These are the kind of wedding photos that just sing. Everything was so absolutely beautiful that every single image from Mango Studios could stand on it’s own in a gallery. Inspired by the bride’s cholee, everything from the elegant stationery from Bella Figura to the gold and emerald color scheme to the glitz and glamour was as stunning and intricate as her traditional attire.
From the stunning bride… We originally had a destination wedding in Singapore. We decided on Singapore since my husband is originally from Sri Lanka. We had family from Sri Lanka and Canada fly down for the small wedding in Singapore. Later we had a large post-wedding reception in Canada. For the post-wedding reception in Canada I wanted to incorporate my husband’s heritage as well as my heritage. I wanted something elegant and beautiful and romantic. I loved the colors from my cholee, so I used the cholee as an inspiration.
The cholee really helped set up the design of the event. The sparkle from the beading on the cholee, led to the sparkle in the wedding stationary and the dinner menu. The beading on the cholee led to the intricate design on the wedding cake. The beading and crystals were carried over into the floral arrangements. So I guess “sparkle and shine” was my favourite design element.
I was surprised at how well everything came together considering it was all arranged within 3-4 months! Even though it was only a post-wedding reception, there were so many details. Finding a venue that was still available, getting the invitations made, ordering the wedding favors, picking out the menu, finding someone to do the cake, finding a company to do the decor, and finding a florist all to have everything come together in 3-4 months I think was pretty amazing. Also finding a wedding photographer on such short notice can be difficult. We had Mango Studios do our wedding photography in Singapore and were so impressed, that we were so happy to find out that they were available the weekend of our post-wedding. Some things came together just a day or two before the event, but it all worked.
I highly recommend hiring a wedding planner. I was lucky to have one in Singapore that looked after all of the details. For the post-wedding reception I was not able to find one in time so I did a lot of the planning myself. Wedding planning can be fun but also a lot of work. It is easier to enjoy the day when you don’t have to worry about the details yourself. It is easier when a wedding planner has things under control. Wedding planners are also great at bringing your vision of the wedding day to life. They have a way of bringing all the details together so everything works and flows.
Wedding favors are one of the things you can personalize and make special for guests. To incorporate something special from my husband’s heritage, I searched and searched to find tea that came from Sri Lanka, also known as Ceylon Tea. Sri Lanka exports lots of tea, so I thought this would be an excellent thing to share with our guests. I found a tin from Harney & Sons that worked with the color scheme and had an elegant look to it, so that worked out well.
I chose the Vendage invitation design by Kamal for Bella Figura because it was more exotic, but also very elegant. I chose the colors based on the colors in my cholee – I loved the emerald green and gold. I thought it would be neat to do two colors — one color in letterpress ink and one in foil. The end result was gorgeous!
One of my favorite moments of the day was doing the outfit change. Most of the wedding guests had never been to a wedding that included attire different from the traditional North American attire. For the first part of the evening we wore traditional North American attire. For the second portion of the evening we wore attire that is more traditional in Sri Lanka. When we walked in after the outfit change, the reaction from the guests was one of awe and surprise! They loved the outfits! It was so different than anything they had seen before, but they loved it!
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Photography: Mango Studios | Stationery: Bella Figura | Cake: Cake Couture Edible Art | Flowers: Swish Flowers | Dress: Pronovias | Tuxedo: Kingsmen Shop | Venue: Fairmont Hotel MacDonald | Decor: Special Event Rentals | Wedding Favors: Harney & Sons Fine Tea