I have this dream of spending every single breakfast, lunch and dinner outside, surrounded by candlelight and warm weather. Basically, I want my every meal to resemble this wedding – an affair full of easy elegance and a fusion of cultural details crafted by Therese Jacinto Design. It’s the true definition of alfresco beauty and you can see even more photographed by Rizza San Agustin in the full gallery.
From the Bride…When Shardul and I decided to get married, we had in mind a very personal ceremony. Since I am Filipino and he is Indian, we wanted elements of both of our cultures in it. We also wanted a wedding that wouldn’t break the bank—something simple, but filled with small personal touches, great food, and great company. More importantly, it had to be one that we could plan remotely, since we wished to get married in the San Francisco bay area and we wouldn’t be physically present in the months leading up to the wedding. So we were certain we would only be able to plan the wedding with the help of my sister, Therese Jacinto, who lives in the bay area and just happens to be an awesome event and floral designer. Therese did a lot of the legwork for us while we were thousands of miles away, sending us pictures of things that she wanted us to approve, like the table napkins, flatware, furniture rentals, etc. The color scheme I wanted was a combination of gold and deep reds (maroon, burgundy, etc). Gold and red are actually traditional Indian wedding colors, so that worked out quite nicely—the colors were still wedding colors but because we used deep reds and just small touches of gold, it felt very modern and not at all stuffy or overdone.
I specifically requested for the table setting to have a seamless integration of Filipino and Indian design. For that, Therese found plates that we could rent from a local supplier which had a lovely gold design on the edges. I liked that they reminded me of the plates used for formal dinners in Manila. Therese also found a lace-inspired border to use for the menu cards which felt very Filipino, since some provinces in the Philippines have a long tradition of lace-making and embroidery which began way back in the Spanish colonial period. For a distinctively Indian touch, she found beautiful little bronze lamps in World Market that we placed in the middle of the table. We also hung up a few around the buffet table area. We were only having about 25 guests at our wedding, so we wanted to give small, personalized wedding favors to each of them. We decided that since we both love chocolate, we could give away small bags of chocolate truffles. My sister found linen drawstring bags for that, and ironed on the names of each guest. We put these bags next to each place setting on the dinner table, so they doubled as place cards.
Therese also came up with the idea of incorporating a travel theme to the wedding, as a nod to the nomadic lifestyles that Shardul and I had before finally marrying and settling in the bay area. We all loved the idea. I had always particularly been fond of vintage luggage trunks, so I was ecstatic when my sister found one at a local thrift store. I asked her to cover it with old luggage labels representing cities that were personally significant to Shardul and me (cities where we were born, cities where we’d lived, and cities we’d traveled to together). She found images of real luggage labels online, printed them out on heavy stock paper, cut them out, and stuck them all over the trunk. This became a key piece in the guest reception area during the wedding.
Our wedding cake also featured the travel theme, as it had a tiny plane on top of it. The plane was a small plastic plane that we found in World Market while we were shopping for the lamps. It was originally a bright yellow color, so Therese spray-painted it gold. Besides being a lovely little touch, the little plane was a hit with the kids at the wedding—they waited eagerly for the cake to be cut so they could play with the plane. In addition, Shardul and I especially liked that we didn’t pay a “wedding price” for it. Most wedding cake designers don’t take small orders, and we didn’t want the special fondant icing on it anyway since we think buttercream tastes better. So we actually just ordered our favorite cake from a local bakery (the “B-52” from La Patisserie in Cupertino), and asked them to only use plain white frosting on the cake. Therese then placed the gold plane on top of it after we had picked up the cake. The wedding was incredibly intimate and special, as we felt it really represented who we were. The fact that we were able to merge the traditions and elements of our two different cultures for the wedding, as well as tell a little bit of the story of our relationship before the marriage, was a lovely way to begin our new life together.
[dotted]
Photographer: Rizza San Agustin | Event Planning, Design, Florals, DIY Crafts + Paper Details: Therese Jacinto Design | Venue: The Gamble Gardens | Furniture, Linen + Flatware Rentals: Hartmann Studios + Classic Party Rentals | Decorative Lanterns: Cost Plus World Market | Catering: Amber + Patio Filipino | Hair + Makeup: Victoria Toda | Wedding Dress: Vera Wang via David’s Bridal (Style VW351044) | Earrings: Borrowed from mother of the bride | Mangalsutra Necklace: TBZ | Groom’s Suit: Zara | Tie: Michael Kors