Our Wedding Weekend: A Photo Diary
June 15, 2024
In 2013, Simon and Sophia met at a boba shop in their happiest college town of San Luis Obispo, quickly becoming friends. Over the next two years, their friendship blossomed as he barged into her life way more than the average person. She was super busy all the time, but couldn’t shake this boy who seemed to always be around, in the good times and bad. He just kept showing up. She fell in love before she even knew she liked him. Two summers after they met, they both realized the feeling was mutual, and made it official.
Through almost 9 years of falling in love, they’ve endured a long-distance relationship, cross-country moves, life changes, a pandemic, hard conversations, and beautiful moments, learning to grow as best friends and life partners who keep showing up for each other. Last April, the pair got engaged at one of Sophia’s favorite places in San Francisco, Sutro Baths, and started planning the biggest party of their lives.
A magical moment on the shores of San Francisco. April, 2023.
Welcome to Italy (Kind of)
I always knew I wanted a garden wedding, one that’s full of nature but manicured enough to look upscale. A spot with charming architecture that could serve as a the backdrop for this special day without requiring much more decor. And a hidden gem unique enough and just the right size to host a wedding that didn’t look like anyone else’s.
As a photographer, my vision for the venue was centered around good natural lighting. I wanted a venue where you couldn’t even find a bad angle, where all the heavily-photographed events would be outdoors but in the shade, and sun would do its magic thing during a SoCal summertime golden hour.
At the Villa del Sol d’Oro, we found that perfect place.
The villa, a historical landmark in Pasadena, California, was designed in the 1920s by Wallace Neff, one of the lions of the golden age of California architecture. Since then, it’s transformed into a private Catholic girls’ school, and frequently serves as a filming location for numerous television and movie productions. Some of my favorite movies and shows of all time, including Princess Diaries, Legally Blonde, and Chuck, have notable scenes that were filmed on this historic property.
And just like that, the wedding was on. The villa served as our central setting for the tea ceremony, getting ready, our western ceremony, and the reception dinner.
The wedding weekend begins on a Friday afternoon, at the Villa del Sol d’Oro.
I. The Tea Ceremony
We started the wedding weekend with a common Chinese wedding tradition, the tea ceremony. This family tradition allowed us to pay respects to our parents and family elders in an intimate setting before the big day. Our bridesmaids and groomspeople showed up to help out.
We used the venue’s gorgeous balcony feature as a modern setting for door games.
Our wedding party gathers. The groomsparty was instructed to “be prepared for anything”. Yue starts the games off with a series of trivia questions that came with consequences.
Karen brought “The Flavors of Life” to prepare Simon for every flavor of marriage.
Simon happily gobbles up the spice.
Darin brings an action-packed ping pong ball game that tests everyone’s twerking abilities.
Shirley gets the group to put on an impromptu lip sync performance to Shania Twain.
Thoroughly enjoying every second from the best seat in the house.
Last but not least, Sharon puts everyone’s eating abilities to the test.
The challenge was to eat until they find the fortune cookie with a special personalized “fortune.”
Simon passes the series of tests and frees me from my “tower” with one last bribe, a red envelope.
The tea ceremony begins, in front of the most beautiful setting. Lotus flowers and all.
Our sisters start prepping the tea.
I wore a thrifted Anine Bing silk gown, a modern (rewearable) take on the usual Chinese wedding qun kwa. Acessorized with a clutch that belonged to my mom back in the day.
We take our spots on the kneeling pillows and start delivering speeches we wrote to our parents and in-laws. The waterworks started almost immediately.
We offer tea, misty-eyed and soaked tissues in hand. The tradition of the Chinese wedding tea ceremony shows our gratitude and respect to the elders in our families, symbolizing the families’ welcoming the bride or groom into the family.
In exchange, the parents offer words of advice, red envelopes, and gold jewelry.
Heirlooms passed down from generations.
Jade and gold details everywhere. Every piece of jewelry I’m wearing comes from a loved one. For me, it’s about things that are more meaningful than they are sparkly.
