Susan & Jay Tie The Knot!

There is so much I want to say about Susan. Throughout the process of planning the wedding I felt like I was helping my little sister. Susan opened up and shared about her life and the things that have taken place in the past. I fell in love with her sweetness, honesty, and easy going loveable heart. Now I know why Jay dated Susan for 10 years before they tied the knot. Their actual wedding date was their 10th year anniversary!! pretty crazy huh! Susan was a very special ‘client’ and there is a whole story and reason why I felt more compelled to take care of her for their special day.

To rewind a bit, Susan first contacted me last year in November via e-mail inquiring me about my services. A week later, she told me that her father had passed away unexpectedly. He had an aneurysm that ruptured in his brain. My heart sank, I can’t fully understand what it is like to hear such news nor will I understand how painful it is but I knew that I wanted to work with her with the hopes that the wedding planning would also help her in the healing process and letting go. But seeing her overcome all the emotional, overwhelming ride this year especially her grandmother passing away soon after her father's loss has definitely taught me a valuable lesson. To cherish our loved ones and never to take life and loved ones around us for granted.

We're so thankful to have had Sarah K. Chen capture their special day because she looked so effortless while capturing Susan & Jay in the midst of 90 degrees weather & Susan feeling nauseous before the ceremony! Thank goodness she was able to get some rest before the ceremony. Hope you all enjoy these lovely photos as much as I do and head over to Sarah's blog to see some more!!



Simply can't get enough of Susan's Stuart Weitzmans' shoes!!!









Susan told me she couldn’t think of a more beautiful place than the horseshoe garden at the Langham for her father to walk her down the aisle. She was right. The horseshoe garden was beyond beautiful..




Loving this shot of Susan & Jay as they exit the ceremony

Now onto some delicious details..

Susan literally gasped when she saw the cake! :)

Susan wanted a classic elegant pink wedding with a bit of bling. The light blush pink linens, gold chivari chairs & blush up lights surrounding the room definitely set the vibe. You should have seen Susan's face light up when we gave her a sneak peek of the room before the guests arrived. My favorite moment! :)

We also wanted to acknowledge the loss of her father to her guests. After thinking and discussing how the couple should acknowledge the presence of her father we came up the idea of making a memory box. Within the box we included pictures and items that were important to Susan & Jay’s fathers. Susan’s brother also gave a welcome toast in behalf of Susan’s father before we started the evening. As I was listening to the toast I teared up with her, not because I wanted to sympathize in her pain but I knew that she had closure and was able to truly enjoy the day.



My favorite shot of the evening.... perfect in every way.

To Susan & Jay,
I'm definitely going to miss all of the texts and emails we exchanged. You two will always hold a special place in my heart and I applaud you for being so strong in the process of loosing loved ones. I know you're going to bug me again when its time to plan your baby's 1st birthday party!!! Eeek! So excited for our future! Thank you for the beautiful day and for your natural beauty :)

Here's a sweet email I received from Susan after she came back from her honeymoon.
"You are such a caring, devoted, loving person. I could not have had a better coordinator for our wedding. Everyone was floored with how our reception room looked like and it could not have happened without your help. Thank you so much for making it happen. Seriously....what am I going to do now? I don't have anyone to bother thru texts or e-mails :) I'm sure I was one handful bride...thank you for putting up with me. I don't know how brides pull off a wedding without a coordinator. But Jay and I truly had a great time at our wedding...I didn't think I would have THAT much fun. I was looking at the pictures that Sarah posted on her gallery...and we definitely looked like we had a great time."

Where We have been lately..

Hellllooo readers!
So sorry for the lack of blog posts lately. We've had 6 back-to-back weddings in the last 2 months and we have 3 more to go before I can finally say we're officially done with all the summer weddings this year! Although I am dying to share some of our recent weddings packed with so many awesome details, I am not allowed to post the images because they're being submitted to print publications & other various wedding blogs. Gosh, it's so hard not to post anything up when you know everything turned out so gorgeous. But here are some sneak peeks that I personally took from my camera and hope all of you will be dying to see the pro shots from these weddings as much as I am. I promise it will be worth the wait!!!
Lidia & Ricardo's chandelier-inspired wedding at the Langham

Take a peek at our candy station combined with the name card table. After the guests picked up all their name cards, we then turned it into a candy station. This white backdrop with the white trays purchased at Z-gallery did all the magic!

Here's a wide shot of Sarah & Jack's wedding ceremony at the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church. One of the sweetest & cutest couples this year. Can't wait to blog about their wedding!

Jinhee & Mark's California beach, nature inspired wedding at the Adamson House in Malibu. You're going to flip for this one when you see all the details. Hint: Different size lanterns on top of wood stomps, Spanish tile table numbers & lots of peach dahlias with sweet peonies. Yum!


I swear this year's weather has been a bit funky but it seems like summer has FINALLY hit us.
Here's our little guy enjoying his summer at the park last month. Isn't he growing up so fast??


