From the Bride…We wanted a wedding that truly “us” – a thoughtful, traditional ceremony followed by an absolutely rockin’ party on the beach. We chose to hold the festivities on Balboa Island, a location that held a lot of memories for our families and us – with the ceremony taking place at St. John Vianney Chapel on Balboa Island and the reception at the fabulous Balboa Bay Club. Decked out with romantic florals from FlowerWild and lit up by cafe lights and lanterns, the BBC’s lawn provided the perfect backdrop of the bay, boats and even some visiting dolphins for the “beach elegant” reception. Having worked at ShoeDazzle, the stylists at the company designed custom ivory wedges for me and blush ones for all of my ladies to complement their dresses. Later in the night, I switched to flip flops while the groom sported sharp black Sperry boat shoes. Having known me for her entire life, Stephanie from Park Place Planning worked with us all the way from Minnesota to plan our dream wedding on the beaches of California. Together, we created a day full of thoughtful, personal touches. We provided pashminas and flip flops to keep guests comfortable. The cocktail tables showed off framed photos of us and our families enjoying Balboa Island through the years and guests relaxed at the beach lounge areas that were made cozy with custom pillows and accessed by a lantern-lit boardwalk. At the bar, guests enjoyed “his and hers” signature cocktails – the “Olive You” Martini, and a “Old Fashioned” Gentleman. For dinner, guests dined on delicious filets provided by my family who own Brandt Beef and finished with a slice from the impressive four-tier flower-adorned traditional wedding cake. To take with home, each guests received homemade toffee made by the mother-in-law of my sister, Anneke. After toasts, we danced the night away with our guests under the stars…

Photography: Amy & Stuart Photography | Planning: Park Place Planning | Florals: FlowerWild | Rentals: Town & Country | Ceremony: St. John Vianney Chapel | Reception & Catering: Balboa Bay Club | Cake: Sweet Art | Ceremony Music: Angelica Strings | Reception Band: DeBois Entertainment | Stationery: Carmody & Co. | Lighting: Classic Rentals + SWANK | Transportation: United Limousine and Charter | Bride + Bridesmaids’ Shoes: Custom made by ShoeDazzle

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From the Bride…After Nev and I got engaged in November 2012, I didn’t jump on the wedding planning mode immediately like most brides-to-be. Though we knew we wanted to get married the following year, we didn’t have any planned dates yet; we just wanted to enjoy the engagement bliss. But months went by so fast, and the next thing we know, we’ve been engaged for 8 months and had 6 months left before the year ends. So we finally decided to get married under the cool breeze of December and that’s the only time planning started.
 
We wanted to have a relaxed and cozy wedding with a handful of people we dearly love. This was the focal point of our whole planning, so everything we did was centered on making our guests feel our love and gratitude to them. We chose a small Catholic church for our ceremony, and found a big house with a bare garden and a great view of the famous and scenic Taal Volcano. The bare garden was perfect for all the DIY styling I had in mind; and the natural breeze, the hilly surround, and the laid-back and dainty feel of the place was the right fit for our countryside theme.

With the help of friends and family, we planned our wedding and gathered everything we needed. Weekends and lazy weekday afternoons were spent doing DIY décor, from the makeshift chandeliers to the wooden panels to the hanging lights to the pompoms; and even the invite, which I worked on w/ Nev’s brother, who also luckily happens to be a freelance graphic artist! Some weekends, Nev and I will go to flea markets and buy small decorative items, while our families went on a mission to collect recycled bottles and jars, as well as create hundreds of paper flowers. She also took me to her grandma’s place, which was just filled w/ amazing furniture perfect for our theme, and she happily let us borrow them. We also talked about our ideas to our suppliers, and even had a DIY dry run of the reception setup at home for our caterer to see! I would buy flowers, arrange them, take photos and send them to our caterer, who did a great job in translating our vision into reality. We, together w/ a couple of our siblings, were at our reception venue three days before our wedding to make sure my vision becomes a reality, and up to the night before the wedding, we were setting up and making sure the place looked pretty.   

