Inman Park United Methodist Church and Houston Mill House Wedding

Planning the wedding for Ping and Brian was very special to me because they chose to get married at Inman Park United Methodist Church, the same church where I got married!

This church is one of the most beautiful churches in Atlanta area. Ping was a gorgeous bride and here are the bridal portraits at the church:

The couple also took some fun shots together:

Another fun thing we did (with suggestion and permission from Patches Mongeon, the coordinator at Inman Park United Methodist Church was to have bubbles inside the church when the couple walked down the aisle!! How cool is that!?

Of course, we wanted to have more bubbles on the way out too:

All the photos were captured by the amazing David Diener from Atlanta Artistic Weddings. Although this is my first time working with David, I know it will not be the last time because his work is great and working with David throughout the planning process has been a joy.

For reception, we looked at several venues in town but decided to go with Houston Mill House, an intimate historical venue near Emory University. Ping and Brian pretty much fell in love with the outdoor terrace when we did the site visit and we decided to plan an outdoor reception because of the terrace.

However, a week before the wedding, the weather forecast was actually showing 60% rain on the wedding day. Together we created an alternative seating plan for an indoor reception. At the same time, we started to pray for the rain to go away.

God listened to our prayers and it was actually a sunny and warm day on the first Saturday of October! In fact, the prayer was so powerful that we had to moved the reception program indoor after the lunch reception outdoor because it was too hot for the guests to be seated under the sun!

I must say that the Blair Simpson, the Catering Manager at Houston Mill House and her staff were really helpful in accommodating the last minute movement. She also came to the venue early in the morning to allow me to come in and set up before I went to the church for the ceremony coordination. If your wedding has 100 guests or less, you should definitely consider Houston Mill House as a reception venue!
 
Here are some photos at Houston Mill House:

Congratulations to Ping and Brian! I wish you both happiness and a wonderful marriage!

Vendor Team:

Photographer: Atlanta Artistic Weddings
Florist: Laurens Floral Arts
Baker: Artisan Cakes by Julie
Ceremony Venue: Inman Park United Methodist Church
Reception Venue: Houston Mill House
Musicians: Anna Herrington & Tom Godfrey

Getting Ready For Wedding Day

The night before the wedding day is an exciting time. There is normally a rehearsal followed by a rehearsal dinner. You are surrounded by friends and families who may have come from far away places. The celebration is just getting started!

Today I have a few tips for the bride and groom to be on the night before the wedding:

(1) Try to get ready your wedding day clothing and accessories

Running around in the morning of your wedding day trying to find an undergarment that is supposed to go underneath the dress will not be fun. Forgetting where your tie or cufflink is just add unnecessary stress.

Ladies, you might also want to set aside a button down shirt to wear for getting ready so that it can be easily removed after your hair styling session without messing up your hair.

(2) Plan the meal(s) for wedding day for you and/or your bridal party

Depending on the time you are getting ready for the wedding, you probably need to plan for a breakfast and /or lunch for you and/or your bridal party (if they are getting ready with you).

A traditional Chinese breakfast of long life noodles with eggs is typical for Chinese weddings

I am showing the wedding day breakfast that my Mother insisted on serving because it was a Chinese tradition in the photo above (Photo taken by Christopher Helm Photography ) but you can serve whatever food you fancy (as long as it is something familiar - so you don't get any "surprises" later on!).

You can designate someone to buy the food in advance or you can have a restaurant/caterer deliver the food to your house or your get ready location (wherever that might be). Just remember not to be hungry before the ceremony starts. I had actually witnessed the fainting of a bridesmaid during the ceremony when I attended a wedding. It was not a pretty sight.

(3) Try to get some sleep

It maybe difficult but getting enough rest on the night before your wedding will give you energy for your own wedding day.

(4) Try a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Thursday night (for Saturday weddings)

Maybe this tip does not qualify as "getting ready the night before the wedding" but I really like having rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Thursday night for a Saturday wedding. It is actually my preferred rehearsal night whenever schedule allows due to the reasons below:

Reason 1: You can party longer on Thursday night since the wedding is not the next day. Even if you have a hangover, you can still use Friday to recover from it.
Reason 2: Rehearsal dinner can be cheaper on a weeknight vs. Friday evening (weekend)
Reason 3: You will then have the night before the wedding to relax (since there is no rehearsal and no rehearsal dinner)

(5) Limit tasks that need to be accomplished on the day before the wedding
 
Last minute errands and running around the day before the wedding is tiring. Try to limit yourself to one or two things that have to be done that day and finish other tasks before then.

