Things I've realized lately..

* Not everybody will agree with your rates & services and that's ok. We can't cover 100-200 weddings per year. You charge what you believe is a fair value for the product/service you provide.

* I've learned to trust my instinct. Not every bride is a MBS bride and taking on a client who isn't a good fit for you can possibly turn out to be a nightmare. Um.. for the record, I've had two brides whom I honestly didn't want to see after their weddings for various reasons. They seriously had me doubting if I was right for the job.

* Being passionate and being addicted to your work is a different story. This line so often gets blurred if you don't continue to check the attitude of your heart. Trying to find your identity and self worth through your work & accomplishments will only lead you to self appraisal or self pity/discouragements. I have experienced on both ends and realized my identity and my worth should NEVER come from work or how other people view my work. I love my job but my job doesn't define who I am. Know your boundaries and never neglect family and friends because of your job. *sigh* another reminder for myself. :)

* While it's great to network, there's no need to be friends with ALL the vendors/event professionals. This job isn't a popularity contest or how many people you 'click' with. I believe vendors should be people who you can rely on for source of strength and encouragement, inspirations (venting is allowed time to time! :) not about how you can use their talent for the sake of growing of your own business OR to spread your name out there.

* There's no need to check every wedding blog and subscribe over 100 blogs out there for source of inspirations. There are so much loveliness in the blog world but true inspirations should come from the couple and we're hired to bring their vision to life- not copy someone else's beautiful wedding.

* Hire staff you can depend on (again! trust your instinct) and delegate and delegate! With that last note said, we have some amazing news to share as we get ready for the year 2011! Stay tuned for updates.

What are some of the lessons you've learned lately while running your own creative business?

Why I do what I do...

2010 weddings have been booking so fast and I cannot begin you to tell you how excited I am to be working at some of the amazing venues with renowned photographers in the industry next year. The upcoming venues include but are not limited to St. Regis in Monarch Beach, Fairmont Hotel in Newport Beach, The Langham, Sheraton Delfina & Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica, Adamson House in Malibu and so on... I am truly honored to be chosen out of all the wedding planners out there in the industry and thank you so much for your kindness and encouragements.

When I sign and book a client, I make it a priority to make sure that they will be getting 100% of my time and attention. This is one of the reasons why I choose not to book 4-5 weddings each month. If I do, I know my clients won’t be getting the attention they deserve, and plainly put, I’ll go nuts! A lot of planners in the industry who exclusively offer full wedding planning choose only to coordinate a handful of weddings each year. This is because they want to ensure that each client’s needs and wishes are fully met and fulfilled. While I completely agree with this, I believe that there is a far greater purpose and motive behind this... well at least for me there is.

I love what I do, I love helping couples start a new chapter in their lives together, but it would be ironic and sad if my marriage was falling apart because I was so busy helping others start theirs. I believe that in my life the greatest blessings have been and continue to be my marriage and family. My job is wonderful but it does not and will never come before them. I would hate to think that a lack of time management and devotion would ruin what means the most to me. Marriage takes work; by work I mean you have to spend quality time with your husband and children and make them your number one priority. It would really suck if I was going through a divorce while helping someone else get married. It gives me the chills to even think of that, to be honest, the image of me filing divorce papers while creating a timeline for a wedding I’m planning scares me to death. I’m not perfect and I fail miserably. I’m sure there will be moments when I want to drop everything and run away from the responsibilities and duties of being a wife and mother. But it is my true desire to hold on to the precious gift of family that I have been given. I want to treasure it, make it work and make it grow.

At the end of the day, I don’t want to be buried in timelines, vendor contracts, floral arrangements, or even design boards for my clients. I want to go home to my husband and my precious son, they are the reason why I do what I do; I want to help others start their marriage and families of their own. (Motherhood is truly putting things in perspective. It's like finding a new identity that you never thought it existed in you! I sometimes surprise myself too!)

With that all said and done, I want to encourage all you 2010 brides to hurry and reserve your wedding date! I can’t wait to help make your special day a memorable one, filled with meaning and loads of personalized details that reflect who you are.

Posting wedding photos on my blog

As much as I am tempted to show off all my clients' beautiful photos, there are some clients who wish to keep their photos private. Some clients don't feel comfortable having photos up on the web for anyone and everyone to see, especially nowadays with the nature of blogging being so open to the public. It is also written in my contract that I do not utilize photos taken during the event for publishing, blog/web, and advertisement purposes WITHOUT the bride and groom's consent. Before my business and getting my name out there, my clients' privacy comes FIRST and I completely respect their decision for keeping the photos to themselves.

