Welcome family and friends!

Updated August 28

So a few of you expressed interest in joining us for brunch the next day. Vieux Port Steakhouse (39 St-Paul street East, corner of St-Gabriel) has a pretty a nice Sunday Brunch set-up, you can see the menu here ($24.50). We can meet up at the Hyatt reception (6th floor) at 11:30am for those who are staying nearby. We will walk through the Old Port and be there for noon. Click here to RSVP so we can reserve accordingly.

Quelques-uns d'entre vous ont exprimé leur intérêt quant au brunch le lendemain. Le Vieux Port Steakhouse (39 rue St-Paul Est, coin St-Gabriel) offre un Brunch du Dimanche très appétissant: vous pouvez voir le menu ici ($24.50). Le point de rencontre pour ceux qui seront tout près du Hyatt sera près de son bureau de réception (6ième étage) à 11:30. Nous allons marcher à travers le Vieux Port pour se rendre au restaurant. Sinon, rendez-vous là-bas à midi. Cliquez ici pour confirmer votre présence afin que nous puissions réserver en conséquence.

Updated August 27 (less than a week to go...)

Dearest guests, do not get lost!

Drive from Rene-Levesque street and turn into Jeanne-Mance, the entrance of the Complexe Desjardins parking is on your right (it IS a cul-de-sac, do not worry!).

To enter the Hyatt, take the door under the SIX Resto-Lounge sign on Jeanne-Mance (or the door near the Hyatt valet), look for the illuminated world map and take the elevators up to the reception floor (6th). See detailed instructions here.

Updated August 14 (less than 3 weeks to go!)

We have added information about

• parking (hint: self-park at Complexe Desjardins is 10$ on weekends)
• schedule for the wedding events
• directions to access Terrasse SIX and the Soprano rooms.
• what to do in Montréal section, do not miss the Mosaicultures!

As to honor our heritage, the wedding day at the Hyatt includes a Vietnamese-style tea ceremony (3PM) and a colaci bread ceremony during the reception dinner (9PM-ish). We included descriptions below in French, Romanian and English.

The tea ceremony is usually attended by close family and relatives so we have not planned guest seating for all during this event. If you would like to see us both dressed in traditional Vietnamese outfits to ask for our ancestors and elders' blessing, you are welcome to join us at 3PM in room Soprano C, 4th floor!

FRENCH

Inspiré du ào dài royal de la dynastie Nguyen, la tenue de mariée vietnamienne moderne est habituellement composée d’une robe fendue ào dài brodée (portée avec un pantalon), et d’une sur-cape à la fois délicate et extravagante. La mariée porte également une coiffe khăn đống. Le marié porte une tenue simple équivalente, souvent de couleur bleue. Stella et Dumi ont commandé leurs ào dài sur mesure du Viet Nam, où ils ont dû payé des frais pour du tissu supplémentaire parce que les mensurations du marié étaient «plus grandes qu'un homme vietnamien moyen»... Étonnamment le ào dài de Dumi n'a pas été livré avec un pantalon; à la consternation du marié, Stella s'est lancée dans l'aventure de le coudre elle-même.

Sous les yeux de nos familles, la cérémonie du thé commence devant un autel, où la mariée et le marié brûlent de l'encens, demandant la bénédiction des ancêtres. Les mariés honorent leurs parents dans une cérémonie de thé formelle, où le couple serve le thé à leurs aînés . Les invités félicitent les mariés, et partagent conseils et souhaits pour leur mariage. Il est de coutume que la mère du marié adorne la mariée d’un cadeau de bijoux, qui symbolise bonne fortune.

Les traditions roumaines et moldaves dictent que les jeunes mariés honorent un couple plus longuement marié en leur demandant de devenir parrain et marraine. Stella et Dumitru sont très heureux que Natalia et Victor aient accepté ce rôle et pourront ainsi profiter de leur sages conseils dans le futur.

Il est de coutume que le parrain et la marraine reçoivent un cadeau symbolique composé de serviettes brodées et de pain rond tressé appelé colaci. Traditionnellement le colaci est présenté au couple parrain-marraine par la mère de la mariée: ce soir, une représentation dansée par des artistes-invités mettront la tradition du colaci à l’honneur. Finalement, Stella et Dumi vont découvrir qui porte la culotte dans leur mariage en tentant d’arracher une plus grosse portion du pain rond!

ROMANIAN

Inspirat de costumul ào dài de la nunta regală a dinastiei Nguyen, costumul de nunta modern vietnamez ào dài este de obicei îmbrodat, de culoare roșie si roză, portat cu pantaloni, cu un mantou subțire exterior delicat si extravagant. Mireasa poartă de asemenea o pălărie căreia i se zice khăn đống. Mirele poarte o versiune simplificată a rochiei, de obicei de culoare albastră. Costumele pentru Stella și Dumi au fost făcute pe măsură in Vietnam, și producătorii au cerut bani extra pentru că mirele e “mai mare decît un bărbat local”... Áo dài-ul lui Dumi a venit fără pantaloni și spre groaza lui Dumi, Stella a hotărît că se va aventura să coasă pantalonii.

