Chau—Lara

Kieu Chau of Bound Brook, New Jersey and Marco A. Lara, Jr. of Los Angeles, both 2001 Pitzer College graduates, were married on Saturday, April 26, 2008 in the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden at California State University, Long Beach.  In 1997, the future bride and groom met during their freshman year at Pitzer during an icebreaker called "assassins."

Laurie Schoelkopf of Claremont officiated at the ceremony, uniting the daughter of Nong Chau and Lien Ton of Mira Loma and the son of Marco V. Lara Sr. and Amanda Jacinto of San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.

The bride carried Leonidas roses and wore a "Rhianna Royale" Maggie Sottero wedding dress, a champagne-colored, A-line gown with 3-dimensional floral motifs, a corset back and beading throughout: "romantic in every way," the dress was described by its designer. 

"I felt like Belle from Disney's Beauty in the Beast all day," said the newly named Ms. Lara.

Wearing a navy, sateen, strapless pencil dress and supporting the bride as matron of honor was Hilda Hernandez of Rialto. Ms. Hernandez carried Vendela roses with one Leonidas rose mixed into the bouquet.

Also attending Ms. Lara were bridesmaids Myrna Gallegos of North Hollywood, Roselle Rios of Monrovia, Vicki Kawasaki of West Covina, Monica Hernandez of Fontana and Jacqueline Jacinto of Fontana. The bridesmaids carried bouquets of Vendela roses. Standing by the groom as best man was Jeremy Schwartz of Encino. Groomsmen included David Lara, the groom’s brother, of Los Angeles, Julio Diaz of North Hollywood, Irvin Flores of Los Angeles, Christian Oprescu of Los Angeles and Anthony Vacquera of Ontario.

Joining the wedding party as flower girl and ring bearer were a brother and sister pair, Elissa and Jeremy, the children of the ceremony officiator.

After graduating from Katella High School, the bride attended Pitzer College where she earned degrees in international and intercultural studies as well as art history in 2001. She currently works as a project manager for a local nonprofit housing developer.

Mr. Lara graduated from Los Angeles High School after which he earned a bachelor’s degree in political studies in 2001. Currently a teacher, he is also pursuing a master’s degree in education at Claremont Graduate University.

After a reception in the Japanese Garden, during which guests enjoyed a Super Mario Kart theme cake from Let Them Eat Cake in Costa Mesa, the newlyweds ventured to Kauai, Hawaii, for what was meant to be a relaxing honeymoon. But typical of the couple, they packed their agenda with back-to-back adventures including kayaking, snorkeling, zip-lining, hiking, sailing and taking a helicopter tour of the island.

A fun and personalized touch added to the newlyweds’ table at the reception were ceramic “Mii” sculptures of the couple in their wedding attire, sculpted by Paul Pape. The mini bride and groom replicas were self-designed based on the Nintendo Wii game system. As a special touch for their guests, seed-embedded bookmarks that family and friends could plant at their homes were given as wedding favors.

The couple currently resides in Rancho Cucamonga.