We had a very short program, something atypical in a Filipino wedding. After a couple of speeches the first dance, we spent the rest of the time just chatting with guests and letting everybody have a good time. The setup of the venue definitely helped put everybody at ease. We placed cocktail tables on one area, a bench on another, and tables under a tent under the night sky. We think it’s safe to assume our guests really had a great time. When we left the venue, our guests stayed to enjoy the breeze, the hand-picked bottles of wines, and the company. In fact, when we went back to the venue the next day, our friends and family were still there cooking breakfast!

We love our wedding to bits! All of the details we incorporated enhanced the overall feel and mood of the occasion. Now I have a bunch of mason jars and photo frames at home, and the beautiful photos by Foreveryday Photography, which all remind me of the day when I married the man of my dreams.

Photography: Foreveryday Photography | Floral Design: Yohan’s Flower Shop  | Event Design: DIY | Event Planning: Once a Bride Weddings | Ceremony Location: Chapel on a Hill | Reception Location: Tagaytay Estate | Invitations: Jonathan Manaois (design), Amis Print (printing) | Catering: K by Cunanan | Entertainment: Serenata Strings | Ceremony Dress: Percy Barillo | Reception Dress: Tammy Tan | Shoes: Pedro | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Tammy Tan | Groom’s Suit: JC Ulanday | Makeup: Mickey See | Hair Stylist: John Valle

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From the Bride… Ryan and I live in Chicago, but from the minute we got engaged knew we wanted to have a small, intimate destination wedding with our closest friends and family. Of everywhere we looked – the Palm Springs vibe seemed the most like us – laid back, fun and a place we thought all our friends and family would enjoy a warm weather trip to. I work at a hotel (The James in Chicago – a SMP Little Black Book vendor, so was very particular when it came to choosing the venue. The Parker was exactly what we were looking for – unique design, great service, great food and an all in one destination. Pulling up to the huge orange doors when we first arrived was a definite highlight of the week and I just can’t say enough nice things about the staff there.

Since we were planning from afar, we selected vendors whose overall aesthetic and philosophy fit into what we were envisioning for the day – a funky but elegant (think Dorothy Draper meets Martha Stewart) event that was above all fun for those in attendance. Joey from Artisan and April from The Bride and I were amazing to work with. I had an idea of what I wanted each component of the wedding to look/feel like and they were instrumental in really bringing it to life. Gennia from Docuvitae Photography (who was also in the midst of planning her wedding at The Parker!) shot the day perfectly – very documentary-style and capturing the real moments as they occurred which was very important to us.

Dress shopping was one of my favorite parts of the planning process – though I was very singular in knowing that I didn’t want a white dress upfront, just as I didn’t want a diamond engagement ring when we got engaged. (Mine is a sapphire.) So that narrowed down the options quite a bit. My style leans towards a little bit more eclectic and I was worried I would regret not getting something more traditional. But, I think looking back, the nontraditional color and big, sparkly vintage earrings will always feel more like me than a white ballgown ever would. In keeping with the nontraditional – Ryan and I decided we didn’t want to require anyone in our bridal parties to wear the same thing. We just wanted everyone to look and feel like themselves that day – and to be there with us to celebrate.

No bride ever wants to be upstaged – but I’m pretty sure Ryan upstaged me on our wedding day. His very stylish friend helped him pick out his suit at a store in Chicago called Suit Supply. And his friend also has a great tie company called Artfully Disheveled – which is where he got the awesome bow tie The Spark – with little spark plugs all over it. I highly recommend it for a unique take on classic wedding wear.

