Truly a storybook wedding!

D-Day is FINALLY here!!!!

Veronica and her Daddy, "CoCo" are pure royalty! When the monumental carved doors opened in the Cathedral, Veronica lit up the room and sucked the wind of out it at the same time! She reminded me of Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner combined. Absolutely breathtaking!

Sinclair leading the way.....

Here is a photo from the night of the wedding on Friday night....the first of many to come! One of my dearest friends Lisa Jane took this photo of us right after the nuptials. She is such a fabulous photographer you don't even notice my daughter and I soaked in baby puke!
I love my husband so much....he so precious!! Love that gorgeous man!!!! We make gorgeous babies too!


I was curious as to why one bride needed over a DOZEN photographers. They seemed very aggressive and not even gracious at times. I asked Veronica about this when we reached the reception and she said "Ohhhh, we only hired one photographer, the rest are paparazzi" I must have looked obviously stunned. Well, the photographers worked for Cosas, Vistazo, People Espanol and were contracted by Latin Vogue and most of the international newspapers. There was three television camera crews on hand as well! Then it dawned on me (note to self) she really WAS South American royalty!

Not only could Daniel have not chosen a more perfect bride - but her family is just as ideal. Her parents, are so stunning and gracious -- very, very warm and genuine. We are so excited that we have all come together as a joint family. Veronica's sister, Christina is moving to Houston next month and we could not be more thrilled. If it were up to us we would move them all over to Texas! I told CoCo, we hope "to marry all his girls off to tall Texans!" (He smiled so big!)

Mr John Daniel Schiller, III and Miss Maria Veronica Wong Salas were married in San JoseMaria Escriva de Balaguer in La Puntilla in Guayaquil, Ecuador at half past nine o'clock in the evening on October 26, 2007 the bilingual full Catholic mass ceremony was officiated by Father Rainiero Maninccioni. Full mass communion preceded a personal fireworks show overcasting the city in the couple's honor.

The bride was presented in marriage by her parents Mr and Mrs Otton Wong Lama donning Reem Acra couture encrusted with embedded crystals and seed pearls, accented with platinum atop a double faced heavy silk ballgown that was enhanced by a cathedral length veil. Wrapped around the bride's bouquet of orchids was an antique silk crocheted handkerchief carried by her great-Grandmother, over 84 years prior.The bride adorned a Platinum and diamond vintage tiara that was a Wong family heirloom consisting of over 45 carats of diamonds. The tiara was originally worn by her maternal grandmother over fifty years ago, was highlighted by pear shaped Graff drop earrings, a gift from her grandparents, Mr and Mrs. Otton Wong Carrera.

The groom's Father, John Daniel Schiller, Junior served as his son's best man.

After services, the standing room only mass followed the bride and groom via Police escorts to meet an additional 1200 guests at the Isabella ballroom which is the largest ballroom in all of Ecuador. The decor was designed and orchestrated by international designers Layla and Alexandra Anton of Noches de Gala. Over 100,000 orchids flown in from New Zealand were designed by Presidential florist, Cruz Veintimilla of Akdeniz. Guests were awed by a twelve foot tall wedding cake flown in from Miami. 22,000 deserts each handmade by artisans in Peru, Lebanon, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Columbia. The ballroom was encased by dual waterfalls 36 feet high.The 10 piece band, Reyes serenaded the guests from midnight to 9 AM. A full seated breakfast was served at 7 AM consisting of the traditional fresh seafood ceviche.

Guests included Ecuadorian Minister and Presidential nominee, Leon Roldos; Mr and Mrs Antoine Chouery of Paris and Miami and Mr. and Mrs Alfredo Dassum, Mr and Mrs Elio Wong, Former Texas Secretary of State Jack Rains and Mr Meredith Cullen. Guests flew from ten Countries (including USA, Ecuador, France, Lebanon, Israel, Italy, Columbia, China, Argentina and Chile)

The couple plan on honeymooning in Salinas, the Maldive Islands and Rome. Afterwards, they will make permanent residence in Houston, Texas.

T-Minus 20 Hours and Counting!!!

