Emma and Keng’s Summer Lovin’ Backyard Wedding

Since I’m on a roll with finally getting to blogging weddings, it made me wonder…is blogging still a thing? What is the new thing? Tumblr? Gosh, don’t even get me started…I still can’t figure that one out. Despite being a millennial, I feel that social media/technology-wise I’m a little behind. But if you are here, reading this blog post about Emma and Keng’s wedding, welcome! This one is a good one so be sure to scroll to the end.

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Where do I even begin with this couple? To know them is to love them. They are seriously so much fun, both so tender hearted, generous with others, and they are excellent cat parents while being pickle-ball champs. I couldn’t be happier that they found each other.

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When Emma and I started planning and designing for her big day, we went through various color palette schemes and all were so amazing! That’s what happens when the bride is a creative herself. But ultimately, we landed on a fun poppy and cosmo filled, bright summery color palette. The Icelandic poppies were the main ingredient show stopper. The only hard part about this was that 1. poppies are fickle flowers. And you never know what color you are getting until that hairy alien skin falls off. 2. Emma and Keng got married in the middle of the pandemic which meant that many flower farms were struggling to produce to the level that they normally would so getting good healthy local poppies were hard to come by. BUT, thanks to my amazing flower grower friends and connections, I was able to get some really fun cute poppies by the bucket-full to make sure that this wedding was poppy heaven!

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I wish everyone in this world can get to know Keng. It’s not often that I get to know the groom before the bride! But I met Keng back in 2013 before Wallflower Inspiration was even a thing! He is seriously one of the kindest souls out there and you can just tell by this tender photo of him crying upon seeing his beautiful bride walk down the aisle to him.

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One of the highlights for me in this wedding was working with my friend and one of my favorite photographers Whit McGuire. She has taken a few family photos for me and I absolutely love her romantic, dreamland, sexy style. The energy that she brings is like non-other making everyone she captures feel so beautiful and seen. She is based in Texas but will travel! Please book us together cuz I just love working with her!

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Only took me a couple years to finally share this magnificent day…but HAPPY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY KENG + EMMA! You guys are the real deal! Love you both! You two are truly gems and watching you get married was nothing short of pure joy and blessings!

Venue: Private Estate

Photography: Whit McGuire

Florals: Moi! (Wallflower Inspiration Floral Designs, if you didn’t catch that)

Ashley + Andrew’s Modern Coastal Garden Wedding at BLDG 177, Liberty Station-Point Loma

After a 4 year hiatus on blogging (because who knew that I could be so busy entertaining my children in a global pandemic and when everything opened back up, I had no idea that life would move faster than ever before), I’m back to share one of my most favorite weddings in the last year.

Funny enough, it’s actually the couple’s 1 year wedding anniversary! It honestly feels like just last month I did their wedding but apparently the calendar says it’s been a whole year! So congrats to A+A!! Ashley and Andrew got married at one of my favorite wedding venues in Central San Diego next to the historical Navy buildings at Liberty Station in Point Loma. I love that BLDG 177 offers a blank slate. But with a blank slate often comes a struggle of endless options with what to do with the space. When Ashley shared her vision of wanting to incorporate San Diego’s coast with a lush garden to off set the hard masculine lines of this modern building, I was all in! My team and I sought out to create a romantic garden within the four walls of a modern style venue.

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We created a custom stand alone trellis to create our design on. We really wanted to highlight that iconic paired window at BLDG 177. I love the high white ceilings of this venue which really brightens and opens up the space completely thus allowing images photographed in this space to have that natural lighting. Indoor venues with minimal windows don’t allow as much natural lighting in which gives a dimmer feel. I love that the photographer Kara Reynolds captures her couples and the space in such natural light! Also side note: get yourself an amazing photographer like Kara because iphone photos just don’t cut it no matter what the apple commercials advertise.

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I will forever be so grateful to my brides like Ashley who gave me such creative freedom in bringing her vision to life. I feel that whenever you give a creative some free rein, something more magical happens.

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Truly such a beautiful day! The weather was lovely and I love how Ashley’s girls were so supportive and excited for her.

