A big THANK YOU too all the knotties out there for all your kind advices and inspirations. It was a beutiful day, everyone was happy, we are so glad we had a big party! We wanted to have a very low key, intimate, and comfortable wedding with a romantic flair. This was getting pretty hard with our growing guest list. We are fortunate to have the wedding at my FIL's house/farm. this helped us keep the budget to be within 30k for 210 guest. However, this by no means an easy task, everthing had to be brought in, including porta potties! Please email qtqiqi@yahoo.com for any photo credits or questions. All Photos are taken by Gene Higa unless otherwise noted. Getting Ready!! Off to the Ceremony My sweetie made this sign(well I helped by choosing the paint color, he was going to use red/gold, my heart almost stopped) it is now sitting in our garage, one day we will use it for the orchid house when we build it! My friend Stacey took the picture on the right, it's one of my favorite and one of the few pictures I have showing the back of my dress. Now, the fun begins! The Canopy was definitely a labor of love, DH and I worked on it for 3 weekends!! and My MOH and her mom sewed the fabric. Everyone helped to put it up the day before the wedding! My MIL made the cake!! it was soooo yummy! Planning Resources The somewhat official Knot Bio list Project Wedding (California) Norcal Vendor review (older) Favorite Bios CaliCayman * * * Djrs * * *VideoBride FirestoneBride * * * graceface Cnickler * * * Srpro Mrshs * * * RedshoeGirl Vendors Bridal Salon (A+): Marina Morrison With Grace Located in Union Square of SF This store has a very intimate ambiance, the fitting space is just gorgeous with plenty of natural light. This store carries a very selective collection of designers, I would characterize it under Modern Classic. I went there initially searching for a Reem Acra Spring 2007 gown, however fell in love with my Ulla Maija instead. The staff there are very knowledgeable and generally pleasant to work with. The gowns there are $3500 and up, however, you will have much more choices if your budget is $4500 and above. Also their alternation cost is on the high end ranging from $450-700. Some of the designers they carry are: Carolina Herrera, Elizabeth Filmore (My #2 choice, it was a tough decision), Liancarlo, Peter Langner, and Ulla Maija. Will update more after my first dress fitting! The fitting experience is wonderfully smooth, they are profesional and detail oriented. I love my experience and will recommend this store to any bride to be! Chinese Dress Fabric (A): ThaiSilks located in downtown Los Altos This store is a must visit if you are planning on custom making your Chinese dress, which I will always recommend. In addition to all the tradition silk brocade patterns, they also have a huge selections of more contemporary designs in silk, velvet, and other fabrics that I don't know the names of. I wanted to get away from the traditional red and gold silk pattern, so I chose a pattern in Burn-velvet. My mom also got the fabric there for her dress both at very reasonable prices. The ladies at the shop are very friendly and knowledgeable, they have a list of tailors that are very reputable for both the traditional Chinese and Vietnamese dress. Will post the picture of dresses after wedding Photographer (A++) (Wedding & Engagement Photos): Gene Higa (check out Gene's Blog for a more complete archive of his weddings and travels) We are very fortunate to have Gene shot our wedding! As mentioned here and as you will find from other review sites, Gene is truly a one of a kind wedding photographer. We knew we will be in good hands after our first meeting. He’s very personable, perceptive, and truly pays attention to the details. We were completely at ease to give him complete freedom to work his magic. The images we got back captured our day beautifully, they were lyrical and authentic. Through the wedding planning process, I was beginning to feel that the wedding industry has a tendency to turn intimate celebration into extravagantly staged events, and was very worried about the wedding not reflect our true selves. After perusing through our photos, we see us, our family and friends as who we all are, the day is still alive and real in our minds eyes. It takes a lot to create provocative images, but it takes a special kind of sensitively to capture the individual spirits of the day. Photographer (Boudoir Session) (A+): Jennifer Skog (check out Jennifer's Blog Jennifer also does amazing wedding coverage!) Jennifer's work speak for itself, Click to See . Highly recommended, plus she's so fun just to hangout with! Definitely checkout if you are even slightly thinking about getting your