Sydney Trip and Yvonne's Wedding

Dad amd Mom left for Sydney near midnight on April 28th for Yvonne's wedding. Yvonne arranged for Dad and Mom to stay at the service aparment near their place. Yvonne took them to Hyde Park and to visit the largest cathedral in Sydney (Mom forgot the name as both of them were tired from the flight).

On April 30, Yvonne took Dad, Mom and her bridesmaid Felicia to take public transportation, then the ferry to Watson Bay. They did a lot of walking that day according to Dad. The views were so breath-taking that Dad didn't really complain as it was worth the walk. On the way back, they passed a nude beach, an interesting sight.

The wedding rehearsal was held in the evening of the 30th.

On May 1st, Yvonne helped Dad and Mom to check in at the Sebel Hill hotel where Sandy and Cynthia's families stayed. The two families arrived Sydney around noon. In the afternoon, Yvonne, Mom and Felicia went to China town to get their hair and nail done in preparation of the big day tomorrow. The Chuang and Chan's familes had dinner together at Chinatown that night.

May 2nd was Yvonne's church wedding day. Yvonne arranged a van to take us around that day. All of us arrived at the church after 11. Yvonne was such a gorgeous bride! The church was small but had a very comfortable, warm, serene atmosphere. When Dad walked Yvonne down the aisle and gave her hand to Chris, for a moment, we thought that Dad was going to cry.....It was very touching. The priest gave his blessing and Chris' friends read some Bible verses. There were not many guests, most were close friends and relative. It was really a beautiful wedding.

Everyone went back to the hotel to get some rest bofore we left again about 5 for the cocktail before the wedding banquet at a very fine restaurant at the Rocks. There were 7 round tables named after each city the couple will visit on their honeymoon. The dishes were delicious.

On May 3rd, Dad and Mom went to Blue Mountain National Park with Sandy and Cynthia's families. Though both the them had visited Blue Mountain before with their university classmates only a year ago, but it was an entirely different feeling this time with their dear grandchildren. The funny thing was Dad didn't remember that he had seen all these sceneries until when we were going to ride the cable train down the steep hill!

When the tour guide took us to the Olympic Stadium, Dad remembered immediately that they had also visited here before. The Olympic fire was put on top of the fountain during Olympic games.

After a buffet dinner at Starcity Hotel, Dad and Mom left for the airport to fly back to Taipei.

The Taipie reception for Yvonne and Chris was held on Saturday May 8th. Darway was finally able to get back to Taipei the evening before to attend. This is one of a very few occassions that the whole family got together.

The theme of the first entrance at the reception was the "passing on of happiness and love", so Dad and Mom walked down the aisle together first before Yvonne and Chris walked in. It was very sweet to see Dad and Mom holding hands walking in as though to celebrate their over 40 years of happy marriage.

Dad, Mom, Yvonne and Chris toasted to all guests after the guest of honor and Dad gave their speech and the couple filled up the champagne fountain.

The theme of the second entrance was "fruitful family / abundance of children". Chris held Ryan's hand and Yvonne held Athena's hand while walking in together amid the beautiful music. The two kids were super behaved and their attire not only matched each other but also matched Yvonne's red satin dress and Chris' tie. It was a funny sight to see Sandy and Cynthia walking 3 steps behind the foursome to watch over the kids like bodyguards.

The reception went well with beautiful bride/handsome groom, good food, nice music and happy guests. Yvonne and Chris will fly off to KL, Malaysia for groom side's reception on May 9th. Darway and Cynthia's family will also leave on the same day. It will probably be another year before the whole Chuang's family get together again. There are already suggestions to go to Japan for the next family gathering. All of us really looking forward to it.