It’s been kind of a great day on SMP. One fabulous wedding after another where you can literally pick and choose the weddings that you want to devour. Well, we just might have saved the best for last…and it’s Vegas Baby (that was bad, I know). I chose this wedding because I am obsessed with the delicate balance between timeless elegance and modern style that the bride acheived. It’s a fresh, totally smart approach to wedding design and the photographs by Chelsea Nicole have taken it to an entirely new level. Click here to see even more.
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By the time we got married, Neil and I had been together for almost 9 years. We are high school sweethearts and this wedding had been long awaited not only by us, but also by our friends and family. We knew we had to throw a big big party.
We didn’t want to start planning too early, but my Type-A and perfectionist side of my personality got the best of me and within two weeks, I couldn’t stop looking at all the prettiness on the internet. I created various folders on my computer and constantly saved pictures of ideas and details I wanted to incorporate. Every few weeks, I would go through the folders to filter out images that no longer appealed to me. This went on until a few weeks before the wedding. It was difficult to put into words what I wanted, but eventually, I found myself using the words “soft, clean, simple, romantic, and elegant, with a bit of chic modern touches” to describe my vision for the day.
Although we live in Los Angeles, Neil and I both grew up in Las Vegas, met there, and have our families there too, so there was no question that we would get married in Las Vegas. For one and a half years, we strategically planned our meetings with various vendors for various weekends we would be home.
Despite all the fun venue alternatives that are becoming ever popular today, I always imagined myself getting married and having a wedding reception at a golf course. Our golf course searches lead us to Silverstone Golf Club, which was a wonderful place to work with. Tanya, the site coordinator, was very accommodating and open to all my ideas. With the help of Eden, a floral and event coordinator and the owner of J&E Floral, the three of us worked to make my visions become reality. My florals mostly consisted of garden roses, hydrangeas, and orchids in blush pink and creams. The use of tea light candles throughout the reception space created a romantic ambiance. Simple draping, lighting, and gold chiavari chairs pulled the look I envisioned together and really transformed the space.
Our cake was done by Creations Bakery and decorated by Eden. The cake was four tiers, with small pale pink swiss dots on alternating tiers and garden roses decorated the top. It was clean and simple, exactly as I wanted. When I was told our cake was too large for a cute ceramic or glass pedestal cake stand, I almost settled for no cake stand at all, but Eden came up with the creative idea of placing the cake over several round vases. The round vases were turned upside down to enclose silk hydrangeas and LED lights. The result was beautiful.
As for all the stationery, it was all done by me! Using Adobe Illustrator, my matron of honors’ tips, and some extra help from several friends, I designed save-the-dates, the invitation suite, menus, programs, escort cards, favor tags, photo share cards, signs for our bird cage card holder, and more! Neil even got his hands dirty and made the rehearsal dinner invitations. We bought the paper (and envelopes) at Kelly Paper and had Arnold at Arnold’s Printing in Studio City do all the printing and most of the cutting for me. Some friends from Las Vegas came into town to help me with other various crafting too, including the “Mr.” and “Mrs.” chair signs we used during the reception.
For the ceremony and beginning of the reception, I wore a fit and flare, scoop neck La Sposa wedding gown in ivory. To balance out the crystals and beading, I opted to go with simple jewelry… a pair of diamond studs and a tennis bracelet. During the ceremony, I wore a simple floor-length veil for a more dramatic look. And while we were not having a traditional Chinese wedding, I knew I wanted to infuse a few Chinese traditions into the day. In the middle of the reception, I changed into a Qipao, which was made by and worn by my mom when she married my dad in Hong Kong 28 years ago. It was sentimental, traditional, beautiful, and fit me perfectly.
Up until the day of the wedding, I wasn’t sure if I had achieved my vision because I could never picture everything I had worked on all together. I didn’t have an official wedding coordinator and relied on all my emails to Tanya and Eden for them to make it all come together. Moments before I walked down the aisle, I found myself alone in the reception area with my dad and I finally looked around. Everything was perfect. It was all that I had imagined… “soft, clean, simple, romantic, and elegant, with a bit of chic modern touches”. And to make the day even more perfect, Neil and I were surrounded by everyone we loved as we (officially) made promises to love each other forever.
Photography: Chelsea Nicole Photography / Hair and Makeup: Christina Yi / Cake: Creations Bakery / Flowers and Event Design: Eden – J & E Floral / Lighting: Kevin Cordova / Getting Ready Location: Red Rock Hotel / Ceremony and Reception / Location: Silverstone Golf Course / Shoes: Caparros / Dresses: La Sposa