own Boudoir photos. you need to give Jennifer a call. Her work is professional and classy, she has a real talent in capturing the beauty in you. Plus you will have a blast! you can also page me if you have any specific questions. Also, as many knotties will back me up on this, her wedding coverages are amazing as well! Definitely check her out and act on it since she gets booked up quickly. Florist (A++): Nicole Ha(Nicole is very pleasant to work with, although she's a very busy lady, email is proablaby the best way to get to her) I LOVE LOVE LOVED working with nicole! Our flowers turned out to be so beautiful, and beyond our expectations. Our guest talked for days how beautiful everything looked. Nicole is so very creative and absolutely willing to work with your budget (I know this because I had ajusted my budget a couple times, and had made many changes to my original scheme)and everytime nicole was able to make valuable suggestions to complete my vision. I didn't give any specific guideline on the flowers, and basically let Nicole run with my vision, and she pull everthing beautifully together. She was so professional, on time(early on wedding day), and thorough (Nicole covered arrangements for all the tables, all display, everything that I didn't even think about, she covered!!) I can not recommend her enough to everyone. Letterpress Invitation (A): Paula Gloistein with Paper Flirt(Paula comes highly recommend by my friend who got married in May, her invitations turned out beautifully. Paula is a very busy lady, she might not respond to your email immediately but is definitely reliable. Just found out, she also does wedding photography. Paula Gloistein ) Makeup & Hair Artist (A): Sherrie Long Makeup Artist Sherrie's work is amazing! I can't not be happier with the way my makeup turned out, I doubled my trial with my Boudior shots, see link above for more pictures. Sherrie definitelly lived up to all the raves! she is truly a professional and does everything with easy and precision. My make up was so natrual, I felt raidant and everyone complimented on how beautiful my mom and I looked. Sherrie's assistant artist Suzzette did a great job for mom's hair and makeup as well. Highly recomended! Ceremony Musicians (A+): Capriccio (Strings) Planning Photos A Bit About Us We met at Cal architecture program Sept. 2002, we spent many sleepless nights in studio as friends only before becoming lovers summer of 2003. Our Engagement Story Kevin proposed to me 12/23/06, on our way back from Chanterelle hunting because I came "way to close" to finding the ring on the ride to our hike trail. He originally wanted to propose to me on our plan trip to Hawaii during New Years.Instead we got to share the good new with his family over Christmas. AND we get to celebrate the New Year and our engagement on the Hawaii, the Big Island for week by ourselves! Ok, here's the Bling... Kevin knew that I wanted an antique looking ring (I had shown him rings I liked), and this is what he picked. I had never been able to decide between the looks of a round and a square stone, but now I kind of have both. Update: I am most likely going to get this band to go with my Art Deco E-ring. I tried one at Lang's Antique that's very similar and loved the look. The one I am getting online is 1K less and has more TCW! I am very excited and can't wait till they come in My two favorite stores for antique style rings, both have a store in NYC AntiqueEngagementRings.com Doyle & Doyle Enter Wedding Planning Stage Our wedding will be on October 6, 2007 on Kevin's father's farm in Larkin Valley, Santa Cruz County. It will be semi casual, "farm style". These pictures are taken in the spring when there's green everywhere, by October, it will be a lot more gold/brown. I love these large pottery full of flowers, I am definitely using these for the ceremony. Ceremony Site in the backyard and Reception on the knoll I absolutely need to have this canopy for the dance floor!! it will be much bigger of course! My Letterpress Invitation! My bestfriend/MOH designed the invitation, she's an awesome artist, and had hand drawn the invitation design then converted the image to Adobe. Paula with paper flirt formated the design in order to read the color gradation. I absolutely love how everything turned out! I bought the red Fiori paper from paper source to wrap everything together, and finally tie with yarn. Hopefully this won't take too long... I don't have the prettiest hand writing, but I am going to hand dress the invitation to add some personal touch. My Dress FIRST FITTING! First time I am in my dress, I can hardly wait for the wedding! The only thing that needs to be altered is the hem, the bodice fit perfectly! what