The One

The One event which inspired me to pursue event planning full time is none other than my own wedding, which took place on April 7, 2007. After dreaming of the perfect wedding since I was a little girl (yes, I was that girl who used to make fake wedding invitations with my best friend…), it was an absolute joy to finally plan the big day… and of course even better to marry the man of my dreams!

We wanted to have a wedding filled with personal touches that allowed our guests to see glimpses of our personality… something stylishly elegant yet romantic and playful… celebrating both our cultures (I’m Chinese and Brian is Korean)… and lots of GOOD food and dancing! We know that our goal was achieved since our friends still rave about our wedding as one of the “most fun” weddings they’ve ever attended! Here’s a peak at some event details:

The Ceremony
The ceremony took place at Arcola Korean United Methodist Church in Paramus, NJ and the reception was held at The Estate at Florentine Gardens in River Vale, NJ. This was incredibly special to us since Brian’s father, a Reverend in the UMC Church, married us.

Chinese Tea Ceremony & Korean Pae’Baek Ceremony
Both Chinese and Korean weddings have unique cultural ceremonies, and we wanted to incorporate both into our wedding as a means of paying respect to our families. While our guests indulged themselves in our 10-station cocktail hour, our family and wedding party joined us for the Chinese tea ceremony and the Korean pae’baek ceremony. I will elaborate more on these ethnic ceremonies in future posts!

The Reception
The feel and flow of the reception was really important to us because we wanted our guests to be fully engaged at all times. We followed the excellent rule of thumb that something new should happen every 30 minutes or so (i.e. introducing the wedding party, serving new courses, tossing the bouquet, cutting the cake, etc.)… and it worked like a charm! Since Brian is a huge music junkie, he hand selected every song that was played that night… and the DJ did an amazing job of working with the emcee to make sure that guests were up on their feet for most of the night. Some people ask what my favorite part of the day was, and after being on a strict timeline all day, I was just so thankful to have a few moments alone with my new husband.

Wrapping it all up…
One of the reasons I was sold on Florentine Garden’s in house videography team is because of their “wedding wrap up” video. A growing trend in the wedding industry, our videographers edited and compiled a 5-minute video wrapping up our entire day to show to guests at the conclusion of the reception… from wedding ceremony to the cultural ceremonies to the reception (and you might even catch a glimpse of the bride and groom tearing up the dance floor)! Without further ado, here is ours:

And that’s a wrap! Thank you so much for reading! Through this blog, I hope to share

• Photos and stories from other events I’ve planned
• Insider tips about event planning
• Design and style inspirations
• … and much more!

I hope that you’ll subscribe and stay connected to Elisabeth Events!

(All images by Milton Gil Photography)