Erik & Jacinta
Saturday,
Sept. 23 2023, Seattle
Saint Edwards Parish
National Nordic Museum
The Wedding is happening!
Saturday Sept. 23 2023
We are delighted to invite you to join us as we exchange vows and celebrate our matrimony, a union of different cultures merging together.
It feels as though this day has been a long time coming, and we are both excited to have you with us in celebrating our love. In the presence of our close friends and family, this day will mark a new chapter for us that feels extra special!
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Jacinta is a first generation Vietnamese American while Erik's father's parents were born in Denmark, he also has scores of ancestors who came to America many generations ago from various Northern European countries. This wedding will highlight our cultures, merging together as one, as we will become husband and wife.
Ceremony
Saturday, Sept. 23, 1 p.m - 2 p.m. St. Edward Catholic Church
4212 S Mead St, Seattle WA
Reception
Saturday, September 23, 6:30 p.m. – 1 a.m. National Nordic Museum
2655 NW Market St, Seattle WA
Our Love
Story/Meet Cute
GROOM VERSION:
I'll skip to when Jacinta and I turned our 4 years long high school friendship into something more. It's about 3 weeks after high school graduation and Jacinta phones me in a panic (a regular occurrence in my life now). She says that she was lost, trying to get to our mutual friend's house in Magnolia (at that time, I also lived in Magnolia, a Seattle neighborhood). She doesn't know her location so I ask her to pick up on FaceTime instead and to show me the road. I determine that she is actually 2 miles east of where she needs to be, in Queen Anne, the next neighborhood over. We remained on FaceTime while I guide her turn by turn to her destination and said goodbye. About an hour later, she calls again and says she's coming over with our mutual friend. I scramble to put on real clothes, having spent the whole day thus-far in my pajamas and together, the three of us spent the next few hours driving across the neighborhood of Magnolia and then to the Ballard Locks, getting food, and spending time outside.
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The next morning, Jacinta phones again to tell me she's coming over with a different friend. This time around, we go on an epic adventure across the whole city of Seattle picking up and dropping off friends along the way. By midnight, it's just me and Jacinta in the car. After years of close friendship and a couple days of adventure together, I saw that my life could go in two directions: 1. be boring on my own, or 2. go on crazy adventures with a wild woman who never let the smile on my face fade. It was an easy decision but a hard to say the words to ask her out on a date. I'm forever grateful she accepted my offer.
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That summer was the best of my life and I've never looked back. Over the next 7 years our adventures continued back and forth across Seattle and Philadelphia, spanning distances as far as Europe and China while never letting each other get too far. We had ̶a̶ ̶f̶e̶w̶ a lot of challenges along the way but those ultimately only served to bring us closer together. Now I couldn't possibly imagine life without my best friend, adventure buddy, and future-wife, Jacinta. She still gets lost, especially that time in Disneyland, but I'm still her first call whenever she needs to find her way home.
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Erik circa 2012 Jacinta circa 2012
BRIDE VERSION:
Justin Bieber had it right when he said "when I was 13, I had my first love." Well, that is if Erik was telling his side. Hahaha. 2012 was a great year and it was great because that was the year that I met Erik. On the very first day at Bishop Blanchet High School, 13-year- old me had tried to find a spot at a lunch table without looking awkward. Thankfully, there was a person who was more awkward than I, who was already sitting at the lunch table closest to the door. That person was wearing all green, had braces and a bowl haircut. I sat down, and he introduced himself as Erik. This is where many people assumed we began dating, but no. There was no spark here folks! He asked me to my very first ever dance freshmen year, and I said yes. I remember running away from him during slow songs that night because he had danced like he had two left feet and had no romance in him. It also did not help that his voice was one octave higher than mine. Sparks were not sparking. Still, we had become great friends because we had all the same AP classes and enjoyed debating against one another on school subject in front of the entire class (i.e AP Lit Class Poetry Grand Slam).
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It was not until the very end of those 4 years of high school, (3 weeks after graduation to be exact), when Erik asked me out on a date. He no longer had braces (thank goodness), had shorter hair (thank you, Aunt Mindy!) and his voice was lower (thank the heavens!). The sparks were sparking! He asked me out, later explaining that because I was leaving to move across the country at the end of summer for college, he would have regretted it if he'd never asked me out on a date. It turned out to be one of the best summers of my life, and by the time I packed my bags that autumn, Erik and I decided to continue our relationship doing long distance.
To say long distance was the hardest thing we have endured as a couple is an understatement, but opting to make it work, was one of the best decisions I ever made. It's been 11 years since I walked into Erik's life, 11 years of growing up and learning how to be adults together. We continually find a way back to one another, even after the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I fell in love with my best friend slowly and gradually. And still, everyday my love for him somehow manages to grow a little more. I fell in love with the little things he did- the everyday mundane acts he would do. In true Erik form, he had asked me to my first ever dance the same way he asked me to be his girlfriend, and the same way he asked me to marry him: "so...do you want to do this with me?" and I will always reply back "yes, I will," as I cannot wait to do life with him. Sparks.
