Romantic Blush Pink Wedding | Hollins House | N + T

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N & T truly brought a classy style to their special day, and it was a joy to work with these two ambitious and hardworking folks (who were also fellow F1 fans!). We spent the final stages of the wedding planning process together, focusing on all the big and little logistical details to ensure that everything ran smoothly on the day of the wedding.

N & T’s wedding was romantic and elegant, featuring gorgeous blush pink lounge furniture and vintage tabletop rentals from a family member's rental company based in Southern California. The vintage tabletop rentals added a touch of nostalgia and history to the day, and the blush pink lounge furniture provided a cozy and inviting atmosphere for guests to relax and celebrate. It was a beautiful and cohesive look that perfectly captured the essence of their love story. 

The ladies started the wedding day with some lipstick and bubbly! After getting ready details were completed, we headed to the venue for the couple’s First Look. N & T were both so gorgeous and dashing in their complimenting wedding outfits! After a sweet Ceremony, guests enjoyed tossing petals in the air in celebration of N & T tying the knot!

The food and drinks were great all around - everything from the appetizers, to the open bar, to the dinner buffet, and to the dessert spread & cookie favors showed how much the Bride & Groom cared for their guests. As part of the Bride’s Chinese tradition, every guest was also given red envelopes with lottery scratch cards to try their hand at good fortune!

What a privilege it was to be a part of N & T’s wedding celebration. We wish y’all many more years of love and happiness. Congratulations again, N & T!!

Thank you to this wonderful team of vendors who helped make this wedding a reality!

Chinese Tea Ceremony and Banquet Family Reception | HL Peninsula | E + E

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We’re back to feature another celebration with E & E! We feel so lucky to play a part in another big day for E & E and their family members, in planning and coordinating their traditional Hong Kong Tea Ceremony.

We were brought on to bridge the gap between family expectations and how to execute on these visions. Despite differing communication styles across generations, E & E were always ready and willing to work with us and with their families to solidify plans.

As is traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony customs, we started the morning at the Bride’s home with “Groom games”. Only after successful “hazing” of the Groom (and Groomsmen) could the Groom retrieve his Bride. The Bridesmaids prepared a series of fun games to challenge the guys, while family members of both sides observed. As soon as the men arrived, they were blindfolded with facemasks (creative, no??), put on trashbags, and were led to the backyard to play the games. 

The first game tested the guys’ tastebuds as they were forced to eat very creative (and often gross!) snacks and guess what they ate. These snacks included Korean fiery noodles (buldak), silkworms (!!), and natto. The second game lined up the men to compete against one another in eating various treats attached on strings. Unfortunately, the poor Groom was boxed out at the last minute and had to eat a super crazy hot ghost pepper as punishment for being last to finish the race. Family members swiftly provided milk to abate the hot-pepper-sweats.

The final game tested the guys’ singing and performing ability, as they were required to write an original song. After all these trials, the Groom was finally able to receive his Bride!

Everyone then traveled over to the Groom’s home for the Tea Ceremony. Both the Bride and Groom were dressed in Xiu He Fu (繡和服) traditional Chinese attire for the Chinese Tea Ceremony to formally honor their family members. We compiled a list of over 30 sets of parties to be honored. It was a beautiful thing to witness all the Aunties and Uncles actively preparing and participating in the whole Tea Ceremony. During this process, lunch was delivered and the Bridal Party enjoyed a brief break. After the Tea Ceremony and lunch, we headed over to the Chinese banquet hall to set up the reception space. We worked quickly alongside the decorator, banquet staff, and helpers to set up the room and completely transformed the space into a classic Chinese banquet reception!

The Dinner Reception featured a Welcome photobooth for every guest to take a photo with the Bride and Groom. Throughout the reception, the MC entertained everyone with fun games and generous prizes and all the guests enjoyed delicious Chinese banquet dishes.

Overall, it was so sweet to work with E & E in planning a Chinese Tea Ceremony to serve their families! What a joy it was to spend another few months working alongside them again!