Grant @ 17 months He LOVES bath time!

Britney and Woojung Tie The Knot! (Part 1)

Britney and Woojung tied the knot at the beautiful St. Regis at Monarch Beach. More details to follow soon.. For now, enjoy these dreamy photos captured by Jay of Chocolate Photography
I'm swooning over Britney's Vera Wang.. Isn't she just adorable?

A photoshoot inspired by (500) Days of Summer

OK. I know you might be sick of seeing these photos already from GWS (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3-please head over to read all the details from our shoot) Lauryl Lane and Found Rentals' blogs but I had to have some of these gorgeous photos on my blog too! :)

Concept Design & Styling: Jen Campbell of Green Wedding Shoes, Lauryl Lane and Esther Kim of My Bride Story
Event Styling & Coordination: Esther Kim of My Bride Story
Model styling: Jen Campbell of Green Wedding Shoes
Photography: Sarah Yates Photography
Floral Design: Lauryl Lane
Vintage props, rentals & styling: Jeni Maus from Found Vintage Rentals
Stationery design: Wiley Valentine
Hair/Make up: Theresa Huang and Manning Lee of TH Makeup & Hair Design
Videography: Jason Kim of Cloud 9 Cinematography
Architect/Chalk Artist: Jennifer Choi
Vintage dresses: Mill Crest Vintage
Shoes (bride and groom): Shoebuy.com
Hairpiece: Rachel Larraine
Models: Cazzy Golomb & Alex Hwang
Venue: Oviatt Penthouse

Serendipity 2010 Summer Issue is out!

When the editors at Serendipity Magazine contacted me to do a table design for their upcoming summer issue, I was so thrilled and honored but felt pressured all at the same time. The photos needed to be turned in by end of April which means I had only three weeks to put together a fab vendor list, contact all the possible venues, look for models & buy all the necessary props. I underestimated how time consuming it would be to design & coordinate a shoot but I was extremely lucky that ALL the vendors that came on board were excited & were able to support 100%- I am so thankful!
I'm still grateful not only for the fact that it got featured on GWS & Serendipity Magazine, but the whole humbling experience I learned from each professionals' attitude and their work ethics. I learned so much by observing them work, watching them converse with one another.. and even by reading their emails! Having the genuine heart & humble attitude can be rare in this type of industry but working with all of you made me love this industry/people I work with even more!

With that said, this would not have been possible with all the vendors that were involved with the shoot. I won't go too much into details about the shoot as you can read for yourself from Jen's fabulous blog. But I'd like to take this time to give a little shout out to all the vendors that made this shoot possible. It really was a teamwork, not just about making it look perfect to be 'feature-worthy'.

Jen, you have no idea how thrilled I was when you agreed to come on board. It was your inspiration board that took us this far so I give you all the credit in the world and for your wonderful input! Not only do you have such a great eye but you seriously made a world of difference by styling the models!! And how did you prepare all that in just a few days? You're such a pro and I know you will influence this wedding industry BIG time!
Lauryl, I probably learned the most from you. Since this was my 1st 'real' shoot ;) not only did you inspired me with your work, you taught me to see beyond all the prettiness and loveliness; To define and analyze our couple in order to 'design' for our couple. The most unique & original weddings come together when we listen to our couples, not copying someone else's beautiful work.
Sarah, what could possibly happen if it wasn't for your beautiful photos? I swear, your photos have the power to mesmerize people. :) I am so in awe of your work and can't wait to see what you'll capture for our next wedding together!
Jeni, How do you have two gorgeous grown up children and yet still look like a model? It must be all the furniture lifting. haha You were a God send! Thank you so much for accommodating to all of our needs and going above and beyond. Cannot thank you enough! You hit the jackpot when you decided to rent your passion to others. :)
Jason, I've been a huge fan of your work for quite some time now and I tell all my brides that hiring a videographer is a MUST! You captured the shoot so beautifully and so looking forward to working with you for many years to come.

Rachelle, I still can't believe how fast you designed all the paper goods while being so pregnant! I knew you were going to have a girl! Congrats on becoming a mama!
Theresa, You're such a sweetheart! Thank you for beautifying the shoot 10x more and you work magic!
Jennifer, I instantly thought of you when we had to draw a downtown skyline and you drove all the way from Norcal to join us for the shoot! You know who to call when you get married~
Cazzy & Alex, finding the models were the hardest thing next to finalizing our venue and you two were a perfect match! Thank you for being so enthusiastic and being beautiful inside & out! Wish my son had some of your genes! haha

Our assistants- Angela, Cynthia, Christine.. You worked so hard behind the scenes and I honestly couldn't have done it without you guys. From attempting to make pancakes for the pancake bar, folding over 100+ paper cranes to picking up our catered dinner after our shoot... Always thanking you from the bottom of my heart.


Make sure to head over to Green Wedding Shoes to see all the close up photos!

*The Serendipity magazine can be found at Borders, Barnes & Nobles, CVS and Ralphs