I’m so excited to finally share details of our wedding — nearly six months later! Our day was filled with so much love and happiness, and I’m forever grateful I had the opportunity (and the means) to have my dream wedding and to share the day with our near and dear.

David and I decided to get married on June 18, our 11th anniversary. The day was, quite literally, a labor of love. I actually enjoyed the planning process, and seeing everything come to fruition — a year and half of planning and a lifetime of imagining later — was beyond my wildest dreams. Ahead, a glimpse into our special day.

The Morning

David and I decided to spend a quiet morning together at our hotel before parting to get ready separately with our people. Our morning coffee (and matcha) time is our most treasured daily ritual, so it never even crossed our minds to not wake up and have coffee together. We got to enjoy each other’s company at our hotel, The Alila, and some much-needed fuel before the craziness began.

Getting Ready

I knew this was going to one day be my wedding dress when I first laid eyes on it years ago on Instagram. I’ve always wanted a modern, asymmetrical, minimal dress, and this one checks all the boxes, while still bringing the drama with the cross-back design and long train. To finish the look, I searched high and low for the perfect pearl drop earrings and asymmetrical slingback heels. My diamond tennis bracelet is a family heirloom from my grandmother that my mom surprised me with the day before at our traditional tea ceremony.

I opted not to have traditional bridesmaids (they didn’t walk down the aisle or stand at the altar with me), but I still wanted to spend the morning getting ready with them. My mom, sister, two cousins, best friend, and I all got ready at the venue, while David and his best man stayed back at the hotel and enjoyed burgers by the fire pit before getting their hair done by his barber.

My goal for my girls was to have them look like really well-dressed guests. All I requested was for them to dress within a certain color palette, but everything else (style, material, pattern, length) was up to them to wear as they please. In an ironic twist, they ALL chose the same color (sage), material (satin/silk), and length for their dresses, so ended up looking much more like traditional bridesmaids than I initially planned. If you want your bridesmaids to look cohesive but not matchy-matchy, learn from my mistake and assign each of your girls a color rather than leaving it up to them to decide.

Pre-Ceremony

If you’re planning a wedding and are undecided about whether or not to do a first look, my advice would be to 100% do it. Not only does it clear up a lot of time in your day-of timeline (allowing you to actually enjoy your own cocktail hour), but it also is such a special moment between you and your partner. If you’re an anxious bride, I think it’s even more valuable; I was feeling pretty stressed out leading up to this moment (ironically, the only time during the entire wedding planning process I was stressed out), but as soon as David and I were reunited, it was like I could breathe again.

I initially was against having a first look since I wanted David’s first glimpse of me to be when I was walking down the aisle toward him, but I realized there was an easy fix: to have our first look literally be at the altar, with him turning around as I’m walking down. Alas, our florist was still getting our altar ready by the time we were supposed to meet, so we pivoted, and just had our first look in the aisle leading up to the altar instead. I was so excited to finally show him my dress — I had been talking about it for what felt like years at this point (which actually might be true, considering I first saw this dress in 2020), so I was happy he could finally understand everything I was talking about.

Speaking of our florist, Kim from Phlox Tale Studio went above and beyond everything we dreamed up for the day. I mentioned this on Instagram, but our vision was perfectly aligned from the start. All I specified was that I wanted organic shapes and modern, asymmetrical arrangements with a focus on cascading white orchids, white anthuriums, and green amaranthus. For the altar, I couldn’t decide between having an asymmetrical arch or a nest (a cluster of florals close to the ground in the shape of a semi-circle), so in the end we decided on neither, and instead went with this organic structure with larger groupings of textured greenery and creamy florals. She also had the genius idea to add the rock slabs along the aisle to create texture and add an earthy element – I had never seen something like that done in wedding design before!

Ceremony

Even after our first look, David and I both agree that the ceremony was our favorite part of the day — him watching me walk down the aisle, me watching him watching me, and reading our vows to one another. We were so grateful to have my uncle officiate and lend an even more personal touch to the ceremony — it was the perfect blend of sentimental and funny.

I chose to walk down the first half of the aisle by myself for ~dramatic effect~ and then both my parents joined me for the second half. It totally paid off when David teared up!

One of our favorite details from the wedding was the welcome table — we spent a lot of time figuring out how to make it feel more personal and less expected. Rather than framing the recent photos from our two engagement shoots (see here and here), which were already featured in the guest book, we decided to frame childhood photos as well as photobooth strips of us through our 11 years to show our guests an intimate look into the progression of our relationship.

The Reception

We had so many guests ask us if the jasmine bushes surrounding the garden grove we held the reception in was brought in from the florist — we lucked out that they were in full bloom at the venue during our wedding!

I had always envisioned going strictly black and white for the tabletop palette, but when it came down to making a decision, it felt too stark for the place my personal style has evolved to in recent years. You all know I’m going through a huge olive phase (still am), so I felt that the addition of a few well-placed neutral hues would add warmth and dimension.

Nobu is probably my favorite restaurant of all time, and I was ecstatic when the chef at our venue, Tre Posti, said that we could do a miso-glazed cod as one of our entrée options.

My main goal for the entire wedding was to have our reception feel like a really indulgent, luxurious restaurant dinner with good food, good conversation, good music, good service, and good fashion — basically re-creating all the excitement I feel whenever I eat at Nobu lol. You know those long dinners you plan with friends as an excuse to wear a pretty new outfit, and then have so much fun you close down the restaurant? That’s what I wanted our meal to feel like, and from what our guests have said, I think we achieved that vibe!

The Second Dress

After I purchased my wedding dress, I was pretty intent on wearing it the whole night through. So imagine my surprise when I find this Galvan dress for a steal on The Real Real — and then discover it fits like a glove!? I couldn’t not wear it! I kept the theme going and finished the look with other secondhand finds, including the Cult Gaia bag and vintage Vera Wang heels. Carolina Santo Domingo kindly gifted me the pearl choker, which tied it all together. If my first dress is architectural and dramatic, this one is sleek and simple — two sides of the same coin that make up my modern, minimal style. I’m glad I got to express all the facets of my style through these two dresses!

The Details

You all know I’m a big details person, so thinking through all the small touches was definitely my favorite part of the planning process. I was incredibly picky about wverything from the stationery to the florals to the matchbooks — even all the way down to the tiniest details that probably only I noticed or cared about, like the vessels for the parasols and matchbooks and the holder for the table number signs.

We had a lot of fun thinking about our signature cocktails. One of our favorite ramen spots, Momosan, has something called a Mango Matchasu — funnily enough, I tried it for the very first time during the trip to Hawaii when we got engaged, and immediately knew it would become my signature drink for the wedding. The restaurant was kind enough to list out all the ingredients for us, and from there, David spent months perfecting the proportions to get it just right. We then passed on the recipe to our venue to execute on the wedding day. I have the recipe listed on my Wedding highlight if you’re interested! So many guests requested the recipe after the wedding — it was a big hit.

To keep the matcha theme going, we opted for a light brown sugar cake from Butter& with matcha buttercream and strawberry compote.

The Newlyweds

Just some portraits of us that I love! Our photographer, Nicole Donnelly, was so incredible. David and I both agree that a photographer is probably the most important vendor and investment to make when it comes to a wedding.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you! I hope reading about our special day has brought you joy, inspiration, or maybe a little bit of both. We couldn’t have done it without our incredible vendors, who are all listed below. If you have any questions that I didn’t answer here, please reach out!