Hope you’re all having a very happy heart day. At this risk of sounding cheesy, I have to confess that around here every day is a little like Valentine’s Day. Each day brings a stylish celebration totally centered around love. Today is no exception… from the looks of this California wedding, this adorable couple starts each morning with a smooch. Not only is it sweet and playful, it’s obvious these two love birds are blissfully in love. With gorgeous images by Tiffany of Adeline & Grace Photography and colorful petals by Soulflower Design Studio, this Bay Area bash is charm-central. Before you head off to the gallery to see the rest of the pretty pics, make sure to read the write up from the couple. The groom’s take on the ceremony is positively swoon-worthy.
From Tiffany of Adeline and Grace… Geo completely surprised Angela by proposing on the peak in Squaw Valley as they were snowboarding, one of their greatest shared passions, with their closest friends who were all in on the surprise. Many of these friends had known both of them since they were in high school, where they had first met on the same track team. Over a decade later, after reconnecting and dating in New York City, the engagement happened just as they were amidst a move from New York City to Singapore.
From the Groom… As a result of the new move, a lot of the planning had to be done based on online research or recommendations from friends since we only made one trip before the wedding to choose our venue and vendors. We chose California because it was a midway point for our guests who were mostly from the East Coast and Asia. We scoped out all sorts of venues, ultimately choosing Tiburon, which was special to us because my parents had just bought a home there and we had celebrated Thanksgiving and other family holidays together. Old St. Hilary’s Church and the Corinthian Yacht Club are quaint, cozy and rustic, with panoramic views of the ocean, sun and greenery. As an extra plus, we could see both venues from the dining room and patio of my parent’s home! We thought it would be a beautiful reminder of our special day every time we visited.
The color palette we chose combined nautical blue with happy, uplifting soft yellow. Our friends later reminded us that these are the school colors of our high school! The flowers were inspired by the wildflower preserve that surrounds Old St Hilary’s. While we had decided to have an indoor ceremony and reception out of concern for rain and chilly Bay area evenings, we wanted to bring the nature in with us.
When I look back on the ceremony, it still feels like a blissful dream. It starts with me standing at the altar waiting for the doors of the church to open. When she entered the church and started walking down the aisle, I felt all the anticipation that had been building up hit me all at once. I had pictured this scene many times before in my head, but as she approached the altar, she looked more beautiful than I had ever imagined. I never knew how it felt to be brought to tears by beauty until seeing her walk down the aisle. I’ll never forget that moment.
From the Bride… We weren’t caught up in traditions, and did our best to make the day personal and all about our love for each other and our friends and family. Our attitude was that the day shouldn’t be stressful – we would only plan and do as much as we found fun and meaningful. Our friends love to party so we knew we’d have an amazing day with them no matter what. We didn’t let ourselves get too obsessed with all the little details, but I like arts and crafts so I picked a few fun DIY projects that made the wedding more personal. I hand painted “I’m His” and “I’m Hers” and other wedding signs, spent months folding paper boats with little banners as placecards (that took a lot longer than expected, but Geo help me with them while watching TV!), and because we travel so much together, we made table number settings which each had a picture in a city we had traveled to and a story about why that city was special to us. I drew and created the invitations, which showcased New York City and San Francisco, and the airplane and city skyline on the invitations became a motif for our wedding cake and photobooth icons. I found a wonderful artist on Etsy who made adorable cake toppers of us snowboarding in our wedding outfits. My brother and I are very close, and he was our wedding officiant, which made the ceremony so personal for us.
The wedding day was one of the most amazing days of my life. People had warned me that the day would fly by and I wouldn’t even remember half the day, but every single moment was so vivid. Although we had already made a move across the world and started building our home together, joining together as a family on that day in front of all our loved ones was an experience that surpassed my expectations. It was especially wonderful for us because since our move to Singapore, we hadn’t seen many of our friends so it was a huge reunion. We hosted a yacht party on the Bay the day before to give ourselves more time to catch up with our friends, and to share the beauty of San Francisco with all the visitors. Over 95% of our guests all flew in or drove over 7 hours to come to our wedding so we wanted to celebrate for as long as possible with them!
The wedding day was completely stress-free largely due to our amazing vendors. Brandy from Bliss Event Productions was our month-of-coordinator, and on the day of the wedding, she coordinated with all the vendors, made sure the shuttles picked up all our guests, set up our decorations and we didn’t have to worry about a single thing. Tiffany from Adeline & Grace captured amazing photographs, keeping us on schedule even as we shuttled the huge bridal party all over town to get gorgeous shots by the water and in the wildflower preserve. The florals by Soulflower Design Studio blew me away—I had sent pictures of the feeling I wanted to evoke and she captured it perfectly, coming up with cost-effective ways to wow our guests and help us fit our budget by re-using the flowers in different ways throughout the day. Afterwards, our cinematographer, Marco, from 1080 Visual worked overnight to give us a wedding highlights video that we could send immediately to Geo’s sick grandmother in Taiwan so she could feel like a part of our special day. We are so grateful for everyone who went above and beyond to let us have the most beautiful day of our lives!
Wedding Photography: Tiffany of Adeline and Grace Photography / Ceremony Location: Old St. Hilary’s Church / Wedding Reception Venue: The Corinthian Yacht Club, Tiburon, CA / Wedding Coordination: Bliss Event Productions / Floral Design: Soulflower Design Studio / Wedding Dress: Vera Wang / Cinematography: 1080 Visual / Wedding Cake: Branching Out Cakes / DJ: DJ Dukes / Rentals: Classic Party Rentals / Linens: La Tavola / Lighting: Got Light? / Transportation: Pure Luxury Transportation / Photo Booth: Magnolia Photo Booth Co. / Accommodations: Lodge at Tiburon