Thank you to this wonderful team of vendors who helped make this wedding a reality!

A Superhero Wedding | The Hollins House Santa Cruz | E + R

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E & R brought so much personality and creativity to their beautiful winter-spring wedding, and it was a joy to work with them every step of the way. We spent 11 months together planning every single detail, and executed a unique and memorable celebration. Through the whole process, we were so encouraged by E & R’s strength and flexibility with curveballs that life threw at them. It was truly a pleasure working with these two and getting to know this adorable, easy-going, and down-to-earth couple.

E & R envisioned a waterfront wedding, and we found the perfect venue with both water and woods for them! The golf club venue was set in the trees and mountains, and had sweeping views of the Santa Cruz Bay. Good food was a priority for E & R, so we worked with the catering team to build a custom menu featuring classic Asian banquet dishes that reflected the couple’s Asian tastes. Most notably, we splurged on scallop appetizers that were served on scallop seashells. These were SO good that guests lined up at the entryway to stop servers for a delicious bite!

Our color palette was lavender, sage, dusty gray, and white and the event design was modern & moody with a hint of natural rustic. We were inspired by the Groom’s love for comic book superheroes and incorporated this in small, tasteful, and playful touches throughout the wedding. Cocktail Hour music featured epic soundtracks from the Marvel and DC television and movies. The Groom picked out fun superhero costumes for each groomsmen to wear under their suits and each guy had Marvel or DC cufflinks and socks. The Bridal Party decked out in Marvel attire and entered to the soundtrack of We proposed that each Reception table centerpiece feature one superhero FunkoPop. At the end of the night, the Funkopops were given away to guests who won a trivia game. It was a fun and interactive way to engage guests and make the celebration even more memorable!

For the Ceremony, the Bride’s parents were not able to attend in-person due to personal restrictions in China. It was a really tough pill to swallow, but the couple rolled with the punches with faith and strength. With the help of some dear friends, we Facetimed the Bride’s parents and they got to see the Ceremony live and also give a speech at the end of the night. E & R’s beloved dog Hiro also played a touching part in their special day, as he got to walk down the aisle during the ceremony!

Both the Ceremony and Reception were outdoors and nights get cold in the Santa Cruz mountains! To help guests stay warm, we rented extra heaters and provided blankets as favors for each guest. During Cocktail Hour and throughout the Reception, guests enjoyed an open bar and boba bar. Fog rolled in during dinner time which made the dinner ambience absolutely dreamy. We served sweets from a local Japanese-French patisserie for dessert and the couple cut a simple cake decorated with adorable Shiba dog caketoppers! 

We are so grateful for the time we spent together and wish E &R many more years of love and happiness. Congratulations again E & R and happy anniversary!!

Thank you to this wonderful team of vendors who helped make this wedding a reality!

Dreamy Golf Course Wedding | Bridges Golf Club | E + E

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Happy first anniversary to E & E! It feels like just yesterday that we were planning every single detail of their romantic wedding celebration.

E & E had a truly beautiful and memorable wedding. They chose a golf club venue with sweeping views for their ceremony and reception, which provided the perfect setting for their special day. E & E were first introduced to our work as they were figuring out their venue. After a speedy onboarding, we spent 10 months together planning every single detail of their romantic wedding day from start to finish, and it all came together perfectly!

The Bride had a dreamy romantic aesthetic and the Groom had a groovy vibe. We went all out in designing, producing, and sourcing every detail to execute the dreamy-and-funky event vibes. Everything from the florals, to the décor, to the color palette, to the food & desserts, and to the outfits and details (Crocs, anyone??) all fit perfectly together. It was so much fun planning alongside E & E and getting to know these two funny & generous people. There were stressful moments in the planning process in juggling familial expectations & desires, but they handled everything with grace and faith. E & E care deeply for their family & friends and spared no expense to honor them in all the details.