So many photographers, florists, videographers and wedding planners blog these days, but have you also considered your clients' privacy?

For all you party planners out there

If you're looking for an amazing party inspiration look, look no further than Hostess with the Mostess, Inc. –an inspirational resource website for hip & modern entertaining ideas.
At Hostess with the Mostess, they feature stylish & unique party theme ideas for everything from baby & bridal showers to holidays to Super Bowl Sunday, as well as food & drink recipes, entertaining tips, and cool products. You're seriously missing out if you don't check out their blog!


*Something blue

*Modern Moroccan

*Natural bride

*Orange & Chocolate

*Citrus Twist

*Lavender, Lilac & Lime

*Butterfly Bride

MinMi Photography is based in Buena Park and they take some of the amazing baby portraits & dol (first birthday in Korean) party pictures. Don't you just LOVE the butterfly theme?? It's perfect for a baby girl!






Photo Credit: MinMi Photography

Audrey Magazine Wedding Feature

Audrey Magazine is the Asian American women's lifestyle magazine celebrating their 6th year anniversary, and now they have published the first wedding issue. Anne, the editor-in-chief contacted me couple months ago to write an article on wedding planning tips, advice on dresses, decor, and latest trends. I was about to give birth when she contacted me so I had Elisa work on this while I was in labor and it turned out awesome!
April/May 2009 is now available at bookstores and if you would like to receive a free copy, please leave a comment on my blog with your email address and I'll be happy to send it to the lucky winner!


The magazine also features the best beauty trends, honeymoon looks after the big day, and where to spurge and save planning tips along with other great stories.

Some of the wedding photos I coordinated from last year's weddings

To read the article, click on its image. I'll post up the full article on the next entry.

When asking friends to help out with your wedding..

The process of preparing for your wedding could be so much more fun when you have a gang of enthusiastic friends by your side who are eager to lend their services. It definitely helps to have readily available hands to fold those myriads of invitations or pull off all those detail-oriented, time consuming DIY projects. But brides, be careful not to take advantage of your friends' generosity too much. You'd be surprised how many times I've seen friendships take a strain during these times because the brides were getting too carried away and taking their families and close friends' efforts for granted . Here are some tips you can consider in asking your friends for help in your wedding preparations.

Make sure . . .

1) the person you want to ask for help is someone that you had kept in touch with within the past two years. If you know that you're probably not going to contact them much after the wedding, then it's also probably best not to call them just to ask for a favor, even if that person's talents/services could save you a lot of money.

2) you ask for their help plenty of time in advance. This shows that you have thought this out carefully and consider them best for the job. I would say one month prior to the wedding is the absolute latest you should ask.

3) you are communicating the job descriptions clearly. Please don't just say "I need your help" without supplying specific guidelines and expect your friends to know what you want. The more you communicate, the more it will also help them acquire a sense of ownership to their responsibilities and produce better outcome.

4) you do have plans to show appreciations for their help. Thank you cards, gifts, or thank you get together after the wedding... You can discuss this with your fiance for ideas and include this to your budget.

And to those of you who ARE the friends who's been asked to help, please don't back out at the last minute when you have agreed to help. Trying to find a replacement for you will cause further stress on the bride and groom, on top of all the other stress they already have. And please, please be ON TIME if you're helping on the day of. I've seen so many friends who agreed to help in ushering & gift attendants that do not make it on time due to their personal reasons. On several occasions I had to frantically find replacements and let me tell you, it's not easy to find replacements at the last minute! For those of you who are helping with putting together a video or a slide show for the wedding, do work on it early and finish it at least one week prior to the wedding so you can go back and revise the work.

For all you pet lovers out there~

Sylvia & Dong min's dog, Yogi will be carrying the ring pillow this coming Saturday and I can't wait until the rehearsal day to practice how he'll be walking down the aisle!!!

Photo Credit: Jennifer S. Rau


Photo Credit: Convey Weddings




Photo Credit: Jules Bianchi

Photo Credit: Image is Found

Sweet Sources- What you need to know before you order

Image from Amy Atlas
Candy buffets are becoming more and more popular, but there’s only one down side: planning and paying for one can be costly. Apothecary jars usually run between $10- $30 dollars depending on where you purchase them. You can try Target, Michael's, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Save on Crafts (I usually don't recommend buying vases on line because they break easily) and even Marshalls or TJ. Maxx if you get lucky. You need get at least 10 containers to fill up 6 foot table and purchase at least $150-200 dollars worth of bulk candy to fill them up. Remember some of them may look pretty and might match your theme color but that doesn't necessary mean they taste good so make sure you don't try anything too risky.

