07.11.09 Hye & Gerardo's Wedding recap

Hye & Gerardo got married on July 11th at the Catholic church where Gerardo grew up, and had their reception at a country club with 80 of their guests.

When I was planning this wedding for Hye & Gerardo, their main objectives were: 1.) finding a reception location close to the church, 2.) a fun reception where everyone can dance and enjoy themselves, 3.) must be on a Saturday evening and the date cannot change, since they've already changed the date several times and finally decided on the lucky numbers 7 & 11. Besides, they've already announced the date to everyone before  finding the reception location, and booked the priest at the church as he had a super busy schedule.

And how did their big day go? Wonderful. The bride & groom had their super star treatment as they were chauffeured around in a limo. They also enjoyed their cocktail drinks and danced the night away with their guests. Here are some pictures to give you some ideas of their wedding:

The Church

Mother of the Bride in traditional Korean dress, escorted by brother of the Bride.

Lighting the unity candle and got married by a priest.

Reception Ballroom overlooking the golf course in the canyon

The sweetheart table

Dinner table set-up

Party favor - heart shaped key/ bottle opener

The Cake

Guest sign-in and gift receiving table

The bride & the groom

Bridal bouquet - deep red/ black rose

Bride's brother with his son, having a good time on the dance floor.

The Lounge area

The happy bride & I, at the end of the night.

Congratulations, Hye & Gerardo! Thank you for choosing me to help you with your big day!

Centerpiece Makeover

Although I help brides plan or coordinate their weddings, I don't usually help them "create" centerpieces. I'd set the centerpieces up for them, if any assemble is required, and I may offer ideas, but I usually leave this part to the brides for them to be creative.

Floral centerpieces are common, and on average costs $50 each, so if you have 10 tables, that means $500 just for the centerpieces. This is when I'd offer some ideas for brides to create their own to save money.

Candles are popular and a romantic yet affordable option. Hye asked me about this, so I suggested buying some pillar candles in trio and put them on a mirror. Simple enough. Well, maybe a little too simple.

This is what the centerpiece looked like when I put them together for Hye, after unpacking the boxes:

I picked up from Hye the candles and the mirrors the week of the wedding. It's too late to re-order anything through mail, and I can't leave the centerpieces looking like this for Hye's wedding. So I asked Mary, my partner, to help me in coming up with ideas to dress it up.

We did some shopping the day before the wedding, and re-created the centerpieces with the original materials but added just a little more to make them nicer:

This was the sweetheart table for Hye & Gerardo. The wooden creatures are Korean doves. This was the only table with a pair of doves. The rest of them just have the three pillar candles on a tray on top of a mirror with some gold color pebbles.

Very inexpensive makeover - only $3 more per centerpiece!

Location, Location, Location

One of the most important things about planning a wedding is the location. Once you've found an ideal location, half of the planning is done.

But how does one choose a location? It all depends on what your preferences are. For example, are you envisioning an outdoor or indoor wedding? Or maybe the ceremony outdoors but the reception indoors? Do you want a place with a view? If so, is it city lights/ skyline view, mountain view, or ocean view? Will it be a day time or night time wedding? Which day of the week? Of course, the space you choose needs to match the number of guests you have. Just like buying a house, you should also consider locations within your budget so you don't break the bank.

Once you've narrowed down what you want, then the search for that ideal location is easier. It's much harder to do the search when the bride doesn't know what she wants.

So for Hye's wedding, the location search was pretty easy, because she was getting married at her now husband Gerardo's church.

Ceremony location, done.

The reception location obviously should be close to where the ceremony was going to be held, so it's easier for the guests to travel from one location to another.

Here are the three locations for reception that I took Hye to see:

Facility # 1 - about 5 miles from the church

• Pros: most affordable reception with an inclusive package except for service charges; mountain view
• Cons: Only the club house was available. The layout of the room was a little odd. The room was also undergoing some remodeling, and it's hard to picture the space before the remodeling is done.

Facility # 2 - about 7 miles from the church

• Pros: room has large bay windows that goes from floor to ceiling with an amazing view. Package is almost all inclusive, except for alcohol. Complimentary one-night hotel stay.
• Cons: located in the residential area, valet parking is required. Many events at the facility that day, can't set up before 5pm.

Facility # 3 - about 8 miles from the church

• Pros: Beautiful historic grounds. Very grand. Lots of potential for creativity.
• Cons: Too expensive. Cost of site rental alone without food is $5,000! The location is so big that it's confusing where to park and where the event is taking place.

So which location did the bride & the groom pick?

The answer is...

Facility # 2. More pictures of the reception site to follow.