a relief. These are with train It was very difficult to figure out the bustle be cause the dress has 3 layeros organza and tulle, we ended up have to bustle inside, with 8 pickup points. Here's a few pictures of my dress - Ulla Maija Couture Spring07 (purchased w/ Marina Morrison union square SF, they are wonderful to work with, the shop has a gorgeous fitting space that's so relaxing!) Link to the Ulla Maija Bio The look These made me fall in love with drop veil! Second set courtesey of Knottie SrproP> Hair dos I love! thanks knottie: Chucktgirls, djrs, and Srpro... I am torn, My trial is the first one and I don't think it looks as nice on me.... I want to have this fresh look, pink cheeks I found my ear rings! I have been on the hunt for these since I bought the dress in January, and I found them in my neighborhood at at the Montclair Village! I absolutely love these. They are designed by Liza Sonia. I believe you can also buy her designs at Nordstrom. w/ these shoes I scored at Jeremy's FI's look - We've decided against Tux, going with a suit instead, he desperately wants this from Armani Collezioni Update: we went to the Giorgio Armani store and fell in love with the 3 button classic suit, will post photo after the alteration soon Flowers I Like I think it's neat to incorporate succulents Or, simple elegance like these If only our wedding is in Spring, I would have definitely insisted on having peonies. Flowers for my groom Flower for family member Centerpiece arrangement preview by Nicole Ha (picture taken at her recent bridal show) showing my colors. I love the free form texture. Or these Lately I have fallen in love with more of a sculptural look for the center pieces These I love also, a bit more unique from the more uniform look we see so much these days, I see a bit more personality in these. These previous 4 designs are by Spiral Hand Floral and Event Design They did my friend's flowers for her May wedding, the piece are so unique and chic! They are a bit out of my price range however. I will use this bird nest to hold our rings in lieu of a ring pillow, also designed by Nicole Ha I absolutely love Knottie Jagnsis's reception decor! The colors I have in mind, maybe a tad bit less pink and more brown/bronze tone... But I found these, I think it will be so pretty as arrangements for the long tables!!! The last one is another one of Nicole Ha's wonderful creations I want to use bud vases (from IKEA and Crate & Barrel) for the long tables, I think a combination of these vases will be nice. I am also loving these bud vase arrangements... This is going to be a hard one to decide on.. I bought these mug/cups from Anthropology the other day, and I plan to use them as vases for in addition to the ones above. I am trying to create a none uniform, casual farm look. I picked these roses from my garden and did a mini trial, and I like! Of course, we will be using orchids and some taller flowers (bell's of Ireland?) instead of roses =) I also want to opt for simplicity and use these I LOVE gardening, and sweet peas and orchids are my favortites, I have to have them at my wedding... had to showoff my flowers... After much debate, we decided to arrange seating. This is the inspiration from knottie: Sakegirls (we will be using Ti leaves to hold the rice, and will use the orange Jame story orchids shown above instead of the white orchids) I love the style/feel of these aisle arrangements from knottie CaliCayman, FirestoneBride, and Cnickler but in my colors I definitely plan to use the aisle decor for centerpiece also, I will have a combination of round and long tables to make this work. FMIL is making our wedding cake to keep with the "farm style", this is the inspiration for our cake - love the butter cream frosting choppy look: Enter our fabulous Bridal Party Flower girls dress, and ring bearer's shirt to go with farm theme HM: Song Ideas! First Dance : Is This Love - Bob Marley HM: The Grand Canyon Since we "eloped" already, we had our honeymoon white water rafting on the Colorado river, through the Grand Canyon on May 3rd through May 18th, for 16 days! It's life changing experience. Here are just a few of our favorites Our boat that we spent 16 days and a couple nights in. ************************ Most of the caps had beaches like this, very calm Kevin and I day hike up deer Creek .................................... ..................................Deer creek running through the Tapeats layer One of my favorite views of the Canyon, after a tremendous hike **************The milky turquoise water of the Little Colorado is much warmer than the Colorado! Me, the happy rower... Kev, the inquisitive river explorer... Of course only when the water's relatively calm...