Making it one step easier for you, here’s a list of our favorite bulk candy vendors to shop and price compare to help you save the most money you can while still getting great quality sweets in the quantity you need.

ACandyStore.com
Best Buy Candy
Bulk Candy Store
Candy Direct
Candy Warehouse
Groovy Candies
Gumballs.com
Hammond’s Candies
Metro Candy

For other options other than candy buffet, click here!

Common mistakes brides & grooms make while planning their wedding

Photo credit- Color Box

Okay. I need to confess. I love this job but it has one side-effect. And that is I cannot help but to critique when I attend weddings as a guest. Here I'm seating at the pew thinking to myself, 'Esther! Don't look at the centerpieces figuring out which vendor they chose, just enjoy and bless their marriage! But here I am, looking at all the details and critiquing every aspect of the wedding and I'm making a mental note on my head what was good and what was bad. My husband knows when I do this, so he usually tries to stop me. ha ha... I just can't help it!
Anyways, as I have been to many weddings, here are some mistakes you can avoid while planning yours.

1) Don't think that your work is done once you've chosen your vendors and have signed the contracts with them. You're only half way done. I don't want you to be too discouraged as if your many months of searching for the vendors was for nothing! Good job! I just want you to make sure you have everything in paper, even the small changes here and there, you need to confirm with the vendors at least twice! Even if you need to bother them... Do so. I've seen some vendors totally ignore the bride's wish on floral arrangements and went with whatever was convenient for them.
2) When you assign your friends to help out with the wedding, (for example, slideshow, or video presentation) make sure you review the work at least 2 weeks before the wedding. That way, they'll have time to revise it. You simply can't expect them to know what you're thinking and expect a quality work! It's always good to have a list of job descriptions for the helpers and what time they need to arrive in prior to your wedding.
3) Just because you get a good deal doesn't mean you will receive a quality work. For example, a lot of K-town photographers these days offer Casual, Formal & 'The Day Of' photography for less then $3,000- $3,500 but this never means that they're good at taking candid, detailed,& creative shots. You need a photographer who can take good shots on the day of the wedding! Don't be deceived by their free offers such as parents album with unlimited proofs and what not.
4) Don't expect everything will flow just as you've imagined. There will be unexpected trouble shoots and miscommunication, so you ABSOLUTELY need to designate one person to oversee your wedding. If you cannot afford a weddingcoordinator, then make sure the person you're designating knows every detail of your wedding schedule! (this person should attend rehearsal)

5) Don't try to DO too much! what I mean by that is, keep the ceremony short and sweet! the reception, fun and entertaining! There are some brides who try to do pae-baek(패백) in between the ceremony and reception or making the cocktail hour way too long, but you don't want the guests to wait that long! Yes... the wedding is about You! But you need to also ask yourself, 'who are my guests?' If you have way too many adults, keep the reception short and have a 2nd reception with your friends afterwards.
6) If you're having a reception at church, don't even bother to do RSVP! It's just a waste of postage and time. Korean adults will seat wherever they want to if the wedding is at church with buffet-style. It's just a reality! If the wedding is at a hotel, then make sure you have one usher per 50 guests to guide their seating.
7) Make sure to thank the guests and all the helpers! The earlier the better! I've been helping out with weddings since my college years (back then, I wasn't getting paid or anything) but I couldn't help but to feel this sense of being used when the bride and groom didn't appreciate me for what I did. Not that I was expecting a lot, but a simple appreciation gift will be nice.
8) Don't pick a bad time of day/month for weather- Of course, you can still have a good time if it's raining or windy...but one of the worst mistakes brides can make is to plan a wedding outdoors in the heat of the day (1pm-4pm), in July, August or September. I've seen many weddings made insufferable by outdoor heat.... If there's a chance it might be over 85 degrees that date try to push the hours later. Obviously, if it's indoors, make sure there will be sufficient air conditioning. If you're planning an outdoor wedding and that date there is a slight possibility of rain, research getting a tent beforehand, so you won't be a frazzled if it happens.
9) Don't let your money go down the drain. Sure, there are a lot of costs associated with a wedding, but overspending can be avoided if you have a budget and stick to it. Don't let people who are looking to make a profit off of you talk you into spending more than you're comfortable with.
10) Last but not least, don't get too caught up with planning the wedding that you miss what's most important to you! Keep in mind that you are getting married and starting a life together, not just planning a wedding. Some tension between the two of you is inevitable, but don't ever let things get out of control. I know how sensitive you can get when the days are approaching, but make sure both of you have fully discussed your future plans and resolve any issue that might come up again during marriage. (I would definitely recommend taking pre-marital counseling to seek a professional advice)