I normally only give one task to my brides on the day before the wedding: go get the manicure and pedicure!
 

My Rainy Day Wedding Tips

With the amount of rain that Georgia was receiving recently, I thought I will share my rainy day wedding tips.

(1) Have a rain plan

If you don’t want to be all stressed out 10 days before your wedding about a forecast for rain, it is important that you actually think about rain in the beginning of your planning process.

Photo Credit: LibbyPhoto - Taken on a rainy day wedding at The Chapel at Simpsonwood

If there is one element of your wedding that you cannot plan for, it is the weather. Therefore, if you must have an outdoor ceremony and/or reception, please book a place that has an indoor location or allow you to set up a tent in case the weather does not cooperate with you.

Finally, if you are planning to take wedding photos outdoor, please have an alternative indoor photo location ready in case of rain.

(2) Be flexible

On the most recent rainy day wedding that I worked on, we forgo some of the things on the schedule in order to take outdoor photos before it started to pour.

I actually called the vendors the morning of the wedding to see if it was possible to change part of the wedding day schedule in order to accommodate getting outdoor photos done before the rain was scheduled to come down at 2:15pm (according to weather forecast).

Working with an amazing group of vendors meant that they were willing to accommodate and do whatever it took to get it done for the bride and groom. We ended up starting the photo session earlier in order to beat the rain.

(3) Get some pretty umbrellas and rain boots

Colorful umbrellas and rain boots do not cost a lot of money but they show up very nicely in rainy day wedding photos. If the rain is not heavy, you can easily do some outdoor photos in the rain with these accessories and actually have amazing wedding photos to show.

The extra umbrellas can also be very useful for your guests in case they need some help getting in/out of the cars while it is raining.

Photo Credit: LibbyPhoto

(4) Inform your makeup/hair artist that you want to go outdoor in the rain for photos

Your hair and makeup may need to be done differently in order for it to hold up in the rainy weather better. Discuss this with the makeup/hair artist to see what are your options. If your budget allows, pay for them to stay and touch up the makeup/hair after you had gone outdoor in the rain for photos.

In conclusion, good planning means you are not afraid of rain on your wedding day. In fact, you can go ahead and tell others that “It is lucky to have rain on your wedding day!”.

Norcross Georgia July 4th Wedding at The Lodge At Simpsonwood

Nicole and Johnny contacted me to plan their July 4th wedding back in May. With less than 2 months to go, I worked with Nicole to secure her venues as well as her vendors in a few weeks' time.

Nicole is probably one of the most easy going bride I have ever met, which really helped when it comes to wedding planning in a short time frame. I was able to brake my own record of planning and coordinating a wedding in less than 2 months (previous record was a little over 4 months)!

With 10 days to go til the wedding, I checked the weather forecast and it was calling for rain. I asked the Lodge at Simpsonwood if they will open one of their meeting rooms with stained glass windows just in case we need to do the photo sessions indoor and the coordinator Amy Edwards assured me that they will open the room as a backup location. I also went to Ikea and bought the last 10 umbrellas on display on rehearsal day just to be prepared!

On the morning of July 4th, I woke up and checked the hourly forecast for Norcross, GA. Thank God for listening to my prayers, the forecast actually showed "cloudy until 2:15pm" although it had been raining all week and the original forecast was 100% rain that day.

I called Libby from LibbyPhoto immediately to check on the possibility to change the timing of the photo shoot as well as Nia from Nia Tran makeup/hair to check on the ability to finish the makeup/hair for the girls earlier than planned. Once I got their confirmations on the new timing, I called the wonderful florist Laurens from Laurens Floral Arts to ensure that the flowers can be deliver earlier than planned to meet the new photo shoot time. All I can say is that I am so grateful to have a great group of vendors who really care about the bride and groom and were flexible enough for the last minute change!

The forecast was so accurate that day as it literally started pouring down at 2:11pm (and the Ikea umbrellas were put to good use) but we were able to get a whole lot of outside photos! Amazingly, the rain stopped before the ceremony was about to start and actually held off until later on that night so all the guests were actually able to stay dry.