We wanted to have a very low key, intimate, and comfortable wedding with a romantic flair. This was getting pretty hard with our growing guest list. We are fortunate to have the wedding at my FIL's house/farm. this helped us keep the budget to be within 30k for 210 guest. However, this by no means an easy task, everthing had to be brought in, including porta potties! Please email qtqiqi@yahoo.com for any photo credits or questions.
All Photos are taken by Gene Higa unless otherwise noted.
Getting Ready!!
Off to the Ceremony
My sweetie made this sign(well I helped by choosing the paint color, he was going to use red/gold, my heart almost stopped) it is now sitting in our garage, one day we will use it for the orchid house when we build it!
My friend Stacey took the picture on the right, it's one of my favorite and one of the few pictures I have showing the back of my dress.
Now, the fun begins!
The Canopy was definitely a labor of love, DH and I worked on it for 3 weekends!! and My MOH and her mom sewed the fabric. Everyone helped to put it up the day before the wedding!
My MIL made the cake!! it was soooo yummy!
Planning Resources
The somewhat official Knot Bio list
Project Wedding (California)
Norcal Vendor review (older)
Favorite Bios
CaliCayman * * * Djrs * * *VideoBride
FirestoneBride * * * graceface
Cnickler * * * Srpro
Mrshs * * * RedshoeGirl
Vendors
Bridal Salon (A+): Marina Morrison With Grace Located in Union Square of SF
This store has a very intimate ambiance, the fitting space is just gorgeous with plenty of natural light. This store carries a very selective collection of designers, I would characterize it under Modern Classic. I went there initially searching for a Reem Acra Spring 2007 gown, however fell in love with my Ulla Maija instead. The staff there are very knowledgeable and generally pleasant to work with. The gowns there are $3500 and up, however, you will have much more choices if your budget is $4500 and above. Also their alternation cost is on the high end ranging from $450-700. Some of the designers they carry are: Carolina Herrera, Elizabeth Filmore (My #2 choice, it was a tough decision), Liancarlo, Peter Langner, and Ulla Maija. Will update more after my first dress fitting! The fitting experience is wonderfully smooth, they are profesional and detail oriented. I love my experience and will recommend this store to any bride to be! Chinese Dress Fabric (A): ThaiSilks located in downtown Los Altos This store is a must visit if you are planning on custom making your Chinese dress, which I will always recommend. In addition to all the tradition silk brocade patterns, they also have a huge selections of more contemporary designs in silk, velvet, and other fabrics that I don't know the names of. I wanted to get away from the traditional red and gold silk pattern, so I chose a pattern in Burn-velvet. My mom also got the fabric there for her dress both at very reasonable prices. The ladies at the shop are very friendly and knowledgeable, they have a list of tailors that are very reputable for both the traditional Chinese and Vietnamese dress. Will post the picture of dresses after wedding Photographer (A++) (Wedding & Engagement Photos): Gene Higa (check out Gene's Blog for a more complete archive of his weddings and travels) We are very fortunate to have Gene shot our wedding! As mentioned here and as you will find from other review sites, Gene is truly a one of a kind wedding photographer. We knew we will be in good hands after our first meeting. He’s very personable, perceptive, and truly pays attention to the details. We were completely at ease to give him complete freedom to work his magic. The images we got back captured our day beautifully, they were lyrical and authentic. Through the wedding planning process, I was beginning to feel that the wedding industry has a tendency to turn intimate celebration into extravagantly staged events, and was very worried about the wedding not reflect our true selves. After perusing through our photos, we see us, our family and friends as who we all are, the day is still alive and real in our minds eyes. It takes a lot to create provocative images, but it takes a special kind of sensitively to capture the individual spirits of the day. Photographer (Boudoir Session) (A+): Jennifer Skog (check out Jennifer's Blog Jennifer also does amazing wedding coverage!) Jennifer's work speak for itself, Click to See . Highly recommended, plus she's so fun just to hangout with! Definitely checkout if you are even slightly thinking about getting your own Boudoir photos. you need to give Jennifer a call. Her work is professional and classy, she has a real talent in capturing the beauty in you. Plus you will have a blast! you can also page me if you have any specific questions. Also, as many knotties will back me up on this, her wedding coverages are amazing as well! Definitely