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I also have to give a lot of credit to Rachael from RBCo Events. She is hands down one of the sweetest coordinators and planners to work with. I love that she cares about her vendors as much as the clients because ultimately, we are all a team to make this day perfect for our couples. Rachael’s attentiveness to her clients and vendors can be felt and seen throughout the day when emotions are high for the couple and stress is visible for the vendors because we want to do our very best. I love that Rachael is a grounding calm in a whirl of moving parts that is a wedding.

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All the backdrops were built by the bride and her dad. It lit up in the back of the names so it was visible! So beautiful!! We also transported the ceremony pieces to the sweetheart table to create an immersive garden feel.

Congrats again Ashley and Andrew! Thanks for also being the stellar couple that you are and bringing me out of my blogging hiatus. Only took a million years but better late than never!

Photography: Kara Reynolds Photography

Venue: BLDG 177

Florals: Wallflower Inspiration Floral Designs (Hoping you knew this already)

Coordination: Rachael of RB Co Events

Emily + Troy’s Classic Timeless Wedding at the La Jolla Women’s Club

Happy New Year Friends! It’s finally 2021. The year that we thought wasn’t ever gonna get here. But here we are. A new year and still in the height of a pandemic. But I don’t know about you, but I feel so hopeful! I can’t wait to start flowering beautiful weddings for my incredible brides who have been so patient and gracious during this season of their lives.

I am so excited to be sharing Emily and Troy’s wedding in La Jolla from my archives. Everything about this wedding was classic and timeless! I have to first start by saying that the moment I met Emily and her mom, I wanted them to adopt me into their fun family! Also I’ve never been to Tennessee so I wanted them to take me back home with them. We chatted for almost 2 hours at our first design meeting mostly because I just had so much fun hanging out with them! When you have that much fun together, you know that it’s a meant to be and you just have to do their wedding because you’re practically family now, right? Needless to say, dreaming up and designing the details of Emily’s wedding was wonderful! So here is a peak into their perfect day!

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A note on Emily’s dress from The Dress Theory: From the fit to the style, it is one of my favorite classic wedding gowns. Emily has the most impeccable fashion taste and I just knew that whatever gown she picked would reflect this!

I loved working with Robyn from Ivory Stone Events Co who helped oversee all the incredible details of this day. We made sure that every area of the venue was well dressed and touched.

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Emily + Troy’s color palette is the classic whites/creams florals paired with more array of vibrant greens so that it was cohesive with the greens in the gardens that were already existing at the La Jolla Women’s Club. We wanted the florals to reflect a classic and timeless feel while making sure the structure of the arrangements were airy and light since they were getting married near the beach/water yet romantic since the vintage La Jolla Women’s club offers that intimate garden setting.

Can I just say that florals in fountains are just one of my favorites! You just have to be prepared to get a little wet during install…

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Robyn from Ivory Stone Events had this lovely idea of having champagne ready for the guest upon seating as they go into the reception with their seating assignment hanging on the flute. We added some satellite florals on the shelving.

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I love flowering the stairs for Troy and Emily’s grand entrance. It brought more elements of organic garden on those vintage carpeted steps.

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Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Gargiulos!!!

Photography: Bree and Stephen

Florals: Oh hey it me!

Coordination: Ivory Stone Events Co

Venue: La Jolla Women’s Club

Marquee Signs: My Marquee SD

Gown: The Dress Theory

Catering: Toast Catering SD

Rentals: More Rentals

Stationary: Sweet Paper Weddings

Vanessa + Tyler’s Modern Whimsical Wedding at BLDG 177

In honor of their 1 year wedding anniversary, I wanted to share V + T’s beautiful modern wedding! Where do I even begin with these two? Vanessa and I have known each other since she moved down to San Diego to help plant a church that my family and I attended. I’m so drawn to her ambitious go-getter focus driven personality, all the while serving people around her wholeheartedly and with a big ol smile. These two both share a heart to serve God and His people while having so much fun! I’m just so proud of Vanessa for also chasing her dreams and working so hard to becoming a nurse. She was studying for her nursing exams while planning her wedding!

So here we go…a peak into their perfect day!

What an honor to be a fellow vendor along side my dear friend Alyssa who was the brilliant photographer for this day! Alyssa captured this day so perfectly and her photography is just breathtaking. Alyssa’s ability to make a couple feel so comfortable and at ease is evident as she captures them at their natural best.

