Congrats to Tina & Alan on a gorgeous wedding at the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park.  You can see their wedding featured on Junebug Weddings and What Junebug Loves!  Tina and Alan are an especially special couple to me because I actually met them over two years ago.  I met with Tina and Alan in SF while I was up there shooting another wedding.  At that time, they had not booked a venue yet, nor set a date.  We chatted and instantly clicked.  They also brought me (& introduced to me) Kara’s cupcakes!  Months later, Tina writes to me that she found the perfect venue, but I was already booked for her original date.  She asked for my availability and was able to find another date where the Allied Arts Guild and I were both open.  I was so happy to hear from her, and so extremely honored that she changed her wedding date for me.  I loved these two so much and would’ve been so sad to not share in this journey with them.  I’m so fortunate to be part of their big day because look at the goodness we created together:

I love their use of purple and pink!

Love these personalized hangers for the bridesmaids:

They had Pinkberry as their pre-ceremony treat.  Lucky guests!

Gorgeous ceremony site!!

The amazing team to made this day possible:
Ceremony & Reception site: Allied Arts Guild
Catering: Cafe Primavera Animo Resto
Cake: The Cakemaker
Floral Design: Poppy’s Petal Works
Hair & makeup: Aimee Lam and Rona Basa of Luxe Image
Groom & groomsmen apparel: Tuxedo Fashions
Rings: handmade by father-of-the-bride
Invitations: Ho Tai Printing
Live music: San Francisco Conservatory of Music
DJ: Alex Wong – DJ Atraxx
Dance instruction: Susan Fong of Ballroom and Beyond
Favors: Kung Fu Cowgirl from Etsy
Dessert Bar: Sweet Tooth Confections
Photobooth: PhotoBooth Royale
Pre-ceremony Treats: Pinkberry
Wedding dress: Alvina Valenta from The Unique Bride
Bridal accessories: diamond necklace designed and handmade by father-of-the-bride, with bracelet from Haute Bride
Bridesmaids apparel and accessories: Jasmine Bridal from Novella Bridal

Remember the sweet cupcake engagement photos I blogged about last year?  Well, the very cute Jackie & Eugene are married!  You can read more about them from their engagement post, but in a nutshell, they’re both ER doctors.  That’s where they met.  Jackie loves shoes.  I mean, really loves shoes!  Don’t believe me?  Here are most of the shoes she wore this day:

Yes, not one, but two pairs of Louboutins!  One of her bridesmaid jokingly said, she spent more on her shoes than dress!

I love her beautiful Jim Helm dress!

Her purple/pink color palate was perfect!

And I love this pairing…

Flower Allie did a perfect job on the flowers!

Look at those layers!

Love this giant crossword puzzle they had going on during the cocktail hour:

And the magic of Flower Allie:

All the candles and hanging balls were magical!

All evening, they had a silhouette artist there cutting silhouettes for guests!  She cut two – one for the guest book and one for the guests to keep.  So cute!

And who doesn’t love a sparklers exit?!

This blog has taken me all morning to do.  Not as easy as I thought to work in between his naps!   Cameron’s crying, so got to go!   have a great rest of the week everyone!!  xoxo

You may recognize these two from their fun engagement session in downtown LA.  They are both so fun spirited and have so much fun together.  They have amazing chemistry… perhaps because they met in Chemistry class back in high school.  I love how much they enjoy being around each other and how much they laugh together.  They are the type of couple I look at and just know they will grow old together, but stay young at heart.  They make me look forward to growing old with Jonathan.

We headed to Cal Tech to do some portraits.  In case you’re wondering, yes, you do need a permit to shoot there.  And yes, both times I’ve shot there, a security checked our permits.

And you know me and parasols…  if you bring them along, I’m going to make the wind take you away!

They even walk in sync.

Then we headed to the Pacific Asia Museum for their ceremony.

I LOVED the hanging orchids.

congrats you two on a super fun wedding day!

If you’ve been a long time reader, then you may recognize Vivian & Sean from their 3 part engagement session:

part 1

part 2

part 3

They even had a cameo from Nathaniel Ayers here.

