ERIC & TARINA ARE MARRIED!!!
Eric and I grew up in Seattle and moved to the Bay Area several years ago. We love our new home so much we dragged our family and friends south/north/west to attend our wedding in San Francisco.
WARNING: We are the most uncolor-coordinated wedding in history and we probably broke every rule of ettiquette.
Anywho, the very next day we jumped on a plane with:
My Mom
Eric's Mom
Eric's Dad
My Father-in-Law's Girlfriend
My Uncle
Eric's Brother
Eric's Sister
her Husband
and their 2 teenage daughters
My Mother's Companion
My Mother's Dear Friend
My Best Friend
Eric's Best Man (and Best Bud) and his GF
to Bangkok, Thailand for our second wedding! Amazingly we met up with even more of our loved ones in Bangkok who travelled all the way from Seattle, San Francisco, LA and Camano Island no less, to attend our wedding. Needless to say, we were absolutely honored and overjoyed.
Because my Mom did 100% of the planning for our Thai wedding (she had my wedding gown made before Eric and I even started dating) I have no clue who the vendors are, so I am only providing vendor reviews for our San Francisco wedding.
ERIC & TARINA ARE MARRIED!!!
JANUARY 20, 2007 - SAN FRANCISCO
JANUARY 27, 2006 - BANGKOK, THAILAND
OUR HONEYMOON
Vendor Info
Free STLWed Bio Builder
JANUARY 20, 2007 - SAN FRANCISCO
Back to Top
Waiting for the circus to begin.
My bouquet and something blue.
My handsome husband.
Our adorable Flowergirl.
The girls and I.
With our beautiful Moms.
My Uncle and I.
Eric's (and now mine!) Family.
Eric and his Dad.
Sneaking off to the bathroom with my Mom before the ceremony.
MARRIED!
My Mom started bawling, here I am trying to comfort her.
Eric and my Mom right after the ceremony - doesn't it make you wanna cry?
My adorable Uncle.
Eric and his Brother.
Dinner time.
Our Grandparents
T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Our adorable cake.
Between the two of us we have 6 bicycles - including a tandem.
It got ugly.
My best friend who came to Thailand with us.
We used postcards instead of a traditional guestbook.
A bridezilla in the making.
We're halfway there!
JANUARY 27, 2006 - BANGKOK, THAILAND
Back to Top
Eric and I were married in a beautiful traditional Thai wedding ceremony completely planned by my Mother, who lives in Seattle. My Mother made sure I felt like a princess the entire day and I can truly say it was one of the happiest days of my life.
LEAVING OUR HOTEL
My uncle loaned us his Rolls for our wedding.
OUR WEDDING & RECEPTION
My Mother-in-Law.
My Mom's friend and my new Brother-in-Law from Washington state.
Paying our respect to the founder of the house, former Thai PM Kukrit Pramoj.
My new family.
Making the rounds.
Classical Thai musicians from the university.
My uncle commencing the wedding ceremony.
Water blessing portion of the ceremony.
"Divorce is not an option."
My Mom cries when she's happy.
Yay we're finished!
Almost.
My Brother, Sister-in-Law, Niece with my new Nieces and Brother in Law. And my Mother and her dear friends from childhood.
My Mom made our wedding favors - the same ones she had at her wedding 35 years ago.
In Thai custom, wedding favors are given personally to each guest by the bride and groom. Here we are with my Father-in-Law and his partner.
Our wedding jelly.
Cutting the wedding jelly.
My Mom loves sweets.
Here come the dancers!
Fly like an eagle.
OUR HONEYMOON
Back to Top
For our honeymoon we visited the beautiful island of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand for five days, and met up with my Father-in-Law in Siem Reap, Cambodia where we visited the incredible temples of Angkor Wat for another five days. Then we flew back to Bangkok for a few days rest before returning home.
Including our wedding, we spent three weeks in Thailand and Cambodia, and had the time of our lives! If you have any questions about visiting Thailand, feel free to page me on the Norcal Board.
KOH TAO, THAILAND
The view from our first bungalow and Eric taking in the view.
The beach we ended up moving to - Chalok Ao Baan Kao
Our $12/night (and 2nd) bungalow. On a hillside right across the street from the beach.
Our view.
Eric heading out for a snorkel.
Me and a picture-shy friend I found on the beach.
Our hang-out - the Big Fish Resort - a school run by Danes who visited the island and just never left. Eric ended up getting his Padi diving certificate through them.
Water Buffalo!
Pretty Sunset
Dinner last night on the island.
View from the restaurant.
At the Koh Samui airport and heading out to Angkor Wat.
At the new Bangkok Int'l Airport. Fun place if you like to shop.
We didn't shop.
But we did recharge our phone.
ANGKOR WAT, CAMBODIA
Our first bungalow. Yes, we ended up moving again. We seemed to have bad luck with bungalows.
My Father-in-Law. It looks like he's saying "What are you doing here?"
Hanging on for dear life. My Father-in-Law's Partner is cool as a cucumber though.
The view down and no where near a hospital.
Our first pool where we found a poisonous and DEADLY snake.
Getting the heck out of there!