Ceremonia tradițională de ceai e rezervată familiei apropiate și e în fața altarului strămoșilor, unde mireasa și mirele aprind bastoane parfumate, cerînd permisiunea strămoșilor de a-i binecuvînta. Mireasa și mirele onorează părinții și le mulțumesc pentru că au fost crescuți și protejați de ei; mirele și mireasa se închină. Urmează o ceremonie de ceai formala unde cuplul servește ceai părinților și oamenilor în vîrstă. Rudele și invitații dau sfaturi despre căsătorie și despre familie, și le doresc cele mai bune urări cuplului. Obiceiul cere ca familia mirelui să dea o bijuterie ca și cadou pentru mireasă; mama mirelui le pune pe mireasă pentru noroc.

Tradiția româneasca și moldovenească cere ca mirele și mireasa să ceară unui cuplu cu mai multă experiență să le fie nănași. Mirele și mireasa sunt privilegiați și onorați de faptul că Natalia și Victor au acceptat să fie nănași și speră să aibă parte de sfaturi cît mai înțelepte de la ei!

Ca și cadou pentru acceptare de a fi nănaşi, Natalia și Victor primesc colaci si prosoape din Moldova, primirea acestora echivalînd cu acceptarea propunerii de a-i cununa pe tinerii miri. Dansatoarea invitată a serii, va face onorurile și va da colacii nașilor din partea soacrei mici, dupa cum cere obiceiul. După primirea colacilor, dansatorii vor juca un dans tradițional al colacilor. La sfîrșitul dansului, mirele si mireasa vor rupe un colac in două: cine rupe bucata mai mare va fi adevăratul cap al gospodăriei!

ENGLISH

Inspired by the royal wedding ào dài of the Nguyen Dynasty, current-day Vietnamese bridal attire is usually an elaborate embroidered ào dài often red or pink (worn with pants), with an extravagant and delicate outer cloak. The bride also wears a khăn đống headdress. The groom wears a simpler make equivalent of the dress, often in the color blue. Stella and Dumi had their wedding ào dài custom-made in Viet-Nam, where they had to pay a supplementary fee for extra fabric because the groom was deemed ‘larger than a typical local man’...Surprisingly Dumi’s ào dài was not shipped with pants; so to Dumi’s dismay, Stella embarked on the adventure of sewing them herself.

Attended by close family, our tea ceremony begins in front of an ancestors altar, where the bride and groom burn incense sticks, asking for permission from the ancestors to bless them. The bride and groom honor their parents and give thanks for raising and protecting them. A formal tea ceremony follows, where the couple serves tea to their elders and parents. Relatives and guests also offer advice about marriage, family and their best wishes to the couple. A gift of jewelry from the groom’s family is customary; the groom's mother will then put each piece on the bride for good fortune.

Romanian and Moldovan customs call for the bride and groom to ask a married couple, who are more experienced in life to be their godparents. The bride and the groom are privileged and honored that Natalia and Victor have accepted to be the godparents and the couple hopes to be guided by their sage advice in the years to come!

To mark their acceptance to their new role as godparents, Victor and Natalia are gifted traditional Moldovan knotted bread called colaci and hand-embroidered towels. The gifts are from the bride’s mother, per the tradition. As tradition calls, guests performers will give the bread to the godparents on behalf of the mother of the bride, and offer a dance performance to celebrate the colaci. Finally, Stella and Dumi will partake in another tradition: bride and groom pulls apart a big colaci; whoever gets the bigger piece is the real head of the household!

Update June 13

80 guests have RSVP-ed; 58% of those who have voted still prefer the clean-shaven look! Both mothers are still lobbying for Dumi to shave for the wedding day :)

The Hyatt confirms that the kids meal will be chicken fingers, mashed potatoes and mystery vegetables.

Update May 20

55 guests have RSVP-ed; a majority still favor the clean-shaven look! Don't forget to reserve your Montreal hotel, if you intend to do so. August 31 is part of the Labor Day long weekend and is always a warm ending to summer, therefore it is often a favorite time for tourists.

From August 22-September 2nd, the Montreal World Film Festival is happening at Place des Arts, right at the footsteps of the Hyatt. Check it out :)

PS: Bonjour invités francophones et allophones! Nous faisons de notre mieux pour plaire à tout le monde mais n'avons pas assez de lutins pour traduire le site web en nos quatre langues maternelles d'usage (vietnamien, roumain, francais, anglais). Nous promettons de faire mieux lors du 31 aout 2013!

Update March 25

So far, 20 guests have RSVP-ed. For those that have voiced their opinion, 69% requested that Dumi sport no facial hair on the wedding day. We have also added Montreal hotels suggestions here.