A Cultural Wedding in Redwood City

Posted on October 5th, 2009 by Margaret. Filed under Real Weddings.

Stephanie (also known in the Project Wedding community as mushroom), shared some images from her wedding that I absolutely adore…

Photographer: Todd Rafalovich
Hair/Make-Up: Sherrie Long
Dress: Amy Kuschel
Bridesmaid Dress: J. Crew
Tuxes: Men’s Warehouse
Florist: Nicole Ha
Cake: American Cupcake
Officiant: Heartfelt Weddings
DJ: John Jow

Stephanie was kind enough to share the juicy details of her big day…

Calvin and I were set up by mutual friends; they figured we were both single so why not experiment and see if it works out. From Calvin’s perspective, he wanted to get back in the dating game so he saw me as a chance to “practice”, after being on a 3-year hiatus. For me, it was a chance to meet someone new and put myself out there. My friends and I went to a club one night, and of course, Calvin and his friends were also there. We exchanged names and a few dances, and that was it. We had no idea what each other “really” looked like (the club was too dark); we had no idea if conversation was good (the club was too loud), and we had no idea if we would ever talk again (he didn’t ask me for my number). Our matchmaker friends, of course, pushed him to contact me, and we started emailing, and eventually meeting again in person over coffee. Luckily, for our friends, their matchmaking skills worked, and we dated for 5 years before saying “I do.” Practice… I don’t think so! J

Calvin proposed to me in New York at the Top of the Rock in Rockefeller Center. I was in NY for a business trip. A few weeks before the trip, he contacted my colleague (behind my back) to see if he would help him with the proposal and lure me to Rockefeller Center. Once my colleague and I ascended to the top, we looked around for a few minutes, when all of sudden, Calvin popped out of the shadows. I was shocked beyond belief and literally felt like I was seeing a ghost; afterall he was supposed to be back home in San Francisco. He said the sweetest words and pulled off the most perfect proposal (although I begged him not get done on one knee, my fault).

I did a majority of the planning, combing through Project Wedding and various other blogs for ideas and inspiration, and I cannot begin to tell you what a great resource Project Wedding is; especially for ideas. Calvin was very involved with the planning; I even delegated some tasks to him such as invitation design and photography. We made decisions jointly, which helped strengthen our relationship, and never once, did we feel that someone wasn’t “pulling their weight.” I love crafts, so a lot of the stuff we did was DIY; it gave me a creative outlet, and it was awesome to see the fruits of my labor come together.

I love the combination of baby blue and brown, so we used that color theme throughout the wedding. We are both Chinese, and since we did not have the traditional tea ceremony, we also threw in some modern Asian elements into our theme. We are big foodies, so our tables were designated by the names of some of our favorite restaurants (or ones that had special meaning to us). It was also important for us to recognize our family, so during cocktail hour, we displayed photographs of our relatives’ weddings. The one element that made our wedding truly special was our personal vows. We chose to write our own vows, and this gave us the opportunity to express how much we meant to each other in front of our family and friends. I’m not a very emotional person in public, so this was the one time that I was letting my guard down; to feel the moment and to share with everyone what Calvin meant to me. I truly felt that at that moment, it was just me and him and that no one else was around. I knew the wind was rushing around me; bur ironically, I did not feel the chill. It was truly surreal; almost as if time was standing still.