Good morning beautiful people :) Hoping the weekend treated you well, that you are feeling rested and ready to take on a new week. I'm out of the office all of today attending a private seminar hosted by Aspire Training, where I'll be talking to twenty professional wedding photographers about bloggers and blogging and all that shenangins! I'm really looking forward to meeting new people - I really love to meet those who visit my blog and talk all things wedding. I have a feeling I'm gonna be in my element!
I'm super excited to be starting this week with a wedding that took place almost two years ago now, but that packs a punch with these beautiful dreamy photographers, taken by Brandon Kidd.
Regular readers may recognise the name 'Erin Hung' when I mention it - she is the lady behind the absolutely brilliant bespoke stationery brand 'Berinmade' and who regularly contributes the cutest and most creative DIY features for my readers. Infact, Erin is one of the most creative and talented stationers I know. And I really do know - I've seen Erin's work enough times in the real, to know how high quality it is, and I recently commissioned Erin to produce some stationery for a secret project I've been working on, and it was ab-fab!
Erin married her fiance Ben on 11th September 2010 and celebrated in style at The Four Season Hotel, Hong Kong...
"Ben and I chose to get married in Hong Kong because we were born and raised there as children, and even though we’d left home for almost two decades now (since boarding school), we felt that our memories and families were rooted there..."
Love My Dress Wedding Blog - Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Brandon Kidd Photography
"Ben proposed to me on our first date! It was right after my three-week trip away in Morocco and Hong Kong. When my plane landed back in London, I had a message on my phone from him saying that he wanted to see me. We had been friends for a few months by then and we had gotten to know each other pretty well.
He asked me out to dinner and had a whole speech bullet-pointed on a yellow post-it note which he hid in his shirt pocket (afterwards when he washed it, the note stained and to this day the stain is still there!)..."
Erin wore three gowns on her wedding day. And for three gowns, one requires three pairs of shoes. Of course...
"I wore three pairs of shoes, they were a pair of Alaia (yellow polka dotted ones!) and a red satin pair of Armani shoes to go with my Cheongsam. I then wore a pair of sparkly Kate Spade heels for dancing in. Just because..."
For those of you not in the know, a 'cheongsam' is a a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women {males have their own version, called the 'changshan'}. The English more commonly refer to it as the 'Mandarin gown'. The stylish and often tight-fitting cheongsam or qipao (chipao) that is most often associated with today was created in the 1920s in Shang Shanghai and was made fashionable by socialites and upperclass women. {Ref. Wikipedia}.
"Ben old about how he wanted to make his intentions for me as transparent as possible, and he wasn’t going to take me out a few times and then decide whether I was good enough for him. He told me that he knew all the things he wanted to know about me and making this decision, and if I accepted, he would choose to love me until the day we die.
It seemed completely right to say yes to him, so I did. A lot of people thought we were crazy to make such a big commitment without dating first, but we knew it was right for us.
Sometimes, you just know. Our commitment to each other wasn’t fueled by crazy romantic love, but more of an understanding for each other’s character, believes, and the gravity of commitment..."
"The day before, when my dad and I had a quick run through at the church, he practised walking me down the aisle without the pressure of everyone looking on. Because the wedding planning had been so frantic, it was amazing just to share one moment with him.
I think it was a special moment as he walked me down the aisle, he “practised” giving me away and we both secretly shed a tear..."
Erin wore the most beautiful strapless wedding dress by Hong Kong designer, Lusan Mandongus. Lusan Mandongus have been designing romantic and feminine couture bridal wear since 1981 and now have more than 80 stockists worldwide....
"I thought I’d wanted a very simple, non-fussy, non bridey dress. I must have tried on about 50 before I got to this one - which was about as bridal as they get! Despite all my preconceptions of how I wanted my dress to be like, when I tried this on and looked into the mirror I knew that it was right.
I guess it’s more of a feeling than actual reasons!"
"My vision for the flowers was for them to be soft blooms of pink in all varing types. In the evening, we put a tree in the middle of the reception area and decorated it with deep pink flowers. It created quite the backdrop for our photos!"
"The flower-girls wore little seafoam ballerina dresses, and chiffon pom poms in their hair that I’d made myself!"
"My Aunt Lisa who works for Ralph Lauren actually made all my bridesmaids dresses for me! It was a real labour of love as we put together our vision, I wanted a few different shades of the same colour, with varying silhouettes as well.