Our second hotel and not a snake in sight.
ANGKOR THOM
Around Siem Reap town.
In front of our little Russian propeller and heading back to Bangkok.
Back in Bangkok packing out loot.
Cutie
Vendor Information
Back to Top
Ceremony Location -
First Unitarian Church of San Francisco
They were great. Because both Eric and I didn't know the first thing about putting together a marriage ceremony, we thought we would just show up on our wedding day and say "Blah, blah I do." Boy were we wrong! And First Unitarian saved the day by insisting that we prepare and take our marriage ceremony more seriously, conduct a rehearsal and generally gave us the kick in the butt we needed - at their expense too - they included a wedding coordinator in their fees, even though I resisted and dismissed the notion that we needed one! A+
Officiant -
Rev. Michelle LeFavreau
Rev. Favreault was patient, thoughtful and attentive but we felt she just wasn't feelin it. Given our attitude towards the ceremony however, I think we are partly to blame for her laid back attitude as well. B
Reception Location -
Bocce Cafe
We originally had our reception planned for Rose Pistola, where Eric proposed. But after going over the decor, the menu, and quite frankly the horrible attitude of the staff - they never responded to my emails regarding scheduling our tasting and the event coordinator went MIA (she left the company and they didn't bother to inform me) - we switched over to Bocce Cafe. Bocce Cafe allowed me full license to decorate our reception, put together a fabulous five course menu, the food was delicious, provided excellent service, and put up with my crazy family.
Now for the bad part: 1) they missed serving an entire course, which I'm sure dissappointed our guests who were looking forward to the next course on their menu and 2) they did not heat our private reception room. And couldn't. Considering this was the middle of January, they should have informed us from the beginning that the room would not be heated which would have prompted us to explore other venue options. We simply did not consider that there was any way they wouldn't heat a banquet room in the middle of winter. D
Cake Creator -
Neldam's Bakery
Neldams is a lovely mom and pop business and we wanted to give them our busines as well. We also loved our cake! And so did our guests - it was absolutely delicious and we kept receiving compliments from our guests. We had a three-tiered cake with lemon, carot and german chocolate with white fondant icing. Yummm. My only complaint is the plastic romanesque columns I specifically asked them NOT to include. But they did. In the end though, it didn't matter at all. A+
Florist -
Water Lily Pond
I honestly planned on going DIY with our flowers but after meeting Natasha, changed my mind. Then I lost my job and even though our parents were paying for 3/4 of the wedding - we were still overwhelmed financially and had to let her go. We cut our losses and just assumed that she would keep her deposit and find another client to work with on our wedding date. But she didn't let us down and offered to work with what we had. Considering her reputation and ability to find another client, it meant alot to us. In the end, I just asked her to create the bouquets, nosegays, flowergirl floral crown (or "head wreath" but that sounds to close to "head cheese")and flower girl basket w/petals and bouts for the guys. They all turned out beautifully and she was wonderful to work with from beginning to end. A+
Photographer -
Lisa Lefkowitz
With Lisa the pictures speak for themselves. I wanted Lisa, and not because her photographs have been featured and published in every bridal magazine from Martha Stewart to Elegant Bride, but because her photographs are truly beautiful and stunning. When we first met Lisa and explained to her our budget, we thought we didn't have a chance of working with her, but she put together a wonderful AFFORDABLE package for us. She was completely professional and a pleasure to work with and we are absolutely in love with our pictures. A+
Musicians -
Jay Alvarez
I knew I wanted classical Spanish accoustics for our ceremony, and found Jay on craigslist. I logged onto his website and listened to the music samples, then emailed him. His response was prompt and he didn't try to sell us any other services - in fact he graciously offered us free reign of his amplifying equipment! Because Eric and I also couldn't get it together to meet him in person to make our music selection - the first time we met Jay in person was on our wedding day an hour before the ceremony! - I communicated to him our music preferences over the phone and through email. And he saved the day by bringing up many key issues and elements to our ceremony that I had totally overlooked ("What's a processional?"). He nailed it, was absolutely professional throughout the whole process and really contributed to the beauty of our ceremony. We don't have enough nice things to say about Jay and cannot recommend him enough. A+
Transportation -
Events West
We chartered a 56 passenger coach on the day of our rehearsal/dinner and wedding day from the church to the reception, since 99% of our guests were OOT. Their service was prompt and the coaches were nice. However, on our wedding day the driver got lost while transporting our guests from the church to the reception! Eric and I were driving ourselves to the reception and had to pull up beside the driver while at a stop light on Columbus St (the busy main drag in North Beach, San Francisco) and through our car windows, instruct the driver to follow us! On the bright side, our guests received a nice tour of San Francisco. B
Invitations -
Paper Source
All of our invitations, as well as engagement announcement, menu, escort cards, etc were DIY by moi and the paper was supplied by Paper Source. I love them and still use their stuff for my personal stationary. A+
Jeweler - My Mom
I wore my mother's cultured pearl set. It was a sentimental decision - with wedding propoganda preying on brides' emotions - "This is the first day of the REST OF YOUR LIFE!" (What BS.) I couldn't refuse the thought of wearing something that meant so much to my Mother and was beautiful at the same time.