I took these photos at 3:15 AM CST


We snapped these before we went to bed Friday morning....John and I were still concerned the floral designers who are the official Presidential florist, Cruz Veintimilla of Akdeniz. The decor was orchestrated by international designers Layla and Alexandra Anton of Noches de Gala. This Mother-Daughter team worked truly around the clock. The crew had to build the final frames to hold the thousands of orchids could possibly not make it on time. We were chewing our nails and pacing the floors~


Alas, this was NOT their first rodeo!

The final countdown....

I wanted to show a few outtakes less than 36 hours before the reception. Veronica and Daniel's reception started at midnight on Friday night (October 26th) -- this is the largest ballroom in the country of Ecuador. The evening is preparing for 1500 guests (1800 invitations were mailed out) The workers just got through laying new carpet in the ballroom. The branches were being arranged to hold the greenery and the majority of the 100,000 orchids that were being shipped in from New Zealand the following day. I included some of the orchids they were using at the bases on the florals. Note the individually wrapped netting on each bud.

They divided the various sections of the room to feature a speciality of the country. The cigar roller was flown in from Cuba, the coffee was imported from Vienna, the chocolates from Switzerland. I truly cannot capture from the photos below how massive the transformation these designers made to this ballroom. John and I were worried they were on a time crunch and we just did not think they would pull it off in time....not only did they work through the night both nights and set up for three days straight -- it was magical!! This event would have blown away anything from Hollywood or New York standards. When the bride and groom arrived back from the church and the doors were still closed....the guests waited patiently and in unison you heard over a thousand people gasp in awe when they saw the completion. No wonder, there were over 15 paparazzi and three news crews there to cover it!

Here comes the bride....

I have been trying to prepare all week to start packing for South America for my (bonus) son’s wedding. Daniel and Veronica have naturally chosen her home town Guayaquil, Ecuador as the location. Veronica and her lovely family are from Guayaquil and these precious kids met four years ago at the University of Miami. I must be honest when I say, I have felt so lost over the past month. As many parties as we host, I feel like Ray Charles preparing to drive in the Indy 500! I am somewhat at all the events that will occur or even how to pack. I was told (bilingual) Mass begins at 10 PM and probably lasts a while (i.e. pack a snack) ….Mass could last at least an hour. I should be good to go on a few years worth of sins after that purging. I do know that the black-tie reception starts at MIDNIGHT and goes until sunrise. This has me most stressed, since personally I think If I stay up for Letterman I am really running hard. There is a seated breakfast for everyone at 7:30 AM. I have pondered that Latin’s must have some internal timing chip they are born with that allows them to tweak their body clock at their leisure. Upon inspection, the Bride’s side has included 1,800 guests!!!! (I keep having the movie "March of the Penguins" in my mind imagining that many people in black tie) I cannot even begin to fathom 1,800 guests. Even for Texas that is HUGE! The longer I thought about it, I guess everyone channels their inner-Princess Diana at one time in their life. My jaw dropped faster than the speed of sound when I heard some of these statistics. When my girlfriend Eva asked me how many were coming from the US (which I didn’t know the answer) I told her “I assume we will just rent friends when we get there."


Here is another kicker, the Latin based guests do not RSVP. I asked Veronica "do you have a service that handles all the RSVP's?" She said "RSVP's are mainstream in America. People in Latin countries would never do responses. We prepare for the full amount of guests invited" I have long heard about these type wedding extravaganzas in Mexico City and Monterrey but obviously have never experienced anything like this.


Veronica is the oldest of four gorgeous girls. Have a moment of prayer for her Daddy...he gets to do this three more times over the next few years!


I am going to try to blog as I go along each day. Bear with me as I report from the front lines…..

HOME OF THE PANAMA HAT AND TRUE LOVE....

This weekend the family ventured to Guayaquil, Ecuador with Daniel and Veronica to bless the rings for their upcoming nuptials in October. After arriving in Guayaquil and spending an evening adjusting. We departed the following day for their majestic beach compound three hours South in Las Tunas. This area is known for warm hospitality, fresh seafood and good surfing.

The fishing boats of Salinas....

Sinclair immediately took to the hammock lifestyle