Oh how we love Wednesdays! Double the gorgeous, awe inspiring weddings – double the excuse to hang out with us all day! We have some absolutely stunning soirees on the agenda to get you through the midweek slump, so get comfy and remember you can see even more of these beauties in their full galleries.
Let’s start this day off with an absolutely glamorous San Francisco wedding by Gladys Jem Photography, shall we? An elegant, ballroom wedding with a combination of darling personal touches results in a drool-worthy wedding for sure. I love when couples hosting even the most elegant of weddings incorporate little nods to keep the celebration close to home, and there are so many of those little details in the gallery.
click here for the full wedding gallery!
After five months of planning, September 25th was blue skies and 80 degrees which was the perfect backdrop for our San Francisco celebration. As it was some of my relatives’ first time leaving Japan, and many were coming from LA, New York, and the Midwest, we wanted our classy, elegant wedding to showcase the city we met at and love exquisitely . What better place than for the hotel where Tony Bennett first sang his “I left my heart in San Francisco” song? Not only was the Fairmont San Francisco a historical building, but it was at the Fairmont in Hawaii where we had exchanged our first ‘I love you’s, and had a room that had the most magnificent 270 view of the city. Because of our love for food and restaurants, we decided to do table seating with restaurant business cards inside each name card. We chose restaurants where we frequent for date nights, ones we went to celebrate joyous moments like our engagement, purchase of the new home, birthdays, and some were just plain favorites of ours. With every restaurant name we included a zagat rating (because we live and die with zagat and yelp reviews), and had a story to why that specific restaurant was so special to us. It was so much fun doing this, especially when after the wedding, out of towners were coming back to try the restaurant they were seated at!
We handmade all of our programs, rose petal bags, and even down to the gold embossing on the name cards which held a note we wanted to personalize to each and every attendant. For the favors, we provided cookies with our initials, because I am all about dessert overkill. This was complimented with an original artwork my grandma had created for each of the 95 guests that expressed in Japanese “thank you” and had a different picture on each. We had Simon, James’ (my husband) brother be our officiant, as he is a pastor. “Falling in love at a coffee shop” played while the bridesmaids walked out, as it was truly at the coffee shop 3 blocks away from work that I started realizing my true feelings for James. I walked out to “somewhere over the Rainbow” as I truly felt like it captured the romantic and dreamlike feel of that moment.
Venue: The Fairmont, San Francisco / Wedding Dress: Amsale / Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Cupcakes: Kara’s Cupcakes / Wedding Coordinator: Marie Cooper, Boutique Events / Florals: Kenneth Sloan / DJ: In the Mix / Videographer: Phillip Velasco / Hair & Make-up Stylist: Sylvie from Wowpretty / Music: David Marsden Jazz Band / Photographer: Gladys Jem