check her out and act on it since she gets booked up quickly. Florist (A++): Nicole Ha(Nicole is very pleasant to work with, although she's a very busy lady, email is proablaby the best way to get to her) I LOVE LOVE LOVED working with nicole! Our flowers turned out to be so beautiful, and beyond our expectations. Our guest talked for days how beautiful everything looked. Nicole is so very creative and absolutely willing to work with your budget (I know this because I had ajusted my budget a couple times, and had made many changes to my original scheme)and everytime nicole was able to make valuable suggestions to complete my vision. I didn't give any specific guideline on the flowers, and basically let Nicole run with my vision, and she pull everthing beautifully together. She was so professional, on time(early on wedding day), and thorough (Nicole covered arrangements for all the tables, all display, everything that I didn't even think about, she covered!!) I can not recommend her enough to everyone. Letterpress Invitation (A): Paula Gloistein with Paper Flirt(Paula comes highly recommend by my friend who got married in May, her invitations turned out beautifully. Paula is a very busy lady, she might not respond to your email immediately but is definitely reliable. Just found out, she also does wedding photography. Paula Gloistein ) Makeup & Hair Artist (A): Sherrie Long Makeup Artist Sherrie's work is amazing! I can't not be happier with the way my makeup turned out, I doubled my trial with my Boudior shots, see link above for more pictures. Sherrie definitelly lived up to all the raves! she is truly a professional and does everything with easy and precision. My make up was so natrual, I felt raidant and everyone complimented on how beautiful my mom and I looked. Sherrie's assistant artist Suzzette did a great job for mom's hair and makeup as well. Highly recomended! Ceremony Musicians (A+): Capriccio (Strings) Planning Photos A Bit About Us We met at Cal architecture program Sept. 2002, we spent many sleepless nights in studio as friends only before becoming lovers summer of 2003. Our Engagement Story Kevin proposed to me 12/23/06, on our way back from Chanterelle hunting because I came "way to close" to finding the ring on the ride to our hike trail. He originally wanted to propose to me on our plan trip to Hawaii during New Years.Instead we got to share the good new with his family over Christmas. AND we get to celebrate the New Year and our engagement on the Hawaii, the Big Island for week by ourselves! Ok, here's the Bling... Kevin knew that I wanted an antique looking ring (I had shown him rings I liked), and this is what he picked. I had never been able to decide between the looks of a round and a square stone, but now I kind of have both. Update: I am most likely going to get this band to go with my Art Deco E-ring. I tried one at Lang's Antique that's very similar and loved the look. The one I am getting online is 1K less and has more TCW! I am very excited and can't wait till they come in My two favorite stores for antique style rings, both have a store in NYC AntiqueEngagementRings.com Doyle & Doyle Enter Wedding Planning Stage Our wedding will be on October 6, 2007 on Kevin's father's farm in Larkin Valley, Santa Cruz County. It will be semi casual, "farm style". These pictures are taken in the spring when there's green everywhere, by October, it will be a lot more gold/brown. I love these large pottery full of flowers, I am definitely using these for the ceremony. Ceremony Site in the backyard and Reception on the knoll I absolutely need to have this canopy for the dance floor!! it will be much bigger of course! My Letterpress Invitation! My bestfriend/MOH designed the invitation, she's an awesome artist, and had hand drawn the invitation design then converted the image to Adobe. Paula with paper flirt formated the design in order to read the color gradation. I absolutely love how everything turned out! I bought the red Fiori paper from paper source to wrap everything together, and finally tie with yarn. Hopefully this won't take too long... I don't have the prettiest hand writing, but I am going to hand dress the invitation to add some personal touch. My Dress FIRST FITTING! First time I am in my dress, I can hardly wait for the wedding! The only thing that needs to be altered is the hem, the bodice fit perfectly! what a relief. These are with train It was very difficult to figure out the bustle be cause the dress has 3 layeros organza and tulle, we ended up have to bustle inside, with 8 pickup points. Here's a few pictures of my dress - Ulla Maija Couture Spring07 (purchased w/ Marina Morrison union square SF, they are wonderful to work with, the shop has a gorgeous fitting space that's so relaxing!) Link to the Ulla Maija Bio The look These made me fall in love with drop veil! Second set