Hong Kong Wedding from nbarrett photography
I had what can only be described as the complete opposite of a modern wedding. It was barn, mason jars, the whole rustic nine yards. And don't get me wrong, I loved every second of it but in terms of wedding re-do dreams, I'm 100% on Team Modern. The fresh, clean design of this W Hotel affair is right in keeping with all those modern musings. See it all, photographed by nbarrett photography, right here in the full gallery.
From the Bride...Our wedding day was a long affair – it started at 5am and ended when the day ends. It incorporated traditional Chinese tea ceremonies, followed by a Western ceremony where vows were exchanged, and concluded with a dinner banquet. I always imagined sunny weather on my wedding day, but the day turned out to be dark and gloomy with occasional rain. We didn’t let the weather spoil our day. We insisted exchanging our vows outdoor as planned – it was indeed windy and cold – especially being on the 76th floor of the W hotel building. We were truly amazed that our photographers and videographers were able to do an incredible job even under the low light environment. The day went by so fast but every moment was special and memorable.
It was a cake topper which I bought from etsy (goldenbutton) that fueled us with inspiration for the wedding. People ask me what it is – a pair of birds? or a pair of penguins? To be honest, till this day, I still don’t know. But somehow when I saw it online – it just makes me smile. We created drawing of the cake topper and used it as a logo on our invitation card, seating plan, favor bag and wish tree. We asked another crafter on etsy (Linda Sari, ndandut) to handstitched a pair of plush to replicate the birds, which we used to tie in the front of our wedding car. We also incorporated the mascot into our dessert table – we asked our baker to create cakepops and cookies to resemble the birds.
Favors can be pricey, particularly when we have 300 guests. I didn’t want to end up being a victim of buying a cheap favor for the sake of having something. At the end, we decided to give a succulent plant to each of our guests. Because I love them! and they were ideal (just US$1 each!), not only did they serve as great favor but also served as great table centerpiece! We explained to our guest that plants, like love, need to be nurtured in order to grow. We hope that they will care for it and watch it grow and hope that it will remind them of the love they have seen rooted on our wedding day. We printed “May the roots of our marriage be strong and branches forever green” on the favor bags. The guests loved the idea, there was not a single plant left on the table at the end of the night! After the wedding, I have received many pictures by emails and whatsapp of the plants blooming in the home of our families and friends.
To preserve a theme, we incorporated succulent plant into other parts of the wedding, like into the boutonnieres, my flower bouquet and also the dessert table. We asked our baker to create edible succulent plants. We bought him a bunch of terracotta pots and he was kind enough to test and trial and bake in them. He used crushed Oreo cookies which very much look like soil and did these amazing look-alike succulent leaves from Fondant. Our guest really enjoyed the idea of having an edible succulent plant and a real succulent plant to take home. When Geoff proposed a year before the wedding, he bought more than 100 candles for the proposal. His idea was to light them all up and kneel in the center and propose to me. But straight after he has arranged the candles outside in the garden, it started pouring down with rain. The candles just wouldn’t light as they were soaked. That was his first failed attempt at proposing. So we recycled these candles on our wedding day and displayed them together with the succulent plants to create a very romantic but economical table centerpiece.
My advice to brides out there is: you can plan so many aspects on your wedding day down to the finest details, but weather is something that is completely beyond our control. Whether you are met with showers and storms or glorious sunshine on your wedding day, your day will be perfect no matter what, so long as you’re in the right mindset. And if it did rain, every time it rains after your big day, it will be a nice reminder of your happiest day of your life.
Photography: nbarrett photography | Second Photographer: Heather Hawkins | Venue: W Hotel Hong Kong | Event Design: Romance Wedding | Floral Design: Ceci from Tulips | Bakery: Beyond Dessert | Cake Topper: Islands from Etsy | Makeup + Hair: Sumsum Star Wedding Makeup | Wedding Dress: Twinkle Wedding
It was a cake topper which I bought from etsy (goldenbutton) that fueled us with inspiration for the wedding. People ask me what it is – a pair of birds? or a pair of penguins? To be honest, till this day, I still don’t know. But somehow when I saw it online – it just makes me smile. We created drawing of the cake topper and used it as a logo on our invitation card, seating plan, favor bag and wish tree. We asked another crafter on etsy (Linda Sari, ndandut) to handstitched a pair of plush to replicate the birds, which we used to tie in the front of our wedding car. We also incorporated the mascot into our dessert table – we asked our baker to create cakepops and cookies to resemble the birds.
Favors can be pricey, particularly when we have 300 guests. I didn’t want to end up being a victim of buying a cheap favor for the sake of having something. At the end, we decided to give a succulent plant to each of our guests. Because I love them! and they were ideal (just US$1 each!), not only did they serve as great favor but also served as great table centerpiece! We explained to our guest that plants, like love, need to be nurtured in order to grow. We hope that they will care for it and watch it grow and hope that it will remind them of the love they have seen rooted on our wedding day. We printed “May the roots of our marriage be strong and branches forever green” on the favor bags. The guests loved the idea, there was not a single plant left on the table at the end of the night! After the wedding, I have received many pictures by emails and whatsapp of the plants blooming in the home of our families and friends.
To preserve a theme, we incorporated succulent plant into other parts of the wedding, like into the boutonnieres, my flower bouquet and also the dessert table. We asked our baker to create edible succulent plants. We bought him a bunch of terracotta pots and he was kind enough to test and trial and bake in them. He used crushed Oreo cookies which very much look like soil and did these amazing look-alike succulent leaves from Fondant. Our guest really enjoyed the idea of having an edible succulent plant and a real succulent plant to take home. When Geoff proposed a year before the wedding, he bought more than 100 candles for the proposal. His idea was to light them all up and kneel in the center and propose to me. But straight after he has arranged the candles outside in the garden, it started pouring down with rain. The candles just wouldn’t light as they were soaked. That was his first failed attempt at proposing. So we recycled these candles on our wedding day and displayed them together with the succulent plants to create a very romantic but economical table centerpiece.
My advice to brides out there is: you can plan so many aspects on your wedding day down to the finest details, but weather is something that is completely beyond our control. Whether you are met with showers and storms or glorious sunshine on your wedding day, your day will be perfect no matter what, so long as you’re in the right mindset. And if it did rain, every time it rains after your big day, it will be a nice reminder of your happiest day of your life.
Photography: nbarrett photography | Second Photographer: Heather Hawkins | Venue: W Hotel Hong Kong | Event Design: Romance Wedding | Floral Design: Ceci from Tulips | Bakery: Beyond Dessert | Cake Topper: Islands from Etsy | Makeup + Hair: Sumsum Star Wedding Makeup | Wedding Dress: Twinkle Wedding