My favorite part of the day was when Ryan’s sister read The Lovely Other Dinosaur during our ceremony. Nothing about any of the traditional wedding readings resonated with us as we were planning. The Lovely Other Dinosaur is an illustrated book about two dinosaurs that was one of the first presents I got for Ryan when we first started dating. (My mom actually found it and pointed it out to me since she said it seemed like us.) When Ryan proposed to me, he wrote his own version of the book that told our story of how we met and got engaged. Everyone always said to me that you have to take all the traditional wedding elements and examine each one as you’re planning to see if it feels like “you.” This was an interpretation of a traditional wedding element that I’m really glad we did in our own way instead of just discarding.

Wedding Photography: Docuvitae Photography | Floral Design + Decor: Artisan Event Floral Decor | Wedding Planning: The Bride and I | Ceremony + Reception Location: The Parker Palm Springs | Invitations + Paper Goods: Baumbirdy | Calligraphy: Feast Fine Arts & Calligraphy | Linens: La Tavola | Wedding Dress: Vera Wang | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Bride’s Jewelry: House of Lavande | Groom’s Suit: Suit Supply | Groom’s Bow Tie: Artfully Disheveled | Hair and Make-Up: Fiore Beauty | Officiant: Mike Coppersmith

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From the Bride… We worked together about 20 years ago. We knew “of” each other, but that was it. Then we worked together again at a very small company. Neither one remembered the other, and it took someone else who worked with both of us years ago to reintroduce us. A while after I left the small company we started dating, and have been together ever since!

We talked about getting married for a while. We even had a pre-announcement party, where we told our friend we were getting married… sometime… but didn’t have any more plans. Charles had been shopping for rings, asking me vague questions once in a while. Once morning I was getting ready for work, and he came into the room, all dressed up. He knelt down on one knee, asked me to marry him and presented the most beautiful ring ever! Of course I said yes! We had to go to work right after that – I don’t think I got anything done at work that day except to show off my ring.

Our fondest moment was when we walked into the pavilion, and saw the design for the first time. It was amazing! Six months of millions of decisions all came together. Everything was perfect – the orange and purple colors, the loop design was subtle but there enough that people were able to link the invitation design to the wedding design. It was beautiful!

We could never have done this without Janece and Lori at Every Elegant Detail. They have excellent taste in design, and every time we threw crazy ideas at them, they made it work – like encouraging us to give legos as guest gifts when we were on the fence, and it was a hit! They always made us feel like we were the only clients they had, and were always available. Huge thanks to Janece’s “gut” feelings!

We couldn’t have been happier with our wedding vendors… Amy at Amy Burke Designs did a fabulous job on the flowers. We especially loved the hanging centerpieces over the main table. This was something I had never seen before, and I am so happy we did it. All the flowers were so beautiful – the calla lilies and orchids swept to the sides at the front of the ceremony were gorgeous. Componere Catering was just fantastic. The appetizers were perfect, dinner was amazing and the nitro ice cream station was an enormous hit! Beth Ann at Studio Cakes designed the perfect cake for us. It was beautiful! We challenged her to add something a little unexpected, and we were not disappointed! At first, we weren’t going to have a wedding film, and then right before the wedding date, my sister hired Aaron Kelly. The film from AK Studios is amazing – I’m so glad we did it or I would not have seen the first part of the ceremony when my flower girl ran away! Aaron did a great job editing and we absolutely love our video! Caroline Tran captured every moment – from our nerves at the beginning of the day, to the emotions of the ceremony and the fun at the reception! We LOVE how our pictures came out.

Advice to future brides? Use a wedding planner! Even if you think you can do it yourself, a planner can add so much more than you can ever think of. All of the planning you do leading up to the wedding will be so worth it!