courtesey of Knottie SrproP> Hair dos I love! thanks knottie: Chucktgirls, djrs, and Srpro... I am torn, My trial is the first one and I don't think it looks as nice on me.... I want to have this fresh look, pink cheeks I found my ear rings! I have been on the hunt for these since I bought the dress in January, and I found them in my neighborhood at at the Montclair Village! I absolutely love these. They are designed by Liza Sonia. I believe you can also buy her designs at Nordstrom. w/ these shoes I scored at Jeremy's FI's look - We've decided against Tux, going with a suit instead, he desperately wants this from Armani Collezioni Update: we went to the Giorgio Armani store and fell in love with the 3 button classic suit, will post photo after the alteration soon Flowers I Like I think it's neat to incorporate succulents Or, simple elegance like these If only our wedding is in Spring, I would have definitely insisted on having peonies. Flowers for my groom Flower for family member Centerpiece arrangement preview by Nicole Ha (picture taken at her recent bridal show) showing my colors. I love the free form texture. Or these Lately I have fallen in love with more of a sculptural look for the center pieces These I love also, a bit more unique from the more uniform look we see so much these days, I see a bit more personality in these. These previous 4 designs are by Spiral Hand Floral and Event Design They did my friend's flowers for her May wedding, the piece are so unique and chic! They are a bit out of my price range however. I will use this bird nest to hold our rings in lieu of a ring pillow, also designed by Nicole Ha I absolutely love Knottie Jagnsis's reception decor! The colors I have in mind, maybe a tad bit less pink and more brown/bronze tone... But I found these, I think it will be so pretty as arrangements for the long tables!!! The last one is another one of Nicole Ha's wonderful creations I want to use bud vases (from IKEA and Crate & Barrel) for the long tables, I think a combination of these vases will be nice. I am also loving these bud vase arrangements... This is going to be a hard one to decide on.. I bought these mug/cups from Anthropology the other day, and I plan to use them as vases for in addition to the ones above. I am trying to create a none uniform, casual farm look. I picked these roses from my garden and did a mini trial, and I like! Of course, we will be using orchids and some taller flowers (bell's of Ireland?) instead of roses =) I also want to opt for simplicity and use these I LOVE gardening, and sweet peas and orchids are my favortites, I have to have them at my wedding... had to showoff my flowers... After much debate, we decided to arrange seating. This is the inspiration from knottie: Sakegirls (we will be using Ti leaves to hold the rice, and will use the orange Jame story orchids shown above instead of the white orchids) I love the style/feel of these aisle arrangements from knottie CaliCayman, FirestoneBride, and Cnickler but in my colors
Chinese Dress Fabric (A): ThaiSilks located in downtown Los Altos
This store is a must visit if you are planning on custom making your Chinese dress, which I will always recommend. In addition to all the tradition silk brocade patterns, they also have a huge selections of more contemporary designs in silk, velvet, and other fabrics that I don't know the names of. I wanted to get away from the traditional red and gold silk pattern, so I chose a pattern in Burn-velvet. My mom also got the fabric there for her dress both at very reasonable prices. The ladies at the shop are very friendly and knowledgeable, they have a list of tailors that are very reputable for both the traditional Chinese and Vietnamese dress. Will post the picture of dresses after wedding
Photographer (A++) (Wedding & Engagement Photos): Gene Higa (check out Gene's Blog for a more complete archive of his weddings and travels)
We are very fortunate to have Gene shot our wedding! As mentioned here and as you will find from other review sites, Gene is truly a one of a kind wedding photographer. We knew we will be in good hands after our first meeting. He’s very personable, perceptive, and truly pays attention to the details. We were completely at ease to give him complete freedom to work his magic. The images we got back captured our day beautifully, they were lyrical and authentic. Through the wedding planning process, I was beginning to feel that the wedding industry has a tendency to turn intimate celebration into extravagantly staged events, and was very worried about the wedding not reflect our true selves. After perusing through our photos, we see us, our family and friends as who we all are, the day is still alive and real in our minds eyes. It takes a lot to create provocative images, but it takes a special kind of sensitively to capture the individual spirits of the day.
