Dave & Dao's Wedding: 1989 Photo Gallery by Dave Sperling at pbase.com

Dave & Dao's Wedding: 1989

It's my seventeenth wedding anniversary, so I decided to celebrate by sharing some of the photos taken on that hot and humid September afternoon in Ban Dom Kirek, Thailand. I had very little notion on what to expect, so I just nervously drove up to the village, and was promptly "lost in translation" throughout most of the ceremony and its aftermath. Luckily I had some very good expat friends to support me, and Dao's family was gracious to the extreme.

This gallery is made possible by scanning the original film negatives with my newly purchased Nikon Coolscan 5000 film scanner.

Dao in front of the Montri Hotel in Chiangmai	Dao and I in Chiangmai before the wedding	What am I getting myself into?	The beginning of the ceremony
Dao and I carrying a spectacular Thai flower arrangement	Getting ready for the ceremony	Inside Grandmother's house	On my knees for the next 3 hours. Ouch!
Family, friends, and neighbors	Dao's great-uncle, the head of the family	Lost in translation!	Washing our hands with sacred water
Giving Dao a gold necklace	Watching the ceremony	The kitchen crew!	Enjoying the delicious food!
Food, coca cola, and Thai whiskey	It seems as if the entire village showed up!	Some of our guests enoying themselves	Hot, tired, and married!
After the ceremony. Note my happy expression!	Lifting Dao to receive an envelope with Thai money	Consulting with my best man, Jim	Dao and I collecting gifts from our guests
Posing with friends and family	With two aunts and various cousins	Dao with her two aunts and two cousins	My father-in-law, Boon
Guest trying to get my mother and father-in-law to pose	With my mother-in-law, Kemthong	Posing with neighbors	Dao and her brides maid
My mother-in-law with her two sisters	My sister-in-law Mim. She lives in North Hollywood, California now.	Posing with my father-in-law	My friend from England, Simon
My brother-in-law and his daughter, Pui. Pui is now a freshman at Payap University.	Dao and I with my friend's daughter	Sunset on the day of our wedding. Romantic, isn't it?	Dao and I are off to Japan for a "working honeymoon" that lasted over a year

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Charlotte Liebel		06-Oct-2010 00:20
CONGRATS Dave & Dao, Your photos are beautiful. Especially beautiful is the one of you on your wedding day with the sunset in the background. Thanks for sharing. Next I will view your family pictures. You make a lovely couple and it's amazing how much your educational outreach has grown. Dave - just want you to know I've been following your career online forever! Glad to see you now have TESL online classes. I am thinking of looking into classes, now. I live in Ventura, California USA and graduated from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) that started the satellite campus in Ventura (City), Ventura (County) in a small building. Next, the satellite CSUN Campus, the courses and students moved to Channel Islands, Ventura - near Oxnard, CA (in the County of Ventura). At this time, I earned my B.A. in Sociology. Soon afterward, the CSUN campus at Channel Islands came into it's own - becoming CSU at Channel Islands. I, then, traveled to CSUN to earn my Masters of Arts in Education: Educational Psychology [1-year in Counseling]. So now I am a graduate = M.Ed. Blessings and continued joy and happiness in your lovely family. Charlotte Liebel aka [ Sharliebel on Twitter and Wordpress ]

Vijay Kansal		15-Apr-2010 09:59
Hi Dave and Dao,Congrets. The happy nice beautiful couple this is the most beautiful way of presenting the memorable moments. Impressed and hope both continue to love and live with hearts and brains thinking and wishing each other forever.

Phuoc nguyen		13-Mar-2010 05:26
Wow! I am looking your pictures. Your pictures are beautiful. I think about your wedding and I like the way Thai's people celebrate their wedding. I am Vietnamese, so my wedding has to followed Vietnamese traditional. I and my husband dressed "Ao Dai" in my wedding. I like to enjoy your wedding pictures. Lovely and romantic with Asian Traditional. I hope you happy for ever.

Micho		12-May-2009 19:41
Wow, that's so beautiful. You both look great. I wish you both lots of happiness, sharing the adventure of life together.

Susan Tan		03-Feb-2009 23:21
What a beautiful ceremony. Whether you understood all of the ceremony or not, I know there are many wonderful memories from that day. I'm from the Midwest of the U.S. and my husband is from Australia. His parents were born in Singapore and Malaysia. We had a wedding in the U.S., and his parents' graciously hosted a traditional Chinese reception in Sydney. How beautiful to blend cultures in celebrating such a wonderful day.

jose magana		16-Dec-2008 17:32
i think this look so bonito pretty because nice pictures

angie		06-Oct-2008 01:18
I think it is a beautiful thing you did to celebrate your a 17th anniversary to remember the day of your wedding. I hope you many more years of happines. Angie

marie		18-Jul-2008 14:09
beautiful ceremony .Dave and Dao , I wish you happiness .

SusU		29-Apr-2008 07:23
I appreciate what you are doing for others. It is a selfless act. Beautiful family, your kids are precious. Hug them everyday.

Greg		17-Apr-2008 06:59
Living the dream man!! Beautiful country, great web page, location independent work, and a beautiful woman by your side. I tip my hat.

Guest		20-Nov-2007 06:46
your wife is really beautiful,I wish you two have a good life.

Del lobo		09-Nov-2007 11:25
I came here looking for a job and got mesmerized by these beautiful pictures. Lovely! Blessings to you, Dave and your wife Dao. Happy Anniversary to you!

ann		08-Nov-2007 12:32
Congratulations!You're so beautiful£¡Best wishes to you and your family.

Aramis		18-Oct-2007 13:03
What a beautiful family and picturs. I am jealous of the amazing photographic talent. I will learn some tips just from watching your amazing collection. May GOD above bless all of your family. ARAMIS DE LA NUEZ

Mei Ling		29-Aug-2007 06:45
Congratulations! Dave & Dao, very nice pictures and full of happiness. I went to Thailand & Chiang Mai before with my boyfriend. It's a nice & beautiful place and the people are so kind. Specially in Chiang Mai forest, I could saw so many star and falling star. I know my boyfriend 17 years, we plan to marry next year. Congratulations to everyone.

ghizlane		25-Aug-2007 09:19
It's a very nice weeding, nice pictures with family.I wish you all hapiness. ghiz

Foster		28-May-2007 21:52
Wow! She is beautiful, and you, Dave, look great! I would have come here just for the pictures.

Mirna Beltran		25-May-2007 14:39
Congratulations Dave and Dao, my best to you and my best wishes for a happy , long life together, loving eachother as grow in life

pinkflamingo		30-Oct-2006 18:17
Congratulations! We also got married in September 1989, but didn't make it to Thailand (Chiang Mai!) till 2oo1. We've been back many times since and plan to retire in CM! Thailand is a wonderful place and Chiang Mai is really special!

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