Tuxedos -
Saks Fifth Avenue Mens Store
After years of buying his suits from the Salvation Army, Eric finally decided to get a brand spankin new suit for our wedding. We stopped by the Saks Fifth Avenue Mens Store on a whim, after checking out Nordstroms and Brooks Brothers where unfortunately, Eric's jacket size - 40 Long - diminished our selection and we wanted to at least have a clear picture of how the suit would appear on him before making a selection and incurring the tailoring fees. Long story short, we found a beautiful white Le Corliani suit at Saks. The service from both the sales department and tailoring department was wonderful, they provided great honest input on various color schemes I wanted to explore, and I ended up picking up a tie later from them as well. A+
My Dress -
Jinza Bridal Couture
First of all, my dress is couture and took exactly one year to complete. Second, I went to every prominent bridal salon in San Francisco - The Sak's Fifth Avenue Bridal Salon, Marina Morrison, Alexandra's (I skipped my appt with Neiman Mark-ups after an exhasting day of appts and didn't bother to reschedule.) But Jinza blew them out of the water. At half the price...WITH my veil (which was also designed and hand made by Jinza). Jinza was wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL to work with and I love every square centimeter of my dress. A+
Bridesmaid Dresses -
Ross (and David's Bridal)
Even though I made appts for each of my Bridesmaids to get fitted for their dresses at DB's in Seattle from San Francisco (TWICE), by the time they got off their asses and actually got down there, the dresses went out of stock. I had contemplated having mismatched bridesmaid dresses anyways, but now two had matching dresses so the other two had to match (for equal semetry). But with our budget and time dwindling (I had just lost my job and we had a month left until the wedding), I had to take some drastic measures and thought to myself "Let's see what's at Ross!" Nothing's too good for my girls! LOL. So I went and let me tell you, the selection is fantastic! Obviously, if you are looking for dupioni silk dresses in the latest designs you aren't going to find it there. But I found two very pretty and simple dresses in chocolate brown that I thought were totally appropriate for our wedding. And my girls were happy too (as if they had a choice). Highly recommended. A+
As for David's Bridal: They are crap. I hate them. Their staff is cheeky and imcompetent. Purchase your bridesmaid dresses from Netbride or Pearl's Place instead. F
Travel Agent -
Holiday Travel
Margaret is an adorable old lady who speaks limited english, and if you can get past the language barrier you will have no problems planning your next trip. Eric and I had to coordinate flights for 20 of our family members and friends from Seattle, Phoenix to San Francisco, then from San Francisco to Bangkok with different return dates for each passenger. Margaret had it nailed from the get go and gave us a tremendous bargain. We love her and cannot imagine how we could have accomodated everyone's travel schedule without her. A+
Other Vendor -
Flowergirl Dress - Ebay Seller: Darling Divas
I wanted a simple gown for our flowergirl, formal enough to make her feel special but tastefully simple. I found a beautiful ivory gown with chocolate brown sash from ebay seller Darling Divas for under $40.00 and couldn't refuse. It was a success - not only did I love it, but our flowergirl did too. A+
Other Vendor -
Guests' Accomodations - Beresford Arms
With approximately 99% of guests coming from out of town, we wanted to ensure that they were as comfortable and well looked after as much as possible. We also didn't want to empty their wallets - San Francisco is a pricey town to visit. Even though our wedding took place in the off-season, San Francisco hotel fares aren't exactly "traveler friendly", and those that were, were usually located in the shady parts of town. Simply put, we wanted a nice hotel that was equipped with a professional staff and catered to tourists, was in a family-friendly location yet at the center of town, AND was under $100/night. Stop laughing. We actually found it, the Beresford Arms, and located just 4 blocks from Union Square. For our wedding they blocked a set of rooms ranging in categories from basic to full suites for $89-$149/night. In addition, as a pleasant surprise, I noticed they also sent flowers to all of our guests' rooms with cards attached congratulating our guests on our wedding. The service was awesome, and they took wonderful care of our guests before, during and after our wedding. The rooms were also tastefully decorated/furnished (in case you were wondering). A+
Other Vendor -
Rehearsal Dinner - Far East Cafe
We literally realized we still needed to plan a rehearsal dinner a month before the wedding. Since my parents had a Chinese banquet at their wedding 35 years ago, and Eric thought a visit to Chinatown would be a great way to induct our guests to San Francisco, we realized we found our solution. Chinese banquets are also renowned throughout the Asian community as an inexpensive way to serve large parties and celebrate occasions. We chose the Far East Cafe for its old school ambience - the building was constructed at the turn of the century and they still had the old Chinese booths and ornate wood carvings from those days. Eric's Mom also took him and his brother there when they were little - a sentimental incentive for us. The Far East Cafe prepared a traditional (and delicious) ten course dinner, when their private dining room was unavailable - they tastefully sectioned off a portion of the restaurant floor for us, and the service was excellent. Our guests had a wonderful time and so did we. A+
For help with your own bio try:
www.STLWed.com/help/bio
For help with Signatures go to:
www.STLWed.com/help/siggy