Nicole and Johnny's wedding changed my perspective on rainy day weddings. Yes, it is a lot of work when the weather is not the best but the photos also showed how incredibly romantic rainy wedding days can be!

Congratulations to Nicole and Johnny! If rain on wedding day is supposed to be lucky, I know that God opened the windows of heaven and pour down a lot of blessings for you two that day!

All Photos by LibbyPhoto

Vendor Team:

Ceremony Venue: The Lodge at Simponwood

Reception Venue: 1001 Nights Persian Cuisine

Florist: Laurens Floral Arts

Cake: Artisan Cakes by Julie

Photographer: LibbyPhoto

Videographer: A Reel Occasion

Pianists: Ping Yun Hsu and Bob Cardone

Georgian Terrace Wedding

Caroline and Jamie Sturm were my first long distance couple. They were working in Beijing but wanted to have their wedding in Atlanta (Caroline's home town). We worked over emails and phone calls across the time zones to plan the details of their January 19,2013 wedding. I only met them one month before the big day when they came back to US for the holidays and to prepare for the wedding. Somehow I wish we could have met earlier because they were such a fun couple to work with!

Caroline and Jamie wanted to incorporate two important wedding traditions that honor Caroline's Chinese American Heritage:

(1) Bridesmaid Challenge (Traditionally called "Opening Door Ceremony")

The bridesmaids normally have tasks for the groom and groomsmen to perform before they will open the door for the groom to see his bride.  In this case, the guys had to go through a waxing session!

(2) Tea Ceremony

This is for the bride and groom to present tea to the bride's parents and grandparents as a way to honor the elders and for the bride to formally say goodbye to the family before the wedding. The elders provided red packets containing money as gifts for the couple after they drank the tea.

For the traditional church ceremony at Atlanta Chinese Christian Church Northwest (Caroline's parent's home church), the couple chose to have a foot washing ceremony. It was a touching moment when they took turn washing each others' feet to show their commitment and sacrifice for each other in the marriage.

Caroline was escorted by her Dad into the sanctuary at the beginning of the ceremony.

Foot Washing Ceremony - Jamie did it first!

Now it is Caroline's turn.

I was very glad to be able to secure a group of fabulous vendors for Caroline's wedding. The church decoration and bouquets for the bridal party by Cathy Brim from Bloom Floral Design were amazing. The photographs by Christopher Helm Photography were stunning. I also love the makeup and hair design by Nia Tran!

Pew Decoration

Altar Decoration

Bride's portrait

The bridesmaids chose different dresses with blush/pink tone.

During the reception at the historic Georgian Terrace Hotel in Midtown Atlanta, I also had the honor to work together with their great catering sales manager, Ms. Hannah Bradley. Check out some photos of this gorgeous venue below. The staircase and the rooftop provided really pretty photo backgrounds.

Below are some photos of the ballroom before reception begins with all the different centerpiece designs by Bloom Floral Design) :

The wedding cake was provided by Frosted Pumpkin

Finally, I was super happy that the talented 5 members Band of Gold led by band leader Kris Bayne was able to keep the dance floor full all night (and even had an impromptu jam session with one of the guests who played the saxophone!).

Grand Entrance to the reception. I love Caroline's cheongsam (Chinese Traditional Dress). It was the same one that her Mother wore during her own wedding years ago. What a great family tradition!

Jamie's grandfather said the prayer before dinner.

A guest played saxophone with the band

Caroline and Jamie dancing

Jamie's brother Brady was having a great time on the dance floor!

I love this photo between Caroline and her sister Virginia dancing together!

 
Besides the group of vendors, Caroline and Jamie's families were also involved in the wedding. All the paper products such as menu cards, place cards, invitations,and wedding programs were designed by Caroline's Sister Virgia Shou! The favors were home made bourbon balls (Jamie's from Kentucky) packaged by Jamie's grandparents!

As a planner, I felt bad having to ask the band to play the last song for the crowd (who very much could still go on for a few more hours on the dance floor). However, someone's got to keep the time and make sure the event does not run over time!

At the end, the couple left the reception with a sparkler exit which was a hit among the guests despite the cold winter night. My guess is they are warm from all the love, laughter, and dancing from the great wedding celebration!

Caroline and Jamie had returned to Beijing but I feel like now I have a friend in Beijing! It was such a fun time working with you two and I wish both of you nothing but the best in your marriage.