California Dream Wedding

I am so excited to share with you one of my favorite weddings. 

Jenny was actually the very first bride to purchase one of my wedding quilts. 

It was a complete joy to get to make it for her and it means so much 

to get to see it at her gorgeous wedding. 

I have asked Jenny to share some of her story and the details 

of her California wedding with us and here she is...

 Darren and I met ten years ago while playing volleyball which is no surprise for anyone who knows us. Here's how the story goes: I found this random guy on Craigslist (not Darren) who was looking for volleyball friends, so being the young, naive dummy that I was, I met up with this stranger at KFC in San Francisco, jumped in his car, and off we went to explore all the open gyms in the peninsula. 

How dumb was I to meet up with a random stranger and get in his car? If it weren't for my blind faith in the kindness of strangers and the fact that that craigslist guy was genuinely nice and just looking for friends with common interests, I never would have met Darren, and we wouldn't be where we are today. The rest is history! :)

Our wedding was April 6th, 2013
The ceremony was at Allied Arts Guild (Menlo Park, CA)
and the reception was at MacArthur Park Restaurant (Palo Alto, CA)

Everything was perfect!! Our wedding was very DIY; we designed and made (almost) everything ourselves and had day-of wedding coordinators to carry out our vision on the day of the wedding. I'm pretty sure that I found the best vendors ever, but the person who helped the most is my sister, who conveniently is a graphic designer. 

She was amazing and helped me carry out so many little details 

that made our wedding special: 

our invitations, table numbers, menus, signage, 

and even little things like striped paper straws with festive flags.

I've always loved quilts and have always wanted to learn how to make one. 

I really wanted our guest book to be unique and fell in love with pictures of quilt 

"guestbooks" on pinterest. And thus began the search for the perfect quilt! 

I instantly fell in love with Sarah's quilts because of the cute quotes and graphics 

in the fabrics that she uses. I also loved how the quilt had specialized spaces 

for our guests to write their messages, 

and the heart-shaped stitching was an added plus!

Admittedly, the quilt cost much more than buying a regular guestbook, 

but this quilt means so much more and was completely worth it!

The dress was my mom's, and there's a whole story behind how I decided to wear it. When Darren and I got engaged, I instantly became obsessed with wedding shows like Say Yes to the Dress. I decided to check out TLC's website and discovered a new show called Something Borrowed Something New. I applied and actually got picked for the show!! I still can't believe that we were on TV. The basic premise of the show is that the producers take your mom's dress and a designer remakes it into your dream dress (i.e., your "something borrowed). But that's not all! To add a twist to the show, they also have an expert stylist take you shopping for the perfect "something new", and at the end of the show, you have to pick which dress you like better.

In my case, my mom's dress was sentimental winner all along but was never exactly what I pictured myself wearing on my wedding day. My mom and dad got married while they were in graduate school in the US. Their parents were still in China and couldn't get visas to come for the wedding, so my mom's mom designed my mom's wedding dress with the help of mom's friends and had the dress made in China. Then they shipped it out to the US for the wedding. How could I not love this dress?!

So the designer on the show improved the dress so much and updated it (got rid of the "priest collar" as they called it on the show, i.e., high neckline, and the lacy sleeves). However, after I brought the dress home, I still felt kind of frumpy in it, so I took it to a dress guru in Alameda, CA who beautifully transformed the dress for our big day. 

Flowers? Julie Martin (williwildflower.com/)
Photographer? Jamie Grenough (LOVED HER!jamiegrenoughphotography.com/)
Décor/graphic designer: Lucinda Yang (lyangdesign@yahoo.com)
Dress alterations: Janene's Bridal Boutique (www.janenesbridalboutique.com/)
Wedding planners: Irene Amido and Carol Chen of Petite Pomme Designs, petitepommedesign.com)
Bakery: Sweet Tooth Confections, Rachael Myers (sweettoothconfections.net)