Wedding Colors

While I was planning for the wedding, I was often asked what my wedding colors were. Picking them was very easy for me because I knew I wanted the rich royal colors of a traditional Vietnamese/Chinese wedding. Red and gold have such a cultural and historical importance in all of our celebrations. Plus, I've always loved these colors because of all the historical Chinese drama I used to watch when I was younger. They remind me of the beautiful settings and costumes of the royal court.

Invitations set the tone for the wedding so my theme and colors were on full display. I accented the red and gold with touches of pink, cream, and blue. Since I enjoy making things, I decided to make our invitations too. I had fun designing them and picking out the papers, envelopes, and stamps. I only needed 60 invitations so I was able to print everything out at home.

These envelope liners were another DIY project that I did. I made a simple template and cut them out of these pretty gift wrapping papers. It's a lot cheaper than buying pre-made ones. (Future DIY post, maybe?) I have to thank my sister for helping me find these beautiful papers. I love the light blue color. It contrasts with the red nicely. The birds and the cherry blossoms matched with my theme too. I also later found out that this print is named "Double Happiness". How perfect is that?

Btw, many of you were curious as to what inspired me to paint my vases turquoise. It was because of the blue color in these envelope liners :)

I was so happy that these stamps were available this year. The dragon and bonsai stamps were the perfect finishing touch for our wedding invitations. I really love how our invitations turned out :)

What colors would you pick for a special celebration?  I would love to know!

*You can see more of my wedding theme/colors in these posts: Wedding Dessert Table & Traditional Dress :)
*Envelopes, invitation papers, and gift wrapping papers were bought at Paper Presentation in NYC.
*Gold card stocks for the invitations were bought at Paper Source.

DIY: Painted Vases

For our wedding centerpieces, I wanted beautiful turquoise-color vases for a nice pop of color and to also tie in the touch of blue that we had from our envelope liners. However, I didn't realize how difficult it would be to search for vases in this color. They were always either the wrong shape or too expensive. As a result, I took matters into my own hands and did a small DIY project :)

I bought clear glass vases from the dollar store and two cans of spray paint (I used valspar's exotic sea in glossy finish). I was able to have the perfect vases for my wedding centerpieces in a few easy steps:

1. Clean and dry the vases thoroughly.
2. In a well-ventilated area, space the vases out on a drop cloth or newspapers (to protect the floors).
3. Follow the instructions on the can to properly spray on the paint.
4. Allow them to dry completely before using.

Extra Tip:
Remember to spray on a light coat each time and wait for it to dry before adding another coat. It took me 3 coats to have a nice opaque finish.

It was very simple and the whole project only costs me around $25 ($15 for 15 vases and $8 for 2 cans of spray paint). That's only $1.67 a vase! Pretty awesome, huh? I love how versatile this project can be. You can spray paint old picture frames, furniture, etc. in any colors you want. The color selection for spray paints are really amazing right now. They also have many different types of finishes like matte, metallic, stone, and velvet. I can't wait to do another DIY project like this. Time to find things to spray paint and give them a fresh look :)

Wedding Flowers

Today I want to share pictures of the amazing flowers that Dana did for our wedding. You've seen glimpses of it here and there but they were so beautiful and deserve their own close-ups. I can't thank Dana enough for her wonderful work. Everything was so gorgeous!

I love how rich and vibrant the colors of my traditional dress and bouquet are in this picture :) Picking the flowers for my bouquet was very easy. I love peonies, garden roses, spray roses, and cymbidium orchids so they were a must. Dana also added white hydrangeas to make it look nice and full. As for the boutonnieres, I wanted them to be small and simple to have a clean and elegant look. James' boutonniere had a mini blush pink cymbidium orchid and two pink spray roses. Dana added a nice touch to each of the boutonnieres with ribbons, pearl pins, and small greeneries.

(left) Best Man's boutonniere: mini white cymbidium orchid; 

(right) Boutonnieres for our parents and brothers: mini dark pink cymbidium orchids

My sister's Maid of Honor's bouquet was lovely as well. I love the soft romantic colors. Her bouquet had mini white cymbidium orchids, pink spray roses, cream roses, pink lisianthus, and white hydrangeas. It would make a beautiful bridal bouquet too if you like lighter color flowers. 

Our pretty centerpieces (pictured right & below) had cream roses, pink roses, and pink spray roses. I kept them really simple because I know they will not stay on the table for too long. We had a traditional 10-course banquet (not including desserts!) and the centerpieces are removed at the start of the reception to make room for the food :)

I really love our wedding flowers and I hope you enjoyed these photos! ♥

Something Old, Something New

Something old: My grandmother's antique Chinese coin tied to my bouquet

I love fun traditions and this traditional wedding saying is too cute to pass up. I'm sure many of you know it already but here it is just in case :)

Something old, something new

Something borrowed, something blue

And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

The meanings behind each one are so sweet. I personally didn't know about the sixpence part until I read more about the tradition. It was fun to incorporate each of these items into our wedding. I felt very fortunate that day so these lucky charms were probably doing their magic!

(left) Something new: My wedding dress, heels, and jewelry; Something borrowed: Veil from my wonderful friend, Kristen

(right) Something blue: My favorite tiny blue brooch pinned to my dress

In my culture, a popular wish for newly married couples is to wish them a hundred years of happiness. I thought it would be fun to find a silver sixpence that was made in 1912 to echo this wish. I was so happy to find one on ebay. It is still in pretty good condition too. I tucked the sixpence on the inside seam of my left heel where it safely stayed all night!

