High school romance turns into marriage!

Maddie Yee and Chris Pham

Tell me a bit about your love story: Our story began over 15 years ago in high school where we met at a cross-country race. We instantly clicked and became best friends, and would walk home from school everyday together and have late night phone calls into the early hours of the morning. We eventually started dating, and had our first date at Subway and Coffee Bean (our normal spot that we would hang out every day).

We went to college together afterwards, before Chris went off to law school in Florida. During that time, we did long distance for 2 years before he moved back home (thankfully!) We bought our first home together in 2019, and got engaged in Jan 2020 right before the pandemic happened. Wedding plans were put on hold and in the meantime we got our first fur-baby together (our dog, Milo), who has been kept us very occupied during the pandemic. Fast forward to July 2022, after 15 years together, we finally tied the knot!

What was your favourite part of the day? Our first look! Amongst the chaos of what a wedding day could be, it was nice to just have a private moment between the two of us. We’ve been together for a long time and so many years together led to our wedding day, that the first look was that “aha” moment where it hit us that we were about to start the next chapter of our lives together. We exchanged private letters/words with one another and it was just a really special moment overall.

Favourite wedding detail? It’s so hard to pick because everything came together beautifully and exceeded our expectations! But one special detail were the table numbers since we had the exact number of tables for the number of years we’ve been together. So each table number had a picture of us from that year in our relationship.

What will guests remember most? Our live band, Groove & Tonic, and their epic performance that kept our guests entertained and dancing all night long!

How did you show your personalities in the wedding? We are huge foodies, so our personalities definitely shined in the food! We worked with the JW Marriott team to create an East-meets-West/Asian fusion menu from canapés during cocktail hour all the way through late-night food during the reception. We wanted a unique and elevated wedding menu that was delicious and memorable, and JW Marriott’s culinary team definitely executed every dish perfectly!

What cultural aspects did you include, if any? We incorporated door games and a tea ceremony! Door games are a Chinese tradition in which the groom (and his party) will take on certain challenges to prove his worth for the bride. This was the perfect lead up to our first look, which was our favourite part of the day. Since we wanted to save seeing each other in our wedding attire for down the aisle, we wore traditional asian tea ceremony outfits during the first look (I wore my grandmother’s from when she got married in the 1950s and Chris wore his Dad’s).

Our families have seen us essentially grow up with one another, considering how long we’ve been together, so it was really special to have the tea ceremony as a sign of respect for our families and to symbolize the joining of our two cultures (I am of Chinese descent and Chris of Vietnamese descent).

What advice can you give to couples who are planning their wedding? It’s easy to get lost in the details and stress over the little things, so don’t forget this is a special chapter in your lives together and make it enjoyable! It’ll put the bigger picture into perspective

Honeymoon? We spent two and half weeks in Spain and Portugal! It was amazing! We love to travel and it was special to go somewhere we’ve both never been to experience for the first time together!

Number of guests: 170
Ceremony/reception venue: JW Marriott Parq Vancouver
Planner: Elle Weddings
Photographer: Hennygraphy
Dress designer: Galia Lahav (wedding dress) and Jane Rhyan (veil), OUMA (Cheongsam worn at reception), Jenny Yoo (reception dress)
Suit designer: The Black Tux
Bridesmaids’ dresses: Birdy Grey
Décor: Elle Weddings
Flowers: Botany & Bloom
Cake: Momo Chen Cakes
Stationery: Violet Grey Creative
Hair/makeup: AX Art Atelier
Music: Musical Occasions;
Band: Groove & Tonic
Photo booth: Signature Booths
Video booth: Vancity Photobooth
Officiant: Weddings with Mitch
Videographer: Lovebug Cinema