Owen, I can say that they are both dedicated to one another. Anyone should be happy if they could marry someone remotely like either Owen or Ivy, but the fact that two great people could find each other shows how destiny can reward caring and giving people with one another.

When Steven and I arrived in Vancouver we had a problem. We were getting married in 3 days and we didn’t have wedding rings. Why didn’t we get them in Taiwan? Well I have sausage fingers like my grandfather and unfortunately the fingers of the average asian male are under size 10.

We decided to spend the entire day Saturday looking for a quality jeweler in town. We found a few places that sold Jewlry online, but we were worried that they would be closed or wouldn’t be able to do a rushed order. Fortunately we found Jones the Jewler near our hotel, and they were open and very nice and very accomidating. They helped us pick matching bands, delivered on time and provided top notch service. We were in and out of the store in less than an hour and had the entire afternoon to go sightseeing (we went to Stanley Park).

If you are in the Vancouver area and you are looking for a high quality jeweler that can provide gold, platnium, silver, steel bands, engagement rings and custom designs, then I suggest you check out Jones the Jewler.

So you are ready to tir the knot in Vancouver, but you need to find someone to conduct your ceremony.  In Canada you can have either a civil marriage conducted by a licensed Marriage Commissioner or you can have a religious wedding.  We had a civil wedding, so I will provide some insight on that first.

The best way to find someone is by word of mouth.  Our commissioner was Ann Moore, and I couldn’t think of a more caring individual.  Steven was very nervous due to language issues, and she helped us through the ceremony.   You can browse the entire list of marriage commissioners if Ann is unavailable.

Once you have contacted the commissioner you should ask about the following information:

• Dates and availability
• Fees
• Location
• Number of guests
• Clothing
• The ceremony (sample ceremony)

We had a very simple ceremony with only two friends attending (the minimum required) in a small house wearing casual attire.

Once you have decided to get married in Vancouver, one member of the couple getting married needs to apply for a Marriage License with a Marriage License Issuer.  The marriage license is valid for up to three months from the date issued and costs $100 CDN dollars (cash).

When we applied for the marriage certificate, we supplied the following information for each person:

• Passport
• Full legal name
• Marriage status
• Current address
• Phone number
• Birth date / location

Please remember to have all the information for EACH PERSON before visiting the Marriage License issuer.  You can review the PDF form used to obtain a marriage license. You can also search the database of Marriage License Issuers.

Vancouver has wonderful weather, great food, affordable accomidations and they will marry anyone who qualifies for marriage.  How can you tell if you qualify?  Basically you need to meet the following requirements:

• Currently unmarried (for 31+ days)
• Over the age of 19

That’s it!  This means that you do not need to have any of the following:

• No blood test
• No citizenship requirement
• No gender requirements

To find out more, please feel free to read the BC Vital Statistics Agency article on How to Get Married.

Well, If you don’t already know, I have been very busy over the last few weeks dealing with my wedding. Yes yes, I am now officially married (according to Canada). This was a big step for the two of us. We decided ~6 months ago to finally tie the knot. It is actually very easy and I will post the information soon.

I attended Yuyi’s wedding yesterday (my first Taiwanese wedding).

It was a lot of fun, and included people running around with giant flaming torches (I need to ask Yuyi if this is normal for a Taiwanese wedding.) You can take a look at the photos online here.

One of my friends/co-workers gave me a gift as an incentive to attend her wedding.  This is a normal thing for people to give, in hopes that you will attend. The neat hing is that she didn’t have to pay for it, her fiancee had to. 

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Forget about watching Greek weddings when we have our own entertaining American weddings. A friend of mine recorded his brothers wedding. This is just great!

I suggest everyone goes and takes a look. This is masterful editing and quite fun. I cant say the same for most wedding videos. This even made me want to get married to have a wedding like this!

The funny thing is this movie is:

1) Real
2) The main focus is the videographer, not the brother getting married
3) Has a great soundtrack

Go take a look at his site.

Running time: 14:25

Lo-Fi (modems) 8.2 MB
Hi-Fi (DSL, cable) 28.4 MB