Photographer (Boudoir Session) (A+): Jennifer Skog (check out Jennifer's Blog Jennifer also does amazing wedding coverage!)
Jennifer's work speak for itself, Click to See . Highly recommended, plus she's so fun just to hangout with! Definitely checkout if you are even slightly thinking about getting your own Boudoir photos. you need to give Jennifer a call. Her work is professional and classy, she has a real talent in capturing the beauty in you. Plus you will have a blast! you can also page me if you have any specific questions. Also, as many knotties will back me up on this, her wedding coverages are amazing as well! Definitely check her out and act on it since she gets booked up quickly.
Florist (A++): Nicole Ha(Nicole is very pleasant to work with, although she's a very busy lady, email is proablaby the best way to get to her)
Letterpress Invitation (A): Paula Gloistein with Paper Flirt(Paula comes highly recommend by my friend who got married in May, her invitations turned out beautifully. Paula is a very busy lady, she might not respond to your email immediately but is definitely reliable. Just found out, she also does wedding photography. Paula Gloistein )
Makeup & Hair Artist (A): Sherrie Long Makeup Artist
Sherrie's work is amazing! I can't not be happier with the way my makeup turned out, I doubled my trial with my Boudior shots, see link above for more pictures. Sherrie definitelly lived up to all the raves! she is truly a professional and does everything with easy and precision. My make up was so natrual, I felt raidant and everyone complimented on how beautiful my mom and I looked. Sherrie's assistant artist Suzzette did a great job for mom's hair and makeup as well. Highly recomended!
Ceremony Musicians (A+): Capriccio (Strings)
Planning Photos
A Bit About Us We met at Cal architecture program Sept. 2002, we spent many sleepless nights in studio as friends only before becoming lovers summer of 2003.
Our Engagement Story
Kevin proposed to me 12/23/06, on our way back from Chanterelle hunting because I came "way to close" to finding the ring on the ride to our hike trail. He originally wanted to propose to me on our plan trip to Hawaii during New Years.Instead we got to share the good new with his family over Christmas.
AND we get to celebrate the New Year and our engagement on the Hawaii, the Big Island for week by ourselves!
Ok, here's the Bling...
Kevin knew that I wanted an antique looking ring (I had shown him rings I liked), and this is what he picked. I had never been able to decide between the looks of a round and a square stone, but now I kind of have both.
Update: I am most likely going to get this band to go with my Art Deco E-ring. I tried one at Lang's Antique that's very similar and loved the look. The one I am getting online is 1K less and has more TCW! I am very excited and can't wait till they come in
My two favorite stores for antique style rings, both have a store in NYC
AntiqueEngagementRings.com
Doyle & Doyle
Enter Wedding Planning Stage
Our wedding will be on October 6, 2007 on Kevin's father's farm in Larkin Valley, Santa Cruz County. It will be semi casual, "farm style". These pictures are taken in the spring when there's green everywhere, by October, it will be a lot more gold/brown.
I love these large pottery full of flowers, I am definitely using these for the ceremony.
Ceremony Site in the backyard and Reception on the knoll
I absolutely need to have this canopy for the dance floor!! it will be much bigger of course!
My Letterpress Invitation!
My Dress
FIRST FITTING!
These are with train
It was very difficult to figure out the bustle be cause the dress has 3 layeros organza and tulle, we ended up have to bustle inside, with 8 pickup points.
