FROM THE BRIDE // Quan and I first met 5800 miles away from home in South Korea. We were both there for a summer study abroad program that lasted 8 weeks. Funny enough, it wasn’t until the last week of the program when we finally started hanging out. That was 6 years ago and we’ve been inseparable since.
One day, Quan sent me an email at work and told me to solve the riddle within. I didn’t think anything of it as he is really into mind games. After failing to resolve the riddle, I gave up without much thought. Fast forward to a week later and Quan wanted to cook us dinner after work. I got off of work two hours earlier than anticipated and he was just getting home with a bags of groceries as I was pulling up the driveway. He whipped up dinner and after a great meal, he pulled the box out of his pocket and asked me to marry him. I’ve never him so shy and nervous in our entire relationship! I said “YES, of course!” and here we are today. It wasn’t until a few weeks later when he confessed that the riddle was his first attempt!
Vic and I basically come from opposite sides of the world; I’m from Southern California and Vic is kind of from everywhere (Guam, Thailand, Singapore, Boston, you name it….), so we think it was probably fate when we happened to meet by chance about 3 years ago when I was living in Boston finishing up graduate school and Vic was living in San Francisco working in tech. Traveling started out of necessity for us trying to maintain a long distance relationship from opposite coasts of the country. Every month we would look up cheap flights in random cities and decide to meet up in places like Portland, Dallas, and Austin to keep things interesting. We crave adventure and spontaneity, so traveling naturally became a vital part of our relationship and took us to places like Thailand, Mexico, Indonesia, Laos and the Philippines. On April second of last year, Vic basically tricked me into marrying him when he proposed on the beach in Tulum! He made me think I lost one of my favorite rings (an older ring he got me at the beginning of our relationship)…after I was digging in the sand for a few minutes and on the verge of tears, Vic pretended like he “found” said ring and continued by putting a diamond ring on my finger. Being that it was shortly after April Fools, I seriously thought it was some kind of joke and said no (about 3 times). To this day we are not even sure if I said yes in that moment, but we really like each other so decided to stay engaged! HA. We are beyond excited to bring together our friends and family from all over the world in order to celebrate our marriage in the awesome little town of Whittier, California. It will be a Thai-Armenian celebration for the books!
FROM THE BRIDE // My vision started with wanting to get married under a Willow tree with twinkle lights and have a romantic feel. So I started my research for a venue with that as the determining factor. I used Pinterest as my research tool with a lot. Pinterest is so convenient and helped me gather pictures of what I wanted to create for my wedding board. My wedding venue was at Calamigos Ranch. This property is absolutely beautiful! It has a rustic feel to it but I think with my décor it gave a more romantic/whimsical feel. I also wanted to make sure everything was custom to Anthony and I and to include décor that was meaningful to us. The elements around us when we got married were important. I had a cross custom-made that held our unity candle, which represented having God at the center of us. The giveaways for the guests were little succulent plants that I handpicked and my bridal party helped pot each one. We pinned our engagement pictures to show our family and friends the romantic moments between Anthony and I. I was beyond excited to see everything come together so nicely.
My favorite moment was really marrying my best friend! Walking down the aisle seeing him, the set up and everyone joined together to watch us was truly a blessing. We flew in my Uncle Sam who is a pastor in Spain to marry us. It was important to have someone marry us that know us and can speak from the heart. All in all I loved my entire wedding. I enjoyed every bit of it from the beginning of the day all the way to the end. (I didn’t want it to end!) I couldn’t have been blessed with better vendors and wedding party.
Photography is important to us because it’s what captures important moments of our special day. Photos are always kept and looked at. They are always shared between family and friends. It takes a talented person to capture emotion and feelings within a picture. I was really particular about choosing a photographer. One of my friends used Sun & Sparrow for the wedding like 4 years ago and I always loved their pictures. So when I was on the hunt Sun & Sparrow was definitely in my top picks. Then I saw their website with all the other engagement/wedding photos and it was instant. I knew they were the one. Plus, when Tiffani and I first spoke we totally vibed and I loved her personality!
One thing that I think would have taken some ease off for me in the planning process was to attend a Bridal expo. I never did and I’m thankful that I pulled it off without going but I definitely think that it’s a great starting step. My favorite tool to use was The Knot app for the checklist feature. Every month it gave me my task to do. Also, when going to other weddings really take a look at the vendors and their work/style. Some of my vendors I already had locked in because I loved their work from my best friend’s wedding. Make sure to also ask around with friends and family. It’s always nice to know of someone who used the vendors before or if they have tips on planning process. It’s a plus hearing other people’s wedding stories. The most important part really is keeping God in the center of it all. Prayer helps with everything and it’s amazing to see how God works in mysterious ways.
My favorite part of being married now is living together! We share our daily lives together now and for the rest of our lives. Making the house have both our personality and look to it. It’s fun being couch potatoes together. I enjoy cooking and he enjoys my cooking..hahaha. It really is just all the little things that I love right now.
Jimmy and I wanted our wedding decor to include things from our family heritage as well as make it very romantic and magical. I love romance and Shakespeare. My favorite moment of my wedding day was when I was preparing to walk down the aisle to meet my husband in front of our families and friends. I remember being super nervous and excited waiting for that moment. Even though we’ve been together for almost 10 years, I still felt the butterflies in my stomach and had the sweaty palms.
Photography was the most important to us because the memories captured will last us a lifetime. I want to show my future children and grandchildren our photos. When we were researching photographers, we wanted someone who not only fit the style we wanted, but someone we are comfortable with. Tiffani and Ellie are both wonderful and would do anything to make sure you get all the important moments during your big day! My advice for brides-to-be who are currently in the planning process is to make sure you find a great photographer. Your wedding is only a day, but the memories captured will last forever.
Whimsical boho Los Angeles engagement // ©2016 Sun & Sparrow Los Angeles wedding photographers