The wedding day started off with all the ladies getting ready and detail photos. Being a winter wedding in February, we were blessed with a warm weekend. The color palette was sage, blush, and white. So perfect by virtue of the winter season’s elements! E & E shared a sweet First Look and portraits with their bridal party and family members, prior to their outdoor Ceremony. For their outdoor Ceremony, we designed a super romantic wedding-scape — lush white petals in the aisle to greet the Bride, a luxurious & full Ceremony arch installation, and simple white resin lawn chairs for that clean touch. For their Unity Ceremony, E & E chose to water a plant together.

One of the standout moments of the wedding was the petal toss kiss. Set against their full floral Ceremony arch, we helped photographer Helena and videographer Justin collect petals from the ground (petals that were used in the Ceremony aisle!) to capture this picturesque moment. It was a team effort with most of the vendors represented (photography Helena, videography Justin, florals Allie, and planning/coordination Connie), driven by Helena’s vision! We all were just having so much fun with it all behind the scenes and E & E had a blast!

During Cocktail Hour and throughout the Reception, guests enjoyed an open bar, epic dessert table, and photobooth. We also designed a special Sweetheart Table installation with a pair of freestanding floating floral arches to “hug” the Bride & Groom. The venue had some not-so-ideal signages, so we rented pipe & drape to tuck these signs away nicely. The drapery ended up adding a dreamy aesthetic to the earthy-and-strong dark wood interiors in this Reception space. E & E’s guests also appreciated delicious sweets from a local Japanese-French patisserie and cake from one of our favorite cake shops! During the dance floor, we brought out E & E’s matching Crocs and they danced the night away with their friends.

It was SUCH a joy to have walked alongside E & E throughout their whole wedding planning journey. Every planning moment was a fun & festive atmosphere and that really translated to their wedding day. We feel so lucky to have been able to help them plan their dream day and are so grateful that the planning journey did not end there (more to come in March with their Chinese Tea Ceremony!).

Congratulations again, E & E!! Happy anniversary!!

Thank you to this wonderful team of vendors who helped make this wedding a reality!

Church Garden Wedding | Allied Arts Guild | K + V

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Has it already been one-year since K & V’s beautiful wedding celebration?? It was such a pleasure to be a part of their special day and we are so happy to finally share these highlights.

K & V chose to get married at their home church in Mountain View, CA (they met at this church!) and host an outdoor lunch reception at a stunning garden venue. Their color palette was light blue and white, with hints of pink to add a touch of femininity and spring. It was so sweet getting to know K & V through the last three months of their planning process and we appreciated their joyful attitudes even as they were juggling wedding planning and remodeling their new home.

We started the wedding day before the sun came out! In order to allow time for photos before the morning Ceremony, the ladies arrived at the church for hair and makeup at 5:30AM (!!). K & V then shared their First Look at the church and it was off to the Ceremony.

Given that K & V were getting married in the winter and aimed to host their lunch reception outdoors, we anticipated for rain in the weeks and months leading up to the wedding and drew up thorough backup plans (such as securing a tent months in advance!). Thankfully, we did not have to go through with the rain plans and everyone was able to enjoy a beautiful outdoor reception in warm weather!

For their reception, we helped K & V rent specialty periwinkle blue linens to go along with the light blue color palette. K & V thoughtfully prepared activity packs for the kids and light blankets for guests who may get cold. We also rented additional heaters so that guests could stay warm. Fortuitously, the weather was perfect and the sun was so warm the whole day! Lunch was held family-style. So, in lieu of spending lots of money on floral centerpieces that would have to removed after only an hour of display, K & V rented artificial flowers that matched well with the overall event design.

One highlight of the reception was the “Grand Exit” petal toss. We ushered all the guests into parallel lines and K & V walked down the aisle with guests tossing petals in the air. We tossed petals for K & V a few times and even the kids got involved! This added a fun and playful touch to the end of their reception.

It was such a pleasure to be a part of K & V’s wedding celebration. We are so grateful to have been able to help them plan their dream day and wish them many more years of love and happiness. Congratulations again, K & V!

Thank you to this wonderful team of vendors who helped make this wedding a reality!