by: Everything about Cindy and Stephen's real wedding is gorgeous--full of fun and flair. From elegant attire and jaw-dropping florals, to the bold, red accents, theirs was a traditional American wedding that was also beautifully infused with traditional elements from Cindy's Chinese heritage. Born and raised in China, Cindy and Stephen shared her culture in many ways throughout their wedding: colors, favors, programs and traditional dress.
Here's our lovely bride Cindy to tell us more ...
Wedding Style: Traditional
Colors: Red, Silver and Purple
Ceremony & Reception: Briscoe Manor Chapel & Ballroom {Richmond, TX}
Florist: Dream Bouquet
Cake: Cakes by Gina {Houston, TX}
Photographer Sharon Nicole Photography
Save the Date, Invitation, Thank You Card MagnetStreet Weddings
Highlights of the day
Family and friends from all across the world being together to celebrate!
Advice you’re glad you took
Not having the bachelor/bachelorette party the night before your wedding--instead, get a full night of restful sleep.
Advice you wished you took
Honestly, we took everyone's advice to heart and made sure to incorporate it into our plans.
Advice you’d like to give
This is a very special day that took months/years of planning to come to, which will however be over in a matter of hours. That said, try to embrace every little moment of it, and remember every detail, and every word, because I can honestly say, it will be over in a blur. By the end of it, you'll be thinking ... "what just happened?" Also, eat your food.
Best part of the whole wedding day
When all the pomp and partying is over; when all the celebrations are done, at the end of the day you are married to your best friend!
{Using photos from their engagement and wedding day pictures, Cindy & Stephen personalized "Made for Each Other" Save the Date Photo Booth Magnet, "Slide Show" Gate-fold Wedding Invitation and "Enchanted Encounter" Thank You Card.}
Read along as Cindy shares how they fused Cindy's Asian roots into their American wedding ...
I was born and raised in Yantai, China until I was 10 years old, so it is definitely ingrained in me as a huge part of my culture. However, I'm still quite the American as is my husband! Our wedding style and favors did completely showcase this.
Chinese weddings are typically done in completely different fashion than here in the states, so we decided to keep the ceremony, reception and events completely Americanized while adding in Chinese flair on all the little things! Our Wedding programs for instance were printed on a red Chinese styled hand fan; our wedding favors were a tiny "chinese take-out box" filled with actual candies from main land China. We featured a life-sized portrait of ourselves in the foyer of the reception hall with us decked out in Chinese attire.
As for the clothes we changed into ... these are called Xi Pao (sounds like Chee Pow) for myself and a Toung Zhong (sounds like Tung J-wung) for my husband. These aren't necessarily wedding clothes, they are however considered very nice formal-wear for special occasions--much like a tuxedo and long dress are considered over here. So, halfway through our reception (after all the dances, cake cutting and other American traditions) we changed into these outfits. The other cool thing about the outfits ... my husband and I made a trip to China two months before the wedding to visit my family. During that time, we had custom outfits made and purchased the small candies for our wedding favor boxes.
Because red is the most prominent color in China, as well as identifiably the most patriotic Chinese color, all of our the clothing, programs, candies, tags and anything else having to do with the Chinese culture side of things was all red. Traditionally, anything that is important, will be red!
I would not say that I am very culturally Chinese on a daily basis. I have definitely completely Americanized myself in the years I've lived here, but my Chinese culture will always be with me at heart and show greatly whenever I spend time with my close family and friends. What better place to showcase this than a wedding that literally united people from both sides of the world!
Vendor Shout Outs
Sharon Nicole Ku: We honestly could not have picked a better photographer! Sharon in every way, is the perfect wedding photographer. We fell in love with her work the moment we saw her beautiful and colorful pictures. She's energetic, sweet, and makes it so easy to take photos in any setting. She's professional, yet super fun! She captured every single detail of our wedding day beautifully without getting in anyone's way! After the wedding, many guests were wondering where our photographer was the whole time. Every single picture she takes, mine or anyone else's, belongs in a magazine. I would recommend her in a heart beat to anyone. She is a dream to work with!
Dream Bouquet Florist & Gina from Cakes by Gina: Both vendors were beyond our expectations. My jaw literally dropped when I saw the chapel decorations, and my heart broke when I had to cut the cake.
Briscoe Manor
Jen Lowrance {wedding coordinator}& Behind the bash {caterer} Briscoe was a dream venue. It had a beautiful Texas/Southern feel to it. I can honestly say they did not make a single mistake or a bad decision. Jen made me feel like I was the only bride in the world throughout the entire planning process, and many of our guests said this was the best wedding food they'd ever tasted!
MagnetStreet
We absolutely adore Magnetstreet designs! Everyone gushed over our save the dates and invitations! Magnetstreet always got our orders done on time, and we've always been satisfied with their work, which is why we keep on coming back to them! I love that we can personalize save the dates and invitations with our own photos!
Congratulations Cindy & Stephen--best wishes for your future.Thanks for sharing and giving us this gorgeous glimpse into your wedding day and Chinese traditions!
xo