My parents’ turn.
Simon’s speech elicits a rare chuckle from my dad.
One of my favorite moments of this ceremony was getting to face our parents and family members and speak to one another eye-to-eye. Even though we’ve known these people all our lives, the act of kneeling in front of them and stopping to exchange sincere words face to face was really special. To truly see how much they’ve aged, but admire all that they are — every fine line, every white strand of hair — they made us who we are today.
My mom thanks Simon for dealing with me all these years, and committing to do so.
We honor our aunts and uncles that made it all this way to celebrate with us.
Last but not least, some golden hour portraits around the property to get us used to posing in extreme proximity to each other.
As glamorous as we can pretend to look, big dumb cheesy smiles make us “us.”
II. The Ceremony
Wedding day started in a hotel room in Pasadena. I woke up at 5am to finish writing my vows, and shortly after Simon came over so we could get an early start on all the unfinished tasks: place the cake order, order the desserts, pay vendor balances, pack all our attire. (The grind never ends.) We drove over to the venue to get everything set up as our wedding party arrived to help. The next few hours were a flurry of tablecloth steaming, tangerine cutting, cake decorating, bouquet arranging, and attempting to eat while we bounce around the villa trying to find one another. Oh, and at some point we needed to get ready ourselves.
The photographers arrive and immediately catch Simon cleaning.
Bridesmaids are dressed.
While I try to find a moment of free time to finish my makeup.
Pretty little details of my fruit-themed wedding hehe.
Bridal vignette on the dreamy balcony featuring my first outfit of the day: a thrifted robe found at Goodwill that matched the Old Hollywood vibes of this venue.
The boys get ready in the downstairs library.
Shirley buttons up my dress.
And Yue helps me with the finishing touches.
First look! I hum the Jaws theme as I approach Simon.
Our party watches from afar. Everybody is dressed and so beautiful!
Bespoke suit from @hiveandcolony.
Eyebrows by me.
Hair by Yue, makeup from @walgreens @ulta, I guess? Kept it minimal and classic, because why look like anyone but myself?
Dress from @garnetandgracebridalboutique, heels from @thredup, bruises from @movementgyms.
We head down to the lawn for wedding party portraits.
My DIY bridal bouquet with @traderjoes flowers.
Groomsmen and women in their classic black yet garden appropriate apparel.
We love these people so much!
Rainbow sherbet bridesmaids and a parasol moment. I had all the girls pick out their own unique dresses, and made them bouquets to match.
The wedding starts. (Eeeep!) This welcome poster shows a glimpse of the visual style guide I created for the signage, website, emails, and paper goods.
Guests trickle in...
I didn't want to hide from guests at my wedding so I pull off my first quick change of the day to get as much face-to-face time as possible. Also my one chance to wear a bridal jumpsuit! (Thrifted from @thredup, obviously)
The aisle is ready. It’s happening!
Gonna tell our kids this was Lake Como.
Candace, our officiant, leads the party down the aisle.
Everybody walks in to The Princess Diaries score, the perfect regal instrumental theme to kick off our garden ceremony.
First-time flower girl and ring bearer impress us with their performance.
A special moment getting to walk down the aisle with my dad. He'd been anticipating this daunting task for months, not knowing if he'd physically be able to do it.
We walk in to an instrumental version of a song that reminds me of home, family, and where I come from: Teresa Teng's The Moon Represents My Heart.
Not pictured: certain guests already tearing up.
Candace starts off the ceremony with the most heartfelt speech.
Vows begin with lots of laughter and tears.
My vows reflect on the beautiful life we've created together.
One that allows us to be standing in front of the greatest community of loved ones.
Candace pronounces us husband and wife!
Cue Myra's Miracles Happen, the perfect Princess Diaries happy ending song.
III. The Party
We put a ring on it! Time to celebrate.
Happy hour begins with two open bars, for boba and booze.
And the most beautifully dense charcuterie spread I've ever seen.
