The Big Day

If you’ve been paying attention at all, you probably noticed that I’ve been planning a wedding for the past year. Finally the culmination of all that planning came to be on April 4th. It was a beautiful day filled with laughter, lights, music and smiles. Perfection doesn’t exist, so of course there were things that could have gone smoother, but over all it was a wonderful day. Here is a few photos of our special day. We really concentrated on having a theme that was continuous, a use of color and style that made it our own. We knew if we did this thing at all, it had to be our way.

First was our location. We decided a backyard wedding was just what we needed, something fun and low key while still being fabulous. His parents backyard in Anaheim was the perfect location, it had a view, a pretty gazebo, but most importantly it was his family home and it was his dream to be married there.

Second we chose our colors, first we chose red because in Chinese culture red is good luck and traditionally red is always used for weddings. Though I didn’t feel comfortable wearing the traditional red wedding dress, I decided to include red in my dress, and have all our wedding members in red, and ask our guests to include red into their ensembles. It was so lovely looking out on all of our friends and family with their bits of red. But before any of that I had to find the perfect dress. I started at Davids Bridal like many girls but I had been stalking a dress company online called Dolly Couture. When I went to their store I knew right away I had found the dress for me. It was short, and simple, no lace, no frills, but still feminine and with a 60’s feel.

What was best about working with Dolly Couture was how they let me customize my dress. I added straps, a red sash, and a corset back, which ended up being my favorite part of the dress. So when it came to the day of the wedding I was very excited to put on the most expensive dress I had ever bought. We started with hair and make up early that day, around 10 am, and I had so much fun with my girls, and my mom getting ready. My photographer Lisa Schaffer caught so many great moments. My advice to girls out there though is try to be more organized than I was! I was so stressed over some of the things I had forgotten that I didn’t even have a drink until the wedding started, even though I had said I would be starting my day with mimosas that simply didn’t happen.

Once I was dressed and ready to go, it was time for our reveal, which was really fun. Again I wish I had more time and been a bit more organized but the moment was lovely and I’m so glad it was caught on film. My husband Oliver is sometimes hard to read, and I was glad I got to look at his face in that moment after it was all over.

Then it was time to line up and go out. As I walked out, hearing my brother (who was also our officiant and wedding band) play his original song “Lets Fall in Love” I knew it was just how it was supposed to be. With my Dad walking me down, he whispered a story to me of his own wedding day, he sang to me what my mothers uncle had sang to her on her day, and it may seem not sweet to some, but he made me laugh so hard on my way as he sang “here comes the bride, big fat and wiiiddeee” I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I knew he was joking as did my mom when it happened to her. He also told me that he couldn’t have been happier, because he knew Ollie would always take care of me, and that all of this was just to tell the world what we already had known for years.

We said our vows, which were remarkably similar, that we both knew that we were better people with each other by our sides and we promised to try to be good to each other forever. With our dog by our side, and our closest family and friends we kissed to honor the promise and walked out to all of our friends singing with my brother “All You Need Is Love” with a Kazoo solo right before we left.

Then the party started. We did a traditional tea ceremony first, and then the band played, we ate dim sum, did whiskey shot to our future and even had a bbq food truck so that everyone was happily full. Just about everyone got up and sang or danced and we couldn’t have been happier to spend the day with everyone we loved.