1. Real Weddings

Lauren & Eric: A Cultural Wedding in Midlothian, VA

Lauren and Eric's incorporation of traditional Chinese customs and crafty details made certain their Virginia wedding included something old and somet

Lauren and Eric's incorporation of traditional Chinese customs and crafty details made certain their Virginia wedding included something old and something new. The Bride Lauren Schantz, 24, a law student The Groom Eric Chen, 26, a MD/Ph.D. student The Date June 22 Lauren and Eric first met as members of the ballroom dance team at the College of William & Mary, so it was only natural that their wedding four years later included plenty of people cutting the rug. We spent the first year we knew each other chasing after other people, Lauren remembers. But the first week of school my sophomore year [his senior year] we came to see each other in a new light. While on a not-so-hot date at a dance, Lauren was pleasantly surprised to see Eric smile and wave. The two stayed at the party till it ended, and went on their first date soon after.

Lauren and Eric selected a basic palette of white, silver, and purple. Lauren's attendants wore silver and purple dresses, while Eric's groomsmen's tuxedos included silver vests, and all of the wedding party's flowers were purple and white. Lauren created lavender bags tied with silver ribbon for the favors (personalized fortune cookies), as well as the altar and pew decorations. But instead of completely sticking to their scheme, the couple spiced things up by bringing in additional hues. Eric's mother and sisters folded hundreds of paper cranes in every color imaginable. Lauren strung many of the cranes on fishing wire and hung them around the gazebo while the ceremony was held, and the others brightened up the dinner tables sitting atop the mirrors beneath the centerpieces.
At the end of the night, the guests formed a line down to the dock at the lake. They rang bells tied with lavender ribbon while Lauren and Eric made their escape, taking a boat across the lake to their honeymoon suite. Their next destination? Honeymooning on a much bigger boat -- a Carnival cruise ship.
The ceremony took place lakeside beneath a gazebo with the setting sun as a backdrop. A red stone path that cut through the lawn served as Lauren's aisle. Guests were seated in white chairs adorned with lavender-hued flowers, gauze, and white bows, a vibrant contrast to the colorful cranes.
Wedding plans began to unfold following Eric's surprise proposal. Lauren had finished college a semester early, and was able to focus on the planning. Her mother provided invaluable assistance. Though they made a couple of trips down to Richmond from Pennsylvania, they did plenty of shopping online and actually handcrafted many of the elements that made up the wedding. The people at Pier One and Michael's loved us! Lauren jokes. Their on-site wedding coordinator, Anne Roy, also gave assistance. We kept up a constant conversation with her via phone, fax, and email, she says.
Afterward, guests headed into the lodge, where French doors opened out onto the gardens. Following a buffet dinner, everyone indulged in the triple-layer wedding cake, which brought together the themes of the day perfectly. Each layer featured a different design in white on purple, and two paper cranes (one white, one purple) served as cake toppers. Naturally, the guests (many of whom were also ballroom dance enthusiasts) quickly gravitated toward the spacious dance floor.
Eric's father did a reading in English and in Chinese, and the couple also included a Chinese custom in which the bride and groom drink from two wine glasses joined by a red cord, then switch glasses and drink again. According to tradition, men and women are created in pairs and joined by a long red cord, Lauren explains. Throughout their lives, the cord gets shorter until they meet and ultimately marry. Drinking the wine symbolizes the elimination of the cord, because now the two people are one.