My amazingly talented friend, Brittany, fills the air with music.
While other friends locate copies of the activity book and start on the high-difficulty crossword.
Family portraits on the ceremony lawn. Ngs + Lius.
Photographers snap a few golden hour portraits before we sneak away to check out our own party.
This venue is breathtaking at every turn.
The reception patio gets set up with floral centerpieces we assembled two days prior.
Instead of table numbers, I created custom labels with our favorite musical number love songs.
Guests had to find their escort cards via old photos.
And match the musical on the back of the card to locate their table.
They loved this personalized detail. (Thank god, because I spent months digging for these photos.)
Our wedding party kicks off the grand entrance.
We perform the dance routine we made up earlier that week.
Who says first dances have to be "choreographed"? As long as you have fun.
Kicking off the toasts by toasting our guests (with boba!)
The sweetest speeches.
Dinner is served! Wood-fired pizza made onsite by the best @lapizzeriaco
Yes, we threw a pizza party wedding.
Our DJ Adam surprises us with a few acoustic songs, including a duet of Can't Help Falling in Love with Brittany! One of the best moments of the night.
Dining al fresco on a warm summer evening is my idea of a perfect night. And it was exactly how I envisioned our wedding.
Shirley and Simon recreate their baby photo.
The sun sets, and the kids start getting antsy after dinner. Luckily there is so much to explore on this property.
We squeeze in a few more portraits with the last rays of golden light.
This was another thrifted gown (from Marchesa Notte) reworn from our city hall legal ceremony last year.
Table visits and lots of champagne.
Our cake was from @wholefoods, decorated with freshly picked kumquats from my parents' neighbor's yard.
Our dessert station included Porto’s and made-to-order bubble waffles! An overwhelming abundance of our favorite foods was the name of the game.
Last quick change of the night: a thrifted vintage sequin gown from Mignon. 1960s nightclub singer Barbie bride is here, and ready to dance.
Cake cutting featuring a cameo from our favorite board games and the only piece of wedding decor my sister picked out (hint: it’s red cheeked and electrifying)
Bouquet toss. Must...not...hit... the string lights!
Maddie goes for the catch.
And her brother Alex does the same with Simon's boutonniere toss.
The dance floor opens.
Although the bouncer was a little hard to get past.
We gave our DJ a playlist with everything we loved ranging from Baby Shark to BTS to mid-2000s clubbing music. And it was perfect.
Pure adrenaline pumping through these 4-inch heels.
I love that everyone had their signature dance floor moves but once Everytime We Touch came on and the chorus dropped, all bets were off.
We close out the night to Michael Buble's Save the Last Dance for Me.
Signing off, the newlyweds.
Planning this thing
Because time, energy, and resources are limited in life, you can either plan an aesthetic wedding full of photo moments, or a hell of a good time. For us, the goal was always to throw a meaningful, personal, intimate, and delightful dinner party for our guests. So rather than looking at pretty photos for inspiration, I figured out the stories I wanted to tell — about ourselves, about our relationships with our guests, about the venue — and aimed to create an entertaining and enchanting atmosphere that touched everyone’s hearts.
We did a lot of things differently to make our wedding “ours.” Maybe too much DIY. But somehow, all of my ambitious visions played out like a dream come true. There was not one ounce of downtime in the day, for better or for worse. The boba was flowing, our friends were puzzling, parents were taking group selfies, and the bubble waffle orders getting fulfilled as fast they could. Guests didn’t want to leave the dance floor even though they had early flights to catch. The night was so entertaining people stayed until the literal end when the venue manager personally escorted us off the premises. The next day, Simon and I came back to finish off the abundance of leftover cake, desserts, and food. Days later, people sent us their completed crosswords to be “graded.” We had officially thrown the best party ever.