Did you follow this tradition on your wedding day? Do you plan to? :)

Wedding Sweets

I'm so excited about this post! I really love our wedding dessert table and couldn't wait to share it with you :) As you know, I love sweets and a dessert table was a must for our wedding. We got our wedding cake from Cakes to Remember. Ellen's cakes look and taste amazing. James and I fell in love with the Strawberry Orange Blossom Cake at the tasting. It is an "orange Grand Marnier cake filled with a summery fresh strawberry buttercream and frosted with an orange blossom buttercream". It was exactly what I was looking for; fresh and light and perfect for a summer wedding. I gave Ellen my sketch of the cake and she did a wonderful job with it. I couldn't have been happier! (Thank you so much Ellen!) As for the rest, I made the raspberry and jasmine macarons, mini red velvet cupcakes, and pink meringue kisses. Costco has really good madeleines so I bought those from there to save me some time. Our guests loved the sweet treats. They were gone in a flash! I'm really happy that everyone enjoyed it.

(left) My raspberry & jasmine macarons. I brushed each macaron with a layer of pearl dust to give them a pretty shimmer :)

(right) Ellen's beautiful handmade sugar orchid. Many of our guests thought it was real!

I love these forks. They're perfect for a dessert-loving couple like us :) They've gotten pretty popular. I bought mine from etsy and they're also available at BHLDN. I can't wait to use them for all our special celebrations!

This was the sketch that I gave to Ellen. I wanted a simple and elegant cake. I drew my favorite Asian motifs on each layer and accented the cake with a single cymbidium orchid. I really love how it came out. I can't thank Ellen enough for the amazing job she did for our cake.

(left) Our wedding date on the "Mr. & Mrs." forks; (right) My mini red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Fancy Pants

Moochi and Brownie were ready to celebrate our wedding too! 

Don't they look dashing and oh-so sophisticated? :)

I searched the internet for ways to make a simple bow tie for them and was so happy when I stumbled upon Nicole's blog. The bow tie she made was perfect. I ended up making a replica of it. Thank you so much for your wonderful design Nicole!

Btw, you can see more of Moochi and Brownie here, here, and here :)

Wedding Dress Tradition

James look so handsome. I'm sure he was glad he didn't have to change outfits. He loved his tux! lol

When I was little, I loved seeing all the dresses that my aunts wore for their weddings. Vietnamese/Chinese brides usually change into three different outfits during their wedding day. This was a tradition that I really looked forward to for my own wedding. I love each of my dresses so much. You've already seen my American wedding dress here.  I wore that one for the church ceremony and the beginning of the reception. The dress above is my traditional Vietnamese wedding "áo dài". The colors are so rich and vibrant. I felt so royal wearing it. It was a favorite among many of my relatives and friends. I wore this dress for the morning tea ceremony and also when we walked around to each table to thank our guests during the reception.

The third dress is the party dress. This is the dress you change into so you can party and dance until the end of the night. I wanted something fun and I was so happy when I found this dress. I love the fuschia color and all the beading details. 

It's hard for me to pick a favorite out of the three. I love them all! They each had a special meaning to me. Which one is your favorite? :)

All You Need is Love

Here are some of the amazing photos Ned took for us. I've gushed about Ned before and I'm so thankful that he was there to capture our wedding. He loves what he does. He always captures the true emotions of the day. I don't even know how he managed to get so many great moments because they happened so quickly. He's like a ninja! Above all, Ned is a wonderful person. He makes us feel comfortable and at ease. We can relax and be ourselves. He really took care of us and our wedding photos and we will always be extremely grateful for that. The photographer is a big part of the wedding day and I'm so happy that ours was Ned. (I highly recommend him if you are looking for a photographer!) I hope you enjoy these photos!

Although it rained for most of the day, there was just something so sweet about it. The sound of the rain was very soothing as I was getting ready in the morning. The weather became cooler and more comfortable. At the ceremony, I felt like we were in our own little world with the people we love; protected from the rain in an intimate church. The rain also kept the usual tourist crowds away as we were walking around the city to take pictures. I was told by many relatives that rain on your wedding day means good luck and I would have to agree. I couldn't have asked for a better celebration of our love. We had so much fun. We are very fortunate to have such great family and friends in our lives ♥

The rain gave us the perfect opportunity to use my fun MoMA umbrellas :)

We took pictures at the Public Garden, one of my favorite places in Boston. The heavy rain stopped while we were out there (how lucky is that?). We were able to get fun pictures with our umbrellas when it did drizzle for a little bit. I really love the pictures we have with the umbrellas. They are so cute! :)

How did my sister manage to jump so high in those heels? lol

I'm so happy that Ned took this photo! We saw a mother duck with eight of her ducklings in the garden...just like the statues of Make Way for Ducklings! That was a perfect Boston wedding moment for me :)

One of the many great photos Ned took of us walking around the city.

Entering the reception

Our first dance as husband and wife :)

Listening to the speeches and shedding a tear or two :*)

Getting Ready

I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful talented sister.  Btw, how cool are her nails and jewelry? 

I'm so excited to start sharing photos of our wedding. I'll start off with these two photos of us getting ready. I love the quiet moments that were captured here. It is exactly how I remembered that morning. It was raining outside and everything was calm and peaceful. I can feel the love and happiness all around me and couldn't have felt any happier :)

My handsome husband :)