Cake
"We had fun combinations for the cake flavors — cookies and creme with red velvet cake and guava filling and yellow cake. The design was a simple finish with small dots and a stunning sugar flower that looked like a real, fresh peony."
Music
"We love jazz classics, lounge music, and Hawaiian music, which we had playing when guests arrived. Our wedding party processional was 'Rivers in the Stream' by Ten Feet. I walked down the aisle to a beautiful instrumental version of 'River Flows in You' by Yiruma. Our recessional song was 'Love on Top' by Beyoncé! Our first dance was an original remix (by our DJ!) of 'Can't Take My Eyes Off of You' by Frankie Avalon, but halfway through our dance routine, we had it switched to the hip-hop version by Lauryn Hill and did a little hip-hop dance!"
Flowers and decor
"Simple, tight, low, and soft for our floral table arrangements in orange, pinks, and white. We had garlands on our chairs for dinner. We had a simple gauzy bamboo arbor for our ceremony. The men in our wedding party all wore kukui nut leis and the bridesmaids had stunningly fresh and beautiful bouquets with peonies, green viburnum, white hydrangea, light pink lisianthus, salmon dahlias, and succulents. The table also had peach napkins and a gray chevron runner to give a bit of a modern-fun aesthetic. We had chalkboard menus that my maid of honor and I wrote up for our buffet stationed dinner and list of beverages for our bar. We did a s'mores fire pit at the end of the evening for our guests."
Traditions
"We had welcome refreshments of plantation iced tea when guests arrived. They were also asked to sign a traditional Chinese 'scarf' as a guest book that was in red (for good luck). As everyone was seated before the ceremony, we had ribbon wands distributed to all guests so that they could wave them once we were married and walked back up the aisle. They looked great in photos! Wedding favors were cylindrical matchboxes in orange with a pineapple, our names, and our wedding date. At our place setting, we gave everyone a set of chopsticks that had either a rat or pig that was associated with our Chinese zodiacs. My husband had written up an explanation of our respective Chinese zodiac characteristics and why we were a good match."
Fashion
"My bridal gown was Vera Wang, shoes were by Stuart Weitzman, and veil was my mom's from her wedding 40 years ago! The groom suit was by Hugo Boss and a Hawaiian wedding shirt by Tommy Bahama. The bridal party wore maxi sundresses with a tropical vibe (Tori Richards and Roxy). The men wore simple white dress shirts by Tommy Bahama. Our wedding bands were purchased in Hawaii from Martin & MacArthur — made of Hawaiian koa wood and tungsten."
Photo by Rachel Robertson Photography