But all of this doesn’t just happen. Planning this wedding without help was a year-long undertaking that drove us crazy at points. A quick timeline breakdown for our friends who may be in this stage of their planning. This was our experience:
10 months before: Researching, recovering from sticker shock, visiting venues, booking important vendors (venue, catering, photographer) and vision planning. I used Figma as my all-in-one whiteboard to paste inspiration, write lists and rough schedules, design invites, map seating charts, etc
5 months before: Sending invites, building the website, and booking other optional vendors (video, DJ, coordinator, musician, hotel)
3 months before: Tastings, tailoring our attire, booking other last-minute vendors (desserts, makeup)
2 months before: Finalizing details, RSVP deadline, writing the detailed timeline, buying stuff
Last month: Calling vendors to go over timeline, printing paper goods
Last week: Shopping for drinks, arranging florals, transporting, and boxing up everything for my day-of coordinator to execute
All the other times in-between was spent communicating to parents and the wedding party, online shopping for attire, managing RSVPs, and fielding questions. If you DIY your wedding like we did, all your free time with your spouse may turn into working time, but manage expectations to avoid burnout. Planning a “destination” wedding outside our home city also presented an added layer of difficulty, as we had to schedule multiple wedding tasks during our visits to LA.
Tips
Give yourself grace. Sometimes, you’ll just have to bite the bullet and spend a bit more on something. Other times, you’ll have to make a decision that someone else isn’t happy with. It’ll be okay.
Planning happens in spurts. Don’t let it consume a whole year of your life. Don’t let it give you main character energy amongst all your friends and family.
Communicate everything to guests through email in the months, weeks, days leading up to the big day, so they ask less questions. I planned a whole comms schedule like a marketing campaign.
Recruit proactive, helpful friends to be in your wedding party — ones who will aid you on your big day, not make your life harder. Give them a timeline and tasks they can reference. Because you won’t available to project manage the day-of.
Budget lots of buffer time in your timeline. Start the day as early as possible. Don’t worry about too much downtime or being bored — it will not happen.
Finish writing your vows early in advance, I’m serious. Inspiration will not strike last minute. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
There is a balance between looking photogenic and actually enjoying yourself. Figure out where you want to be on that spectrum, and allocate your time accordingly. (Smiling will get tiring!)
Encourage friends to vlog so you can see different perspectives of the wedding. Because the sad fact of the matter is that you won’t be able to attend your own party as much as you thought you would.
Enjoy every moment of the day, and be present. Time will fly by faster than you’ve ever known.
Thank you’s
Last but not least, a shoutout to Savan and team for making our DIY wedding look expensive af, and capturing every interaction and detail with the same magic we felt in that moment. Thank you for making us feel and look like celebrities, and preserving the memories of this day for us to share for decades to come. These photos remind us that we really had the wedding of our dreams, despite it being so homemade and pulled together last minute. It’s truly astonishing that something so emotional, meaningful, and tear-inducing could also be so beautiful on the outside.
Thank you to our friends and family who helped out, especially the ones literally DIY-ing the wedding as it happened — laying out desserts, moving around decorations, helping our vendors, and vlogging everything. You know who you are.
Thank you to our amazing vendors for making our big day the success it was. Thank you for working with unexpected hiccups and doing everything you did behind the scenes to make sure Simon and I could focus on enjoying time with our guests and even be delightfully surprised along the way even though we planned so much of it. It really takes a village, and we're so happy we did this with all of you!
VENDORS
Venue @villadelsoldoro
Coordinator @sincerelyharveys
DJ/MC @adm_entertainment
Photographer @savanphotography
Videographer @athertonmediagroup
Catering @lapizzeriaco
Charcuterie @lagrazingco
Boba Bar @mainssqueezecatering
Dessert @bubblepufftea
Rentals @lapinataparty
Musician @beeeigen
Cake @wholefoods and Nini Bakery
Wedding dress @garnetandgracebridalboutique
Reception and tea ceremony dresses @thredup
Tuxedo @hiveandcolony
Rings @no3.shop @catbird @mejuri
Planning, design, paper goods, and florals by me ✌️
Simon and I got married at an Italian villa in the beautiful hills of Southern California, and Studio Sophy gets the exclusive inside scoop.