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When designing and planning for Vanessa and Tyler’s wedding, our mood board comprised of mostly neutral earth tones such as terra-cotta, rust, soft blushes and cream and touches of mauve and grey. We included textured images of velvet, silk and wet paint and concrete to show that we wanted the wedding vibe to feel modern and eclectic while transcending moments of whimsy and romance. I added some dried florals to add texture and spray painted some dried palms to give it that modern pop but pairing it all with romantic florals such as my all time favorite quicksand roses, brown mauve fancy carnations, caffe latte roses, dahlias, majolica spray roses and the ever show stopping and pricey toffee rose that was EVERYTHING to my floral vision board.

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I can’t thank Vanessa enough for giving me so much creative freedom with this window installation at BLDG 177. It’s amazing what will happen when a bride trusts her floral designer. Magic happens. One of my favorite things about working at BLDG 177 is that its a blank slate. The opportunities to create fun installations are endless and my creativity can go wild here. We knew that the big window was going to be a backdrop and wanted to create something that we can also repurpose for the sweetheart area which was at a different location. My vision was to create something wild and organic in a very clean and tame space. Almost to create an oxymoron in a space so to speak.

Of course behind every amazing floral designer, is her team and at this wedding, I was 35 weeks pregnant with my third child and having the support of my dear friend Leah (and fellow flower mama) from Bespoke Occasions Floral Designs meant the world to me. Grateful for my community of floral friends.

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I love how we repurposed the ceremony pieces for the sweetheart table. Thus, saving the couple a ton of money while still having such a lush sweetheart set up!

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The reception was clean and simple but not lacking of anything. Everything was timeless yet trendy!

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Thank you again Vanessa and Tyler for allowing me be a part of your epic day. You guys are amazing! I wish years and years of happiness friends!

Photography: Alyssa Brooke Photography

Coordination: Pink Bubbly Events

Cake: Peggy Liao Cakes

Venue: BLDG 177

Rings: Honey Jewelry Co

Gown: Dress Theory

Julie and Sang’s Soft Pastel Garden Wedding

Weddings are slowly resuming after several months of this long pandemic lockdown. We are living in such different times now. I’ve been pulling up some of my favorite weddings this past year and it feels like just the other day that I was part of this amazing day but it also feels like a lifetime ago. I truly cannot wait for things to go back to normal as I see my 2021 calendar filling up so quickly. Until then, I’m going to soak in these slower days with my children while they are little. Although I don’t love this whole distance learning for my elementary school kid, I’m also enjoying his company as my desk partner as I write up this blog post.

Julie and Sang’s wedding was featured many times on varies wedding blogs but I never got to share it on my personal blog. It’s truly one of my favorites! When Julie came to me with her vision and style, I was immediately onboard. Then she told me who her photographer was, Natalie Bray, there was no way I could say no. I’ve been wanting to work with Natalie for years now because I absolutely love the way she captures every detail. Her natural lighting style along with her film photography is something that I’ve admired and noticed for a while.

Between Julie’s impeccable style, my vision for wedding, and Natalie’s attention to detail…we were bound to create the most dreamy day for Julie and Sang!

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Her veil was handmade in honor of her mother. The detail and beauty is just stunning. Although I love details for the obvious reasons, every thought behind each piece in Julie’s wedding was thought out in honor of her parents who recently passed just prior to her special day. I remember first meeting her at a bakery/cafe in Del Mar and just hearing her story and sobbing with her. It’s not easy planning one of the most special days of your life without the people who made you (literally and figuratively) not there with you. But even though I have never met Julie’s parents, I know how proud of her they would be, because Julie is so beautiful inside and out and her kind and generous spirit is felt by everyone around her.

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The color palette for her wedding was inspired by soft pastel tones. We wanted the florals to reflect a romantic and whimsical feeling while showcasing the season that she married in, Spring.

When I found out that Natalie was gonna be the photographer that captured Julie and Sang’s wedding, I may have gone a tad bit crazy on the flower buying. I literally grabbed everything that was expensive and exquisite at the markets in season. The color palette for this wedding were soft mauves and dusty rose hues with blush. Because Julie and Sang got married in the spring, we were able to use these beautiful brown Japanese sweet peas, local spirea, mauve anemones, and one of my favorite roses the Caffe Latte and much much more spring goodness!

