As much as I gush day after day about the big day’s design, I am a huge sucker for the ceremony. It’s where the magic happens. This darling duo celebrated with two and started their day off with a traditional (and emotional) Vietnamese ceremony. The images from Table4Photography just tell the story so perfectly – these two love each other so much! So much so, they take the plunge literally at the end of the night and jump in the pool! So brave! Would you do that? See even more in the full gallery!
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Our wedding was amazing! We put a lot of time and effort into every detail and were blown away by how it all came together. We made all the centerpieces, programs, menus, table numbers, and placecards by hand. We splurged on a few items that were really important to us: invitations, the venue, food, alcohol, chairs, and lighting. We started the day with a traditional Vietnamese ceremony at Daniel’s Uncle’s home. It was probably the most emotional part of the day but we managed to lighten it up with some Street Fighter moves :)
Afterwards it was a whirlwind of getting hair/makeup done and getting dressed! I got each of my bridesmaids a personalized hanger that made for some cute pictures :) Daniel got me a beautiful bracelet for a wedding gift and I gave him a watch as well as a notebook I started writing for my future husband 10 years ago. It made him cry :) He did a fabulous job personalizing his own outfit as well! He ordered his shoes online and designed them himself – they are embroidered with our wedding date. I don’t think a lot of guys can pull sneakers off with a suit but he did it well!! I think our photographer did an amazing job with our first look! He snapped photos from outside a window while his assistant was inside taking up-close pictures. One of my favorite series of the day, it was a nice intimate moment.
Our ceremony was short & sweet. One of my friends timed it – 17 minutes from the moment all the processionals started to when the last bridesmaid/groomsman walked down the aisle. Our goal was to make it pretty but fun. Rachel (our day of coordinator) and our florist did an amazing job putting some simple details into the ceremony decor – we didn’t spend a lot here because we knew it would be so short. But the aisle decorations and backdrop looked expensive to me! They did an amazing job! We had a DJ for the music and chose contemporary music performed by the Vitamin String Quartet. It really gave the ceremony a light and fun feel – the groomsmen walked/danced in to a string version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, the bridesmaids (and our beloved dog Ralphie) walked in to the string version of Jackson 5’s “I’ll be There”, the bride walked with both her parents to the string version of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story”, and the recessional music was a string version Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”.
We made our own placecards with cards purchased from the Michael’s Dollar spot and had personalized napkins in our wedding colors for the cocktail reception. I don’t have pictures of it – but we had 3 beverage containers on the balcony with themed drinks. One was a simple water with lemons, another was lemonade, and the third was “Joanne’s Special Drink”… a mix of sprite and pineapple juice (named after the bride’s sister’s specialty drink from childhood).
Our reception was special because of all the details we put into it. We carefully chose the buffet menu to satisfy our Asian families – we knew the seafood station would be a huge hit with them! We made all the table numbers by painting frames from Ikea with scrapbook paper backing and painted address numbers from Walmart. All our centerpieces were created by us – we spent a few weekends perfecting the trees with crystals! Lighting was also important to us – we had simple white uplights to highlight the concrete columns and had the lighting company hang crystal candle votives that we purchased ourselves.
I surprised Daniel by purchasing a Houston Rocket’s garter… it’s his favorite team (as evidenced by his groom’s cake) and I wanted to do something special for him :) He topped that by surprising me with a serenade, backed by his groomsmen! Then he was iced by my boss… haha. Our DJ did a great job reading the crowd – the dance floor was PACKED all night. One of my co-workers challenged Daniel to a mini-dance off where they “walked it out”. haha.
Once the dancing was done, we exited to sparklers and left in a golf cart…. then we came back. Lakeway Resort has an AMAZING pool and we had joked about how fun it would be to jump in after the reception. We made a last minute decision to do it – take a look at the pictures, I think it was totally worth it :) The best part was that some of our friends jumped in with us! The girls were fully clothed in their nice wedding attire but took the leap with us… it was incredible! Our wonderful day-of-coordinator, Rachel, helped us pull everything together. Our goal was to have a beautiful and FUN wedding that wouldn’t cost us an arm & a leg… it was a lot of work but I think we pulled it off nicely!
Photography: Table4Photography / Cakes: Simon Lee Bakery / Vases: DFW Vases / Flowers: Bouquets of Austin / Event Planning: Buon Affare Events / Ceremony Location: Lakeway Resort & Spa / Reception Location: Lakeway Resort & Spa / Lighting: D&H Lighting / DJ: Greenbelt DJ / Invitations: The Pink Tulip / Dress: White One