Modern Winery Wedding by Connie M. Chung Photography

As much as I LOVE the East Coast, there is just something about California that I never tire of and I think it may have a certain something to do with the perfect, sunny weather. In lieu of getting to bask in the glory of a warm, So Cal day, I’m going to kick up my heels and live vicariously through this yellow-hued winery wedding shot by Connie M. Chung. It has the perfect weather I so long for, the loveliest happy color palette and enough details to send me into blogger overdrive. See it all here!

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From the Bride… We both planned our wedding together to make sure it was a wedding that we both wanted.  Since a lot of our guests would be flying in from out-of-town, it was important for us to give them a mini getaway while they joined us for our celebration.  Both of us immediately fell in love with wine country for it’s greenery, wine tasting, and close proximity to the city.

This was a budget friendly wedding so it was a major DIY wedding with help from talented friends to add personal touches to wedding details.  A good friend lent us her vintage typewriter so our guests could type messages to us, and our family and friends were the musicians for our ceremony. Additional DIY projects included mason jars with grey striped straws for guests to enjoy their drinks and take home as favors, paper cones for tossing petals, printed paper treat bags for the dessert table, and even scoops of ice cream with handstamped wooden spoons for dessert.  Internet sites were a must to buy specialty items and to find the best price for the product.  There are also a ton of site offering “free printables” that can easily be downloaded and customized for our wedding.  I was able to design our paper goods, including invitations (our uncle printed them for us), and added handstiched details by turning my bridesmaid’s home into a pseudo sewing sweatshop!  My cousin makes the most perfect cake and cupcake pops that were perfect for our dessert table.  My SIL handsewn number pillows to use on the day of our eshoot which became our table signs.  Our SIL #2 handmade our cake topper of clay and designed it adding the traditional korean handbok in our wedding colors- yellow and grey.  Our dessert table also included traditional Korean rice cakes as part of a wedding tradition.  The highlight of our whole day was seeing our 6 month old nephew cruise down the aisle in a remote controlled car.  He stole the show and is still named the “best ring-bearer” ever by our guests!  We are blessed to have major talent all around us so friends and family helped out with the details.  The best part about our wedding is seeing how our family and friends were involved in the overall completion of the wedding.

During our planning, we received the best advice any bride and groom can hear during wedding planning: “Instead of stressing about how to make your wedding different or unique, focus of making the wedding special and meaningful to you as a couple.”  It was the BEST thing we heard because it took away the uncecessary stress that most couples face today to produce a fabulous wedding.  It’s easy to get lost in the “new” and “different” ideas but keeping to the thought of making it meaningful to us, helped us stay grounded in making decisions to make our wedding, our own.

Photography: Connie M. Chung / Hair and Makeup: Marie of Kelly Zhang Makeup Team / Flowers: Friend / Ceremony and Reception Location: South Coast Winery in Temecula, CA / Shoes: Caparros / Dress: Watters / Dessert Table: Amy Park of White Blossom Wedding & Event / Cake Pops: Susanne Ramirez (Cousin of Bride) / MC/DJ: Shine Entertainment / Groomsman socks: Express Men / Bridesmaid dresses: girls bought own dresses / Cake: Beverly’s Best in Fullerton, CA / Cake topper: Esther Oh (Sister-in-law)