Wedding Photography: Caroline Tran | Wedding Venue: Thomas Fogarty Winery  | Officiant: Maggie Beretz  | Wedding Planning: Every Elegant Detail  | Floral Design: Amy Burke Designs  | Catering: Componere Fine Catering | Wedding Cake: Studio Cake | Invitations: Hello!Lucky | Linens: La Tavola  | Rentals (Tables,Chairs, Lounge Furniture): Hartmann Studios | Draping: Classic Party Rentals | Candy Bar: Candy Warehouse | Ceremony Music: Krista Strader | Ukulele Player: Tennyson Lum  | DJ: Big Fun DJ  | Guest Shuttles: Destination Systems | Limos: Lone Star Transportation  | Photo Booth: Glass Coat Photobooth  | Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Groom’s Suit: Nordstrom Men’s Custom Tuxedo |

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From the Bride…Joe and I have very demanding careers and we lead very hectic lives in New York City. For our wedding we wanted the complete opposite–an intimate serene wedding surrounded by nature–enter Annadel Estate Winery in Sonoma Valley, California. The lovely private winery features a beautiful historic barn and the old stone wall ruins of the original winery that stood there from the 1800s. The “little farm” as the owner affectionately calls it is also a flower farm. The choice was a no-brainer.

My color palette was frankly inspired by my beautiful cousin and maid of honor. She’s a natural red head and looks particularly beautiful in green. Once I decided that was the color of her gown everything else fell into place….beautiful white roses from Annadel, cafe au lait dahlias, green succulents and yellow teddy bear sunflowers.

My dad passed away in 2005 and it was very important that I honor him in little ways without making my mom too sad. I had his favorite tie made into “ring pouches” that my 18 month old nephew “carried” (at least figuratively), I placed my dad’s picture in a locket in my bouquet and up on the barrel alter, and all of my ceremony music was by the Beatles–his favorite group of all time.

The wedding day itself was gorgeous–70 degrees in early October–with the sun shining, the smell of roses,  and  grapes bursting on the vines. Surrounded by 20 of our closest family and friends– who had traveled from as far as Spain to attend-we exchanged vows and the only “honking” we heard was from a flock of geese that flew over the ruins during the ceremony. The cocktail hour was in the oak grove next to the ruins. The sunlight through the branches, the breeze, my groom’s hand in mine…swoon. My guests are still raving about the wonderful Annadel wine and the local cheese…so much so that I literally ordered it for several guests as Christmas presents!

We had the most amazing vendors who I wish could follow us through life decorating, planning, cooking, lighting and photographing everything. As one of my friends put it “the whole day was enchanting.” I think my daddy was smiling down on us that day.

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Now don’t get too excited. These taste a little more like light, fluffy muffins than donuts. But the donut shape sort of tricks the brain into thinking you’re getting something totally sinful, totally delicious. And paired with the fact that they come together in no time flat, you just might say good riddance to the fried alternative.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or can use whole milk)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the topping:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and grease your donut pan.

2. So I didn’t have any vanilla beans on hand so I just skipped that step. I bet they would be even better with it. But when the urge to make donuts strikes, well, you just have to dive right in. Mix the dry ingredients together. I’m not a sifter. I’m too inpatient for that. And they turned out just fine without all that sifting so I feel okay about that decision.

3. In another bowl mix your wet ingredients.

4. Add them to dry stirring just enough to blend. Overmixing will mess with the texture and they won’t be all light and fluffy and addicting.

5. Now I’m quite certain that a pastry bag would have made this easier but who has pastry bags on hand? Not this girl. So I very sloppily dumped the batter into a plastic bag, snipped the edge and filled my donut mold. I wish I would have been skimpier with the batter because a few of mine overflowed. Still tasted amazing but didn’t have that cute donut shape. So don’t fill your donut molds up too high. Half way is good.

6. Bake for about 17 ish minutes then remove from the oven and let them cool.

For the topping:
1. In one bowl, melt your butter.

2. In another, add your cinnamon and sugar.

3. Dip each donut first in the butter, then in the sugar.

4. Then at the end – because um, why not!? – dump the rest of the sugar topping on. Or at least some of it so they are good and sugared up.

5. Now eat. And pray that you don’t devour the entire plate.

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