It’s no secret that we love 3Ring Weddings & the stories they tell. They are fantastic at what they do, bringing wedding cinematography to an entirely new art form. And this wedding might just take the cake. It’s stunning – luxe, glamourous, modern. Just the way we’d all like to feel on a Saturday morning. Visit Three Ring Wedding’s blog to see more of this lovely story!
Photography courtesy of Esvy Photography.
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Joer & Jobel: Cinematic Trailer from 3Ring Weddings
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In the beginning, when people would ask how we met, I would say “through mutual friends.” What I didn’t say is that our mutual friend was a website named AsianAvenue.com. I always emphasized that it was not a dating site, but a social networking site. Yes, we met “virtually” in December 2002. I was living in Atlanta finishing up design school and Joer was in his third year at IBM. I recall receiving a friendly message through the website introducing himself. For the next few months, we sent emails back and forth. I’m not sure when we first started talking on the phone, but one day Joer devised a plan for us to finally meet. He bet me that if my Florida Gators beat his beloved Georgia Bulldogs in an upcoming basketball game, he would take me out to dinner. But if my Gators lost, I had to pay for dinner. The Bulldogs won 82-81.
For our first date, Joer made reservations at a French restaurant called “Ambrosia.” When he came to pick me up, he presented me with a little housewarming gift for my new apartment. It was a potted plant and said that it was also a symbol of “growing our friendship”. I thought it was the sweetest gesture. Joer was a perfect gentleman throughout our date. I think he might have gone out of his way to impress me, because I ordered escargot on a whim and dared him to try it. He gave it a try and kept smiling. Today, I’m pretty sure there’s no way I could get him to eat snails.
Joer and I planned the entire wedding ourselves from beginning to end. I feel pretty lucky that I had a groom who was so interested in being involved. During the process, when people would ask if I had a wedding planner, I would joke that it was my fiancé. We made such a great team because he’s great at the business, project management side and I am the creative, visual side. He dealt with the majority of the vendor negotiations and I was able to focus on executing the design and branding. We approached it like a business project with my home office becoming a war room of sorts. We had a huge whiteboard with check-off lists and deadlines. It was a lot of work, but in the end, extremely rewarding. We even had a bit of “planning withdrawal” when it was all over.
Luckily we have similar design tastes with clean, modern styles. We both agreed that we wanted a wedding that was modern, elegant, and timeless. After designing our logo, I decided our tagline would be “Celebrate. Love.” It’s a simple mantra that ideally, we try to live by. Celebrating each day and all that we are blessed with. And remembering the element that is most important to us, our family, and friends, which is love. But, it also represents the special day of Celebrating Love. To emphasize the modern, city theme, I integrated a silhouetted skyline of Atlanta into our Save the Dates and stationery. Our colors were variations of gold, charcoal, and plum. As a graphic designer, it was very exciting to be able to design our entire identity.
The majority of our 150 guests were out-of-towners and we wanted to provide our family and friends that traveled from afar with an amazing weekend in Atlanta. After setting a fall date with one of the most beautiful churches in the heart of city, Cathedral of Christ the King, we knew we wanted the reception to be at a hotel nearby. Being that our reception was a formal, evening affair, we wanted the day to be seamless for our guests and knew that a hotel would be a convenient option. We had visited several very contemporary hotels in the area that seemed like great venues, but it wasn’t until we walked into The Georgian Terrace Hotel that we felt the “magic.” The moment we stepped foot in their Grand Ballroom, we knew it was “the one.” The Georgian Terrace is a historic landmark in Atlanta (it was where they held the red carpet opening of Gone with the Wind). 2011 marked their 100th Anniversary and they had just completed an $11 million renovation in 2009, which emphasized their new tagline, Modern Classic. Everything about the Georgian Terrace—the classic architecture, neutral colors, and luxurious modern touches, perfectly embodied our style.
If there’s one thing that I would tell other brides that they must do, it’s to invest in a great videographer. Great photography is a must as well, but the addition of being able to see relive the highlights from the day is priceless. Months before we had even decided on a venue, I did research on local videographers and found Three Ring Weddings. They have a genuine passion for telling their couple’s stories and are so talented in the way they capture it. Overall, I feel very fortunate to have picked some amazing vendors – my videographers, photographers, makeup artists, and florist were the absolute best. Many of them went so above and beyond to make sure our day went smoothly. Having really supportive family and friends, who will help you get through all the last-minute craziness, goes a long way, too!
Church: Cathedral of Christ the King / Wedding Guild Coordinator: Alicia Kelly / Priest: Father Bryan Small / Venue: The Georgian Terrace Hotel, Catering Manager: Dana Kicklighter / Photographer: Esvy Photography / Videographer: 3Ring Weddings / Photobooth: Shutterbooth / DJ: Kenton Myers, Spectrum Entertainment / Floral Designer: Heath Alan Ray, Jackson Durham / Stationery Designer: Jobel José / Cake: Celso’s Cakes / Dessert: Gelato from Honeysuckle / Hair and Makeup: POSH Artists / Wedding Gown Designer: Vera Wang White / Bridesmaid’s Dress Designer: Amsale from Bella Bridesmaids / Jewelry: Diamond Chandelier earrings from Adorn