Here's a few pictures of my dress - Ulla Maija Couture Spring07 (purchased w/ Marina Morrison union square SF, they are wonderful to work with, the shop has a gorgeous fitting space that's so relaxing!)
Link to the Ulla Maija Bio
The look
These made me fall in love with drop veil! Second set courtesey of Knottie SrproP>
Hair dos I love! thanks knottie: Chucktgirls, djrs, and Srpro... I am torn, My trial is the first one and I don't think it looks as nice on me....
I want to have this fresh look, pink cheeks
I found my ear rings! I have been on the hunt for these since I bought the dress in January, and I found them in my neighborhood at at the Montclair Village! I absolutely love these. They are designed by Liza Sonia. I believe you can also buy her designs at Nordstrom.
w/ these shoes I scored at Jeremy's
FI's look - We've decided against Tux, going with a suit instead, he desperately wants this from Armani Collezioni
Update: we went to the Giorgio Armani store and fell in love with the 3 button classic suit, will post photo after the alteration soon
Flowers I Like
I think it's neat to incorporate succulents
Or, simple elegance like these
If only our wedding is in Spring, I would have definitely insisted on having peonies.
Flowers for my groom
Flower for family member
Centerpiece arrangement preview by Nicole Ha (picture taken at her recent bridal show) showing my colors. I love the free form texture.
Or these
Lately I have fallen in love with more of a sculptural look for the center pieces
These I love also, a bit more unique from the more uniform look we see so much these days, I see a bit more personality in these. These previous 4 designs are by Spiral Hand Floral and Event Design They did my friend's flowers for her May wedding, the piece are so unique and chic! They are a bit out of my price range however.
I will use this bird nest to hold our rings in lieu of a ring pillow, also designed by Nicole Ha
I absolutely love Knottie Jagnsis's reception decor! The colors I have in mind, maybe a tad bit less pink and more brown/bronze tone...
But I found these, I think it will be so pretty as arrangements for the long tables!!! The last one is another one of Nicole Ha's wonderful creations
I want to use bud vases (from IKEA and Crate & Barrel) for the long tables, I think a combination of these vases will be nice.
I am also loving these bud vase arrangements... This is going to be a hard one to decide on..
I bought these mug/cups from Anthropology the other day, and I plan to use them as vases for in addition to the ones above. I am trying to create a none uniform, casual farm look. I picked these roses from my garden and did a mini trial, and I like! Of course, we will be using orchids and some taller flowers (bell's of Ireland?) instead of roses =)
I also want to opt for simplicity and use these
I LOVE gardening, and sweet peas and orchids are my favortites, I have to have them at my wedding... had to showoff my flowers...
After much debate, we decided to arrange seating. This is the inspiration from knottie: Sakegirls (we will be using Ti leaves to hold the rice, and will use the orange Jame story orchids shown above instead of the white orchids)
I love the style/feel of these aisle arrangements from knottie CaliCayman, FirestoneBride, and Cnickler
I definitely plan to use the aisle decor for centerpiece also, I will have a combination of round and long tables to make this work.
FMIL is making our wedding cake to keep with the "farm style", this is the inspiration for our cake - love the butter cream frosting choppy look:
Enter our fabulous Bridal Party
Flower girls dress, and ring bearer's shirt to go with farm theme
HM: Song Ideas!
First Dance : Is This Love - Bob Marley
HM: The Grand Canyon
Since we "eloped" already, we had our honeymoon white water rafting on the Colorado river, through the Grand Canyon on May 3rd through May 18th, for 16 days! It's life changing experience. Here are just a few of our favorites
Our boat that we spent 16 days and a couple nights in. ************************ Most of the caps had beaches like this, very calm
Kevin and I day hike up deer Creek .................................... ..................................Deer creek running through the Tapeats layer
One of my favorite views of the Canyon, after a tremendous hike **************The milky turquoise water of the Little Colorado is much warmer than the Colorado!
Me, the happy rower... Kev, the inquisitive river explorer... Of course only when the water's relatively calm...