They came out so perfect, as I’d wanted them to contrast very soft pink flowers for the bridesmaids - each one had different flowers in their bouquet. She caught my vision perfectly!"
"This is where I talk about the 80 birdcages which I sourced from mainland China!! The theme of our wedding was a pair of love birds who took shade under a huge tree (which explains the huge tree in the reception area). Now all I needed was a crazy amount of birdcages to fill a reception area for ballroom! I found these in China and bulk bought them at a price that we could afford.
They were scattered everywhere: on the trees, the huge ones on the floor, on tables. At the end, the guests were asked to take them away as favours - they were gone in a blink of an eye!"
"I’m crazy for scripty type (as you may know from my work), so we had special words made and blown up so that people could pick them up and play with them!"
"Brandon and Kristen Kidd of Brandon Kidd Photography-- When we shopped around in Hong Kong, we actually had a lot of trouble finding a photographer whose aesthetic fit into what we were looking for- just someone with a sense of fun, someone who was relaxed and breathed life into photographs.
So when I stumbled upon Brandon’s work I knew that he was the one for us! However, he lived all the way in California, so Ben and I emailed him just to say how much we loved his work, his blog, and his personal stories that he shared and how we felt that we connected with him, that we were getting married in Hong Kong and wished we could find someone like him.
A few days later, Brandon called us and said that he would like to come to Hong Kong and make it happen for us!! We negotiated to find a place that both Ben and I and Brandon were happy with. I couldn’t believe it. He was so gracious and accommodating - it was one of the biggest blessings meeting Brandon and his wife. We felt that we’d gained new friends!"
"I’d made these special necklaces out of grosgrain ribbon and pearls for each of my girlfriends; I sourced the pearls and wove ribbon around them. I wanted to actually use my hands to make something for my girlfriends-- I guess I could’ve just bought something from a store, but it meant to so much to me that they wore them!"
"I had just a simple cathedral veil with little sparkling crystals on them. The sparkles were tiny and didn’t really show up in the photographs, so they were just for me!"
Later in the evening, Erin changed in to a Marchesa gown that allowed her to dance in more comfort. And look at her go!
"Ben was in charge of the music, as he knew exactly what he wanted (and I always trust him with music-- I have terrible taste in music). He compiled most of the play list for the jazz band to play, with soft jazz during the dinner time, and bossa nova as the evening grew darker.
Of course, we had a few cheesy tunes towards the end. How could you not?!"
Words of Wedded Wisdom...
"Enjoy it and don’t sweat it! I love weddings, read a ton of wedding blogs and magazines, and work with brides now. The most beautiful celebrations are about the love between the couple - how happy they looked, the love of the family and friends they are surrounded with, the funny moments of things gone wrong.
It is ultimately a celebration of your marriage and lives ahead. That should never be forgotten, and in light of that, everything will fall into perspective..."
Wow! What a day! Erin, thank you so very much for sharing your wedding with my readers, I'm kind of blown away by your wedding!
I couldn't resist sharing these two videos from the wedding with you either that Erin also passed on to me. They were produced by One Shot Production. I adore the take on 500 Days of Summer, how cute!
"There are actually two videos from our wedding; one which if just me and Ben goofing around in Ikea, and the other which was shot and edited, and played on the same night at our evening reception!"
Videography - One Shot Production
I'd love to read your feedback on this simply wonderful wedding; which is your favourite dress? Do we have any Lusan Mandongus in the house?
Remember to check out Erin's London based wedding stationery company, Berinmade, and tell Erin I sent you her way! I very highly recommend!
Much love all,
Annabel
Photographer - Brandon Kidd Photography
Venue - The Four Season Hotel, Hong Kong
Brides dress - Zeepha Couture + Lusan Mandongus + Marchesa
Brides shoes - Alaia + Armani + Kate Spade
Brides accessories - Lusan Mandongus {headpiece/veil} + Mothers own jewellery
Grooms Suit - Armani + Paul Smith Socks + American Apparel Suspenders, and knit ties from Uniqlo!
Florist - Roccoco flowers
Hair and make-up Artist - Eva Chuk of Faces Make Up
Bridesmaids - Created by the Bride's Aunt who works of Ralph Lauren
Flowergirls - seafoam green chiffon dresses, made by the bride
Videography - One Shot Production
