Together in Paris, September 2018
One year has flown by. Two bands are now melded onto our ring fingers. Three days of celebration stories have been shared over and over. Seventy-seven guests need to be thanked. Thousands of flowers have colored countless happy memories. And at least a million emojis have been exchanged between Linh and James. All of this since our wedding day, November 19, 2017.
Oh… and a number that most people don’t know: all of them. That’s how many celebrities across the world thanked us for providing them peace for a day because our wedding seemed to pull all the paparazzi. Kidding aside, we’re still so thankful for all the photographers, organizers, musicians and staff, and hope all our friends caught the albums we shared.
On our first anniversary today, Linh and I are back together in Hanoi, and we are reflecting back on our year, especially on our wedding day, one year ago.
Thank you!
Our gratitude is the best place to start, not only because it’s Thanksgiving this week in the States, but because our wedding happiness was truly magnified by those of you that attended and celebrated our union.
Many of you traveled so far and filled the day with so much love. We have been fortunate to see many of you through 2018 so far, and others we still plan to visit. Either way, everyone has been in our hearts and memories when we often think back to our wedding day or watch the photos go by on our digital photo frames at home. It was such a beautiful day. Thank you for being there for us to all that were able to make the hike. And to those that gave to our Worldvision cause on Crowdrise, we value your kindness and generosity.
Since our Wedding
We’ll never forget the wedding day’s the sore cheeks from laughing, the hugs, tears and cheers of love, and tearing up the dance floor all night. Speaking of Felicity (the dancing queen that night), we can’t wait to see her, Edward, Victoria and Rob over New Years. For Christmas, we’ll be in Nantwich, England with Barb and Michael. And working backward from now, here’s a quick recap of our 2018 together:
We’re in Hanoi and Phu Quoc, Vietnam this week to celebrate our anniversary, seeing many friends and family, especially our dear Minh Anh and her team perform their choreographed dance in traditional Ao Dais at a school show
Front row at the Jay-Z and Beyonce OTR2 concert in Vancouver
Traipsing around Paris to revisit our old neighborhood and remember our stint living there in 2015
Catching up with Jeroen and Giang in Amsterdam
Wine tasting in the Yarra Valley, and drinking Magics in Melbourne
Visiting Hieu Down Under in Sydney
The inaugural camping trip in BC with dad Kelly and Minh Anh, and a BC wine tasting tour in the Okanagan Valley with Jill and Abhik
Cruising around Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm
Standing in the sakura snow of the Kyoto and Tokyo cherry blossom festival
Remembering and honoring dad Pham at his funeral after he sadly passed in January
And getting warm by the fire and sharing holiday family meals around the table with dad Kelly and Minh Anh in Vancouver
It has been another fast-paced, jet-setting year for us as my manager keeps us busy as usual, and by my manager, I mean my wife Linh. The only slow stuff has been waiting for Linh and Minh Anh to get their paperwork sorted to be able to come Stateside…something it seems will take at least until the summer of 2019.
As we proceed into the holiday season of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Lunar New Year, we are very blessed and happy to be spending time with family and friends. Thank you for being a special part of our wedding and our lives. We wish you friends and family much love and joy this season.
-James and Linh