Celebrate our marriage! (and Carol's 30th birthday) (and and nick's mom's 60th birthday)

4/10/2025 at 5:15pm-10:30pm The Windsor at Hebron Park 3016 E Hebron Pkwy, Carrollton, TX 75010, United States no special dress code attire Cocktail attire: An elegant event that suggests a suit or dress shirt for men and a cocktail dress or dressy separates for women

Spring, 2017. Nick and Carol were coming to the end of their junior year in Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech (wreck 'em!). They had spoken here and there in passing, mostly whenever Nick needed help on a homework question or Carol couldn't enunciate "e-nun-ci-ate". Little by little, Nick and Carol started to talk more and more. Hallway questions turned into lesson recaps before an exam in Livermore lobby. Lesson recaps turned into study sessions at the Library. Study sessions started to incorporate lunch at Torchy's, or chicken dinners at Raising Canes. Soon, the study sessions began to fade to allow more time at dinner. One dinner ended with a trip to watch Carol's favorite movie, not at all Nick's, Fast and Furious 8. But Nick and Yingjun were just friends, they didn't see each other yet as lifelong companions. But their affection was just beginning. Summer, 2017. Nick and Carol departed for their summer breaks, nearly maintaining a 200 day snap-streak while Nick was in Minnesota & Texas and Carol was in far-far away land of China. During the summer break, Nick started to learn mandarin "for fun" but failed. However, the country's time differences meant that Nick had to wait until Carol woke up to bombard her with questions from his day of language learning. Fall, 2017. Carol returned stateside and the two still-just-friends duo entered their senior year. The semester began just as the spring semester ended; study sessions, grabbing quick bites, watching free movies on Chinese websites (hey, we were broke college kids), and simply learning more and more about one another. The affection towards one another continued to grow, until one day they both had the realization that they were essentially dating but in denial. Every one of their friends were asking “Are you and Nick dating? No” “How long have you all been together?” We’re not” “I’m having a party at my place, you and Carol are welcomed over. Why is it my responsibility to bring Carol??” We were very confused! But that realization hit us. We really did care deeply for one another. We were each other’s last “goodnight! 晚安!” , every night. We were each other’s first “good morning! 早安!”, every morning. We had been buying each other’s meals. Buying gifts for one another. Staying up late just to talk. They just weren’t holding hands while walking down the hallway. But that all changed when Nick asked Carol out, and they realized their affection towards one another was unlike anything they had felt before. Spring, 2018. Nick and Carol just started to date, but Nick had began his co-op in San Angelo. Nick and Carol were a long distance couple, but had the privilege of seeing each other every weekend as Nick would finish work early on Fridays and make the 3 hour drive North to Lubbock. He would stay long after the West Texas sun had its beautiful sunset, making the most of their small weekends together. They would get some boba tea and then Nick would drive back to San Angelo and the start the work week all over again, anxiously waiting until Friday afternoon to arrive to start the drive all over again. Oh, and it was at this time that Carol realized her boyfriend had a serious car-disease problem as Nick purchased his dream Focus RS. Fall, 2018. Carol started her new job in Austin, working for Texas Commission on Environmental Quality! Nick continued his tradition of driving out to see Carol on the weekends, however their Friday nights changed from hitting up Broadway with friends to hitting up 6th Street with tourists. Their affection towards one another was at a tipping point, as Nick accepted an offer with ExxonMobil in Houston. Nick wanted the weekend drives to come to an end. He wanted to get home from work and be able to say “Hey bae I’m home!” He wanted to say “Will you marry me?”. He said it. And she said “Of course yes!”

Lets get caught up. -cracks fingers, opens beer bottle, plays Spotify- So she said yes! Nick finished his Co-Op at Johnson and Johnson (the family company) while Carol continued working at TCEQ (idk if I mentioned this before but I'm mentioning it now). Co-Op completed and Nick returned to Texas Tech (wreck 'em) to complete his Senior semester of Chemical Engineering. Fast forward May 2019 and Nick is now also a Chemical Engineering graduate and can hang his tassel next to Carol's. It's during this month that Nick and Carol move in together at her one bedroom apartment in Austin, and oh boy was it cramped. But not for long. Summer, 2019 We moved to Houston (yay?). This was for Nick to start his Chemical Engineering career at ExxonMobil (yay!). So they get settled into their Midtown townhome and start the rest of their lives as Newly Weds! WAIT. Newly Weds, aren't we still in the engagement period? Ah, small detail. February 19th 2019, Nick and Carol made a quick visit to the Lubbock County Courthouse (904 Broadway St, Lubbock, TX 79403 if you want to Google Street view it) to get married! Why? Well, all of the wedding details had already been booked/deposited by this point, Carol was on her A-game as she always is. But, her visa would be expiring before the actual wedding so we hit the fast forward button and got married in the city that we met (everyone say awe). Winter, 2019 Nick realizes that driving 1.5 hours to-and-from work each day is a drag, so the Ministry of Finance (strike through, I mean Carol) started devising a plan to move into an actual home. After 2 months of hunting for our first starter home, we found one 20 min from Nicks work! Perfect, deposit made, poor as ever, and we are now in February of 2020. Nick has his bachelor party with his homies (minus Asanga and his recently separated appendix), Carol has her bachelorette with her besties, and yep, Texas had 6 cases of Covid at this point. A month later, lock down. Friday March 13th, 2020. Work informed both of us to work remote for the next 2 weeks. Light bulb! Lets get a dog! Nick has be begging, bothering, pleading Carol to get a puppy since moving to Houston. But, the smart thing was to wait until after the wedding. But that logic went out the window when a sudden 2 week work-from-home period presented itself. So we, like 20% of the American population, got a Covid dog. AND SHE COULD NOT BE MORE PERFECT. Y'all know her, it's Ariel. She's a yorkiepoo that has separation anxiety, much like Carol. Spring, 2020 So now, the wedding is next month (May), but the lockdowns aren't lifting.... international travel has been suspended meaning family from China and Colombia could not attend the wedding. We made the tough choice of cancelling the wedding and luckily, we had purchased Event Insurance (yes that is a thing) and were able to get all of our deposits covered. Good thing, helped covered the home costs. 2021, 2022, 2023 Now, like everyone else, we waited... and waited... and waited for lock downs to be lifted and international travel to be resumed. In the meantime of waiting, life kept on moving along. At the tailend of 2021, Nick accepted a new role at Samsung in Austin, which opened up the Austin chapter. 2022 was beginning to look like the year that the big wedding could happen, however Nick's father's health was declining so time was spent tending to his needs. Jan 2023, Nick's father passed away. Moving on from the loss took the better part of 2023. 2024 It's FIVE YEARS since Nick and Carol got married at the little courthouse in Lubbock. To celebrate, Nick and Carol got married (again) at the Austin Capital Building accompanied by family and friends. We could not be more thankful! We actually said our vows to each other this time! The reception would be 1 more year to line up with Carol's 30th and Claudia's 60th birthdays. 2025 That time is now!