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The ceremony was out in the field of Ethereal Gardens in San Diego. I love how many options this venue offers and how beautiful their gardens are for the guests to walk around and enjoy!

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You could just tell how close Julie and her siblings are. Her brother walked her down the aisle and her sister also helped her plan a few special details for her wedding like this amazing cake below!

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Congrats again Julie and Sang! Thank you a million for trusting me to carry out your vision. It truly was such a beautiful and perfect day to celebrate your love!

Photography: Natalie Bray

Venue: Ethereal Gardens, Trademark Venue

Videography: Side by Side Cinema

Gown: BHLDN

Cake: Fab Cakes

Veil: Veiled Beauty

HMU: Catherine Nguyen

Invitations: Paperie Parlour

DJ: Vox DJs

Carley and Joe’s Lush Wedding at Flora

My last wedding before all of the world shut down was in Feb 2020, which was just weeks before California was in lockdown. I was lucky to also be a guest at this beautiful wedding and thinking back, it feels like a lifetime ago…

Carley and Joe got married on such a fun day of 2-22-20! Even I won’t forget their anniversary so Joe better not haha (also he got the date embroidered inside his jacket pocket so I don’t think he will). They chose an intimate and lush venue that is new in San Diego called Flora. I love how that inspired our color palette and style for the wedding. We chose to keep things simple and minimalistic with lots of whites and creams and greenery.

Often times I will suggest to my clients who have a big bridal party to go for posy size bouquets for their bridesmaids. It saves the bride money as well as making her own bridal bouquet look more grand.

Jenica + Kevin’s Secluded Garden Estate Wedding

My favorite part of working with florals are the varies color palettes that I get to explore.  Jenica + Kevin’s wedding was in the Fall and we used a lot of warm and moody tones to reflect the season. We kept with the gold and marsala burgundy hues, while mixing in with textural sage greens.  When I first met with Jenica, I was immediately drawn to her attention to detail. She has such a great artistic eye and I knew that we would be able to work so well together!

 

Half way into her wedding planning, she moved half way across the globe to Asia and so we were communicating and chatting remotely, but mostly through emails. But her vision for her wedding stayed consistent and clear.

 

Kaitlin + Ryan’s Old World Timeless Wedding

I’m pretty excited to share this wedding with you.  This sweet young couple is full of joy and love. Kaitlin might be one of the sweetest people out there and Ryan is a lucky man!

 

 

I love how classic Kaitlin went with her dress.  From the fit to the sleeves to the buttons and the timeless lace that embodies the gown.

Aria’s Safari First Birthday!

Guys! You all are gonna freak out over this first birthday party. It is so cute and chic and fun that I wish it was my party! This little girl for sure is so loved and surrounded by the sweetest and most supportive family!

Sweet little Aria turned ONE and she had the most epic first birthday party ever! She had a fun little safari jungle theme. The florals that I picked were touches of tropical with the sword ferns and proteas but I also wanted to keep it soft and feminine with garden roses.

It’s a short and sweet post but the details are all impeccable. Happy Birthday sweet little Aria!

 

XO

Esther

Photographer: Evelyn Molina
Website: http://www.evelynmolina.com/
Instagram: @evelynmolinaphoto

HMU (not pictured) for the mama: Cindy Tran

Website: www.noirbeaute.com

Instagram: @_noirbeaute

Cake/Desserts: Peggy Liao
Website: http://www.peggyskitchensd.com/
Instagram: @peggyliaocake

Name Sign: Happily Ever Etched
Wesbite: https://happilyeveretched.com/
Instagram: @happilyeveretched

Coordination: Eugenia Bhang
Instagram: @euggg

Venue: The Point
Website: https://www.gettothepoint.io/
Instagram: @get_to_thepoint

Sadie + Ty’s Garden wedding at the Thursday Club

I’m so happy to be sharing this sweet young couple’s love and special day! Seriously, going through their photos gives me the butterflies because you can just see the pure joy and love on their faces!

 

I absolutely love Sadie’s dress and that subtle train with the double open lace back is just so sweet.

 

Gahhh, look at Sadie’s face. She makes me want to get married again to my husband. That first time seeing your best friend at the alter and ready to pledge your life to him is moment that needs to be captured for forever.