Vivian technically booked me before she was even engaged, so we go way back.  I remember how excited she was (and still is) about her wedding when we first met.  She had all these great DIY and Asian-fusion ideas to connect her & Sean’s culture.  The cutest part was when she told me that she wanted me to be her wedding photographer, but that she wasn’t engaged yet.  She asked me to “pencil” her date until he proposes because she didn’t want to look like the crazy girl who planned her wedding before being engaged.  We both laughed, and 2 weeks later, I got an excited email from her that she’s engaged and it’s time to go into “full wedding mode”.  What I later learned to be “full wedding mode” was no joke.  This girl thought everything down to the last detail and left no stones unturned!  I’ve become so close to her through her planning that I felt like I was watching my sister get married.

…

So on with the pictures!  She was going for a modern, Asian-fusion look, which Allison from Flower Allie executed flawlessly!  I LOVE the hanging crystals and the pattern down the aisle.

Isn’t that just the perfect setting for a wedding?  They exchanged very personal & touching vows.  To incorporate part of Vivian’s culture, they did a very short traditional tea ceremony where they offered their parent’s tea.  Offering tea symbolizes respect, and when the parents drink the tea, it represents acceptance of their marriage.

They also did a sand ceremony in lieu of lighting a unity candle.  Again, I love all the crystals!

And they are now husband and wife!!

And on to cocktail hour!  I love the horsetail that Allison used in the decor.  It’s so modern with an Asian touch.  They offered a signature drink called the Blushing Bride Martini.  I don’t know what’s in it, but it looks pretty!

Vivian DIY’ed a little message board… in pink, of course!

Her “escort cards” came in the form of votive candles.  Guest names and assigned table numbers were printed on vellum and wrapped around the votive.

And then you have the jaw-droppingly beautiful reception.  I was literally stunned by all the beauty & details when I first walked in.  I remember thinking how will I get all the details here!  Just when I thought I was done, I notice something else.  The head table was in the center and was a long rectangular table.  Then there were round tables around it.

The centerpieces were manzinita branches adorned with pink orchids, hanging votive candles and crystals.

Her beautiful cake was also decorated with pink orchids.  The great thing about [seven-degrees] is that it already has lighting.  It’s an art gallery, so the space is already rigged with all the lighting you would need.

And you can’t have crytals at your wedding without Swarovski toasting flutes!  I remember this was all the rage when I got married.  I love all the little crystals in the stem.

A view of the long head-table.

I LOVE how many vases filled with pink orchids there were!  And so many candles!

More details of the head table…  I LOVE the use of horsetail.

They also had all these lanterns above their dance floor.  So modern, yet still ties into their Asian-fusion theme.  It was a great focal point for the dance floor.

To continue with the Asian-fusion theme, they hired lion dancers!  The room turned red and was filled with the sounds from their beating drums as they danced their way in.

To take advantage of [seven-degrees] lighting, Vivian and Sean had them change the color throughout the night.  I used their cake as my constant and took pictures of the cake at each color.

Vivian filled little Chinese take-out boxes with candy.

I really loved how emotional this wedding was.  You could tell how loved Vivian & Sean is.  Sean’s mom baked him a grooms cake with his favorite baseball team.  And throughout the speeches & toasts, the room was filled with laughter & tears.

My favorite of all the cake photos would have to be with the blue uplights.  The pink & white on the cake contrast the blue wall well.  Something to keep in mind for those of you who are planning your uplights & decor.  Some contrast is a good thing.

Cheers to the happy couple!  This was such a heartfelt & amazing wedding to be part of.

Vivian and Sean had a modern, Asian-fusion, wedding at the fabulous [seven-degrees].  There were so many intricate details in this wedding that I had a hard time narrowing down what to blog.  I decided to break this into 2 parts… and still this took me 4 hours to blog!!

Vivian made all her stationary!  She went with a cherry blossom motif to go with her Asian-fusion theme.  Her gorgeous dress is by Monique Lhuillier.

I love this shot Jonathan got of Sean’s dad helping him with his tie.

Groomsmen all got pink ties as gifts.  Vivian packaged them in a cute Chinese take-out box with matching labels.

DIY fan programs.  Can you tell she likes pink? 

Vivian’s hair & makeup was beautifully done by the awesome All Made Up Team.

Her gorgeous flowers were done by the talented Allison of Flower Allie.

I LOVE how Allison incorporated horsetail into the arrangements!  I love how modern Asian it looks.

Gotta love little details like matching socks!

Vivian and her gorgeous ladies… it’s like bridesmaid shopping!

And you all know by now how much I love shoes!

Meanwhile… the ceremony was being set up…

AH-MA-ZING details, right?  So modern, Asian, and elegant!

Vivian has her vows and is ready to get married!!

Stay tuned for part 2, the ceremony & reception!