Hi All,
It’s Labor Day weekend and I’m in Kansas City having a second wedding reception with Husband’s relatives and close friends. Apparently I’ve brought California weather with me – sunny, dry, and beautiful. (Ironic, since it’s been absolutely freezing cold in SF this summer).
I’m working on a writeup of a visit to Michael Recchiuti’s chocolate factory, but meanwhile, I hope you might enjoy a short recap of my wedding in May. I know it’s indulgent, but many people have been asking for vendor information, so I thought I’d compile it in one post while also showing off our photographer’s truly excellent work. I’ve also tried to provide a mini-recap of that magical day for all of you to enjoy for this Labor Day weekend. (For those of you interested in dessert only, skip to the end for dessert info:) )
All photos in this post are by Ricky Wong of W Photography. I can’t highly recommend him enough. Although the ways by which you can blow your wedding budget are innumerable, I believe finding the right photographer is an investment worth every last penny. How could I not – I photograph my food on a daily basis! If I hadn’t been preoccupied with getting married that day, I would have certainly had a lot more photography-related questions for Ricky – as it was, I could only marvel at his amazing efficiency and on-the-spot creativity in creating some truly memorable shots. Just take a look below.
Shoes: Badgley Mischka
As a certified shoe fanatic, I couldn’t envision boring white wedding shoes I wouldn’t ever wear again. Pink, flowery and sexy – much more my style. Someone called them my Carrie Bradshaw shoes!
Wedding dress: Rosa Clara
Six wedding dress stores later and I finally found the dress of my dreams. Ivory silk chiffon, cathedral length train that I had cut down since I was getting married in a park instead of church. I’d never heard of Rosa Clara, a Spanish designer, but she has some beautiful gowns in her collection. Oh, and I got my dress at a sample sale – thank goodness for sample sales!
Bridesmaid dresses: Alfred Angelo
Hair and makeup: Aimee Lam, Beauty Up Close.
The sweetest lady you will ever meet. Aimee is wholly responsible for how I looked that day – no makeup melting or hair collapsing!
Groom’s suit: Ted Baker
I love him because he wore a pink tie for me. And looks damn good in a suit.
Flowers: Huckleberry Karen Designs
I absolutely _loved_ my flowers. And I’m not much of a flower person. I bascially showed Karen some photos of bouquets I liked, told her I wanted pale pink, and she came up with magic. See Karen’s post for a detailed breakdown of the bouquets and the ceremony flowers.
Hotel: Mandarin Oriental San Francisco
A beautiful view of the city from the bridal suite.
Outside the California Academy of Sciences (right next to the garden where we got married) before the ceremony. This is likely the best I’ll ever look in my life. What you don’t see is the lovely freezing San Francisco bay winds blowing through the park. I am actually trying really hard not to shiver uncontrollably in this shot. Fortunately, it was much warmer in the garden!!
Ceremony: Shakespeare Garden, Golden Gate Park.
We were in serious danger of getting rained out. Fortunately the day turned out absolutely beautiful: sunny, bright, and clear. Because the garden was enclosed, we were also protected from the winds. Yay good wedding karma!
The kiss.
Newly married!
Post ceremony glamour shots. Sorry, I’m not trying to be vain, just showing off our photographer’s talent:)
Reception: Grand Palace Seafood Restaurant
Making our entrance.
A good old fashioned 10 course Chinese wedding banquet – remember to save room for dessert!
Although it looks like a huge amount of food (and it was), a Chinese banquet was by far the best value for our dinner dollar – the cost per head was still quite a bit lower than any other Western-style catered dinner at a hotel we found. My parents and several of their friends, all Hong Kong expats, declared the quality of the food excellent, so I was happy.
Wedding programs and stationery: Pink Lily Press
Pink Lily did a great job with our invites, programs, menus, and other stationery. I just loved that font she used for our names!
Chinese dress: custom made in Hong Kong
A traditional Chinese cheongsam or qipao. I had it modeled after a gorgeous wedding qipao from Shanghai Tang that was uh, way out of my budget. Here we are making the rounds of all the tables and doing a celebratory toast at each one. A good idea is to only take sips from your glass so you don’t end up as drunk bride by the end.
Wedding cake: Shannie Cakes
Since I was not bold or crazy enough to make my own wedding cake, I turned to Shannie, a dear friend and master wedding cake maker. Everyone said it was the tastiest wedding cake they had ever had.
Dessert table: Petit fours by Gerhard Michler
I knew I had to have a dessert table at my wedding. Gerhard Michler obliged with a stunning selection of petit fours. These were also our wedding favors – we handed our boxes and guests could take the pastries home. Apparently there was a quite a rush on the dessert table – no one turns down free dessert!
Macarons: Paulette Macarons
The macarons were so popular the photographer barely managed to get a picture of them!! People went nuts over them!
