A Colorful, Traditional Cambodian and Chinese Wedding in Oregon

Linna and Joe

When Linna So met Joe Armstrong at a Portland, Oregon, restaurant in August 2009, her first impression was that he was absolutely perfect—for her friend. "I tried to hook them up, but thankfully, that didn't work out!" she says, laughing. The duo began hitting the town with mutual pals, and soon romance blossomed. "It's a cliché, but I just knew," says Linna, an academic and clinic support coordinator at Pacific University. "Our personalities fit so well together." Joe, a software engineer at Nike, felt the same, and four years into their courtship, he had an epiphany: Life was so good, he couldn't live without Linna. "That very same day, I went and bought a ring," he says. He left the ring box in a chest of drawers at their home with a note for her to find ("Marry me, Cookie?") before he got down on one knee.

Linna knew that she wanted a traditional Chinese- and Cambodian-style celebration to reflect her ancestry, and that she had plenty of time to plan: Her brother had gotten engaged several months prior. "In Chinese culture, siblings can't get married within a year of each other—it's bad luck," she says. So they waited two years for their nuptials, which took place on July 3, 2015, and featured seven ceremonies, including a blessing by Buddhist monks, as well as a passing of blessings at their home in Hillsboro, Oregon, in which married couples surround the bride and groom and pass a candle around them seven times, using their hands to wave its smoke over the newlyweds. "The smoke is supposed to be sacred and protect the couple from evil," says Linna. Per tradition, Linna and Joe changed outfits between events, and guests feasted on congee, sweet rice with banana rolls, and roasted pig.

"The most memorable moment was the final stage of the wedding, when our happily married parents and elders tied red rings around our wrists with wishes for health, success, and long-lasting love," Linna says. "Everyone said, 'Have lots of children!'" Proof positive that those blessings worked: Their son was born just nine months later.