Christine Chang

and

Ian Tang

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    Wedding Party

    Michelle Chang

    Maid of Honor

    My big sis and my best friend (until her husband and Ian came into the picture, ha ha). Since I was little, I was always following Michelle around, tagging along to her sleepovers and parties. Looking back, I am terribly sorry for being such a nuisance of a baby sister! It was probably because of this that growing up, we went back and forth between loving and hating each other, though I was probably guilty 99% of the time for being the instigator. Only after Michelle moved to New York for college did I begin to appreciate my big sis, missing her so much I made a memorable surprise visit to her. Being sisters, we get to push each other’s buttons and be 100% brutally honest with each other, whether we like it or not. She has always been a role model for me, not only because she is my big sis, but because she is an amazing woman in her own right – smart, beautiful, competitive, artistic, and athletic, and now can add badass supermom to the list. Although we live in different countries now, I hope we one day we live near each other again, as I have fond memories of seeing each other any random day of the week when we both lived in SF.

    Jenny Nguyen

    Bridesmaid

    Jenny and I met freshman year at Berkeley in the dorms, and we easily became fast friends. We had a blast in our escapades around campus, attending frat parties, going to a cappella shows at Wheeler, and eating all over Berkeley. Beyond having fun together, we always have lent an ear to each other over the years. Maybe it’s because we both have an older sister and therefore could relate to each other better, but it has always been easy to talk about anything and everything with Jenny – from gushing over boys, relationships, to the struggles and successes in our careers. I’ve always valued and trusted her opinion, but also love how we can just let loose, like during our road trip to Vegas over the 4th of July!

    Kristen Tanaka

    Bridesmaid

    Kristen and I have been friends since the first week of junior high, when one of our teachers, Mr. Grayson, kept calling me Kristen and kept calling her Christine. Naturally, we started talking to each other to complain about this…and discovered we had so much in common! Sisters both named Michelle, parents who both worked at Sun Microsystems, and we both loved to ski. Kristen is the life of the party – she has an incredibly infectious laugh and is happy to talk to anyone and everyone. I can always count on having a good time with her!! She's also the type of friend your parents automatically love -- responsible (since she is the older sibling), and ever polite and sweet to my parents.

    Ida Soleimani

    Bridesmaid

    Ida is another one of my oldest friends, having met when we sat next to each other in 8th grade Geometry class, after she had moved to Cupertino from Massachusetts. Over the years, Ida and I have been roommates twice – in Palo Alto and San Francisco. If you know Ida, she has very high standards for cleanliness, and thankfully our friendship has survived both experiences ;) Kidding aside, I’ve always admired Ida for how much of a smart and gorgeous lady she is. She’s a mixture of snarky and witty, and also is superhuman and functions on very little sleep (complete opposite of me). This has definitely been great with the current 15 hour time difference from Shanghai, as she’s willing to FaceTime either late in the night or early morning at 6am =D

    Suana Wang

    Bridesmaid

    Fun fact: Suana and I share the exact same birthday. Even though that's how we met at Berkeley (someone suggested we throw a joint birthday party – so glad they did!), our friendship is based on much more than that. Suana is an adventurous go-getter and extremely detailed planner, happy to travel the world with friends and I’m so thankful I get to benefit from this ;) Some of my favorite travels have been with her – ski trips, visiting her in Chicago, but by far the most memorable was our trip to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos, where she brought together 13 near-strangers for the trip…and somehow we all became lifelong friends out of it. Ok let’s be honest, it’s the fact that we camped together without showering for 4 straight days. I look forward to our next trip, where you can be sure to find us stuffing our faces with delicious local eats.

    Wayne Tang

    Best Man

    Wayne is my older brother. While I've accepted that I'm going to get the "who's older?" question for the rest of my life, it's no coincidence that our family and friends always think of us as a pair. We did almost everything together: computer games during homework time, dressing for basketball but ending up at the arcade instead, recording home-made mix tapes for our cousins overseas. While it sounds like we were generally just up to no good, I could always, and still do, count on Wayne knowing what's the right thing to do.

    Brian Lee

    Groomsman

    Brian and I met within the first days of our freshman years at Berkeley, since we were neighbors in our dorm suite. Gifted with free time and freedom to choose between play and work, we naturally got into activities like pranks, 3am rap sessions, and occasional studying. Brian and I ended up living together for another two years. Inside jokes from our dorm days still find their way into our normal conversations today.

    James Lin

    Groomsman

    James and I both went to high school in Southern California, but didn't meet until we were at Berkeley. We're both huge foodies, and when dining together, there's no question as to whether ice cream or dessert will follow (Ben would complain, but is secretly thrilled). You may know him as the historian or human Wikipeida, but we've also taken some wild trips, including midnight taxi rides (no lights) and horse trekking with Amdo Tibetans in Central China. I hope we have many more adventures to come!

    James Yao

    Groomsman

    James and I met through Brian at Berkeley (notice a trend yet?). Yes, we played basketball and hung out over birthday parties and meals like with the rest of my close friends/wedding party, but James has the unique ability to bring out the inner nerds in all of us. Together with Ben and James Lin, there will be no shortage of Star Wars or LOTR references in the rest of our lives. I'd wondered if this would ever yield anything good (it wasn't going to help us with girls); I stopped wondering when we came up with my proposal idea.

    Kevin Shieh

    Groomsman

    Kevin is probably the busiest guy you know, with his MD + PhD workload and gym routine, but you'd never know it because he'd always make time for you. That's why after Berkeley, New York became one of my frequent weekend destinations, where we ate, drank, and karaoked our way through the city. But if you ask us what our best memory is, it'd undoubtedly our epically bromantic Euro-trip. London, Paris, Rome, Cinque Terre, gelatos everyday, and shared beds. It really set the bar pretty high for trips I take with Christine!

    Wesley Moy

    Groomsman

    My friendship with Wes started on the RSF basketball courts, but went way beyond through our Berkeley years. We both took co-op positions at a pharmaceutical production site in Vacaville, and yes, we talked about work, but we mostly talked about dating and relationships (still do!). When Wes calls, I know we're going to have a multi-hour heart-to-heart. Is that like what teenage girls do? Guess we'll find out if we have daughters.

    Ben Weil

    Officiant

    Ben is the reason we met. Being the sentimental type*, we couldn't be more thrilled to have him be our Officiant for our wedding ceremony! Besides having similar interests such as Cal sports, basketball, being outdoors, Ben knows us so well that he'd know what we're up to, even though we hadn't verbally caught up. OK, actually, Ben just gives me crap for procrastinating on trip or wedding planning after Christine complains to him. Why is he the Officiant again?

    *Christine wrote this
    Phrosne Ras