Evening dress: Notte by Marchesa
Red is the traditional color for Chinese weddings, so I had to have at least one red dress. It’s also traditional for brides to have several outfit changes, so this was the dress I wore in the “goodbye line” to say thank you and good night to departing guests.
It was a beautiful wedding and I had a great time. Thanks for sharing in my special day!
Anita Chu, also known as pastrygirl, is a baker, writer, and photographer with a passion for pastry. She trained at Tante Marie's Cooking School and is the author of Field Guide to Cookies, Field Guide to Candy, and Lollipop Love. Anita lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and dog Max. 
Gorgeous wedding! Congratulations!! 🙂
congratulations to you both. wishing you a lifetime of love and togetherness…. the pictures are fabulous!
WOW WOW WOW
Simply gorgeous Anita!
BRAVO!
though I do think you could go off to Paris and do it again…the macarons would be easy
LOOVE yr bouquet too and ALL the dresses
Quelle spendour
xxcarolg
Wow, what an amazing set of pictures! And as a shoe fanatic, I totally approve of those – they’re awesome and not bridal-boring 🙂
wow what a spectacular wedding. Just my dream wedding. You look spectacular 🙂 Nice shots 🙂
Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Wow, Anita! What beautiful photos and what a gorgeous wedding. Thank you so much for sharing with us! 🙂
Thank you for sharing your special day with us! Everything was absolutely gorgeous! Wishing you many wonderful years and memories together!
You are gorgeous and that is an understatement! What a beautiful couple. I am so happy for you! Thank you for sharing your special day. I am loving the desserts too:) I can’t wait to see you at Blogher Food!
Congrats Anita and Mike!
Congratulations, it looked like an amazing wedding 🙂
Congratulations. It looked beautiful.
Mark Twain was right about SF summers then.
What flavour was the cake?
What a beautiful wedding, Anita. Congratulations!
How blissful you two look! Awwww! And I thought I have thrown the idea of holding a wedding reception out of my mind…. Now I have to second-think it…. Congratulations again!
Oh my God how beautiful you are…:) Perfect couple, perfect wedding. I wish you all the best in your life!
BEAUTIFUL Pictures, you have talent. I love the Petit fours!
You two are so adorable!
Thanks for all the photos and the recap 🙂
Hii Anda!
there’s been a little time I’ve been looking to your blog. N I have to say: the photos are really nice!
everything is so perfect.
To celebrate this my first comment, CONGRATULATIONS!
Wish u’ll be happy for all the rest of your lifes!
and a lot of desserts in the meals! hahah 🙂
kisses, jean
best of luck, you look stunning and incredible happy!
Absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I love the soft pink and your ruffled shoes {:-)
What a cute couple you two make!!!
Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures! I never tire of looking at wedding pictures, especially of ones as amazing as yours.
Truly Beautiful!
Beautiful photos Anita, you two look great together and the party was perfect. Congratulations again!
C.
Gorgeous wedding, Anita. That is one handsome man. And I LOVE the shoes 😀
Aw congratulations! your dress is lovely. and so are those macarons!
so many beautiful pictures… adorable ceremony…
and of course I wish ALL the best in the world for you…
Everything turned out beautifully! Congrats. 🙂
Everything looks wonderfully magical. You have cleverly fused the traditional Chinese wedding with a modern Western touch. Truly beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing and again, congratulations!
I love your wedding shoes! If I had seen that I would have got it… 🙂
Congratulations! Your wedding was soo beautiful! I live in the bay area, too and recognized some of your locations! Oh, and your blog is amazing 🙂
So lovey photos. You two look beautiful…:) Congratulations!!! And lots of love, love, love…:)
Congratulations. Your wedding was gorgeous. You are so pretty, I love your dress. I love the colours you chose. Everything looks beautiful
Congratulations Anita! I am a fellow Tante Marie’s grad and have admired your blog from afar for quite a while. Your shoes looked good enough to eat! Hope newlywed-hood is treating you well.
Truly beautiful. Everything looks wonderfully magical. Congratulations! The girl is very pretty 🙂 I really love the Petit fours!
Beautiful wedding! I especially love your custom made qipao. Can you share where you got it in Hong Kong?
Perfect couple! And that cake is pretty sweet.
Love your blog. Beautiful photos! My fiance and I are getting married in the Shakespeare Garden in July. We’re planning the wedding long distance from Chicago. I’d love any hints you could offer! Did you bring the podiums that the vases of flowers were placed on? Anything else I should know? I’d love any help you can offer!!
Congrats on your successful wedding, and I hope that you’ll be having a long-lasting bond. By the way, I can’t get my eyes off those scrumptious looking desserts you had there, with strawberries and all, and it reminds me of the wedding reception of my bestfriend in Bay Area, in which they served bite-sized cheesecakes (which I love the most) as one of the dessert. Other than that, the party location are is awesome, which is their spacious backyard with tables, chairs on rentals, and catering under the huge tent.
Truly Beautiful!