A Vibrant Pastel Wedding With Some Seriously Impressive DIY

We met each other through a friend group in 2014. We both went to a small community college where we both were members of a student club called the Asian Student Association. Tim was the only white guy there (even now, his name on my phonebook is still “The White Guy”). Tim stood out of the group of guys I know because he was the one who made me laugh the most. He just stopped by the group, dropped a joke, and I laughed for the rest of the day. Eventually, he wrote me a letter, wax-sealed it, and gave it to me in an empty photo album. In the letter, he asked me to be his girlfriend, wife, and mother of his children, and the photo album is the beginning of our memories (he knows I like paper crafts). He said he couldn’t imagine being with someone else (and he kept his word—I was his first and only girlfriend). Fun fact: I used a wax seal in our invitation and wedding favors as a reference to the letter he wrote.

They traveled to Japan for their annual international vacation. The night before they flew out of the U.S., Tim told Hao he needed to pick up some medicine while she was packing. He was gone longer than expected, but she didn’t think much of it at the time. Their goal for the trip was to ride the Shimanami Kaido, a scenic bike route stretching across six islands. The weather was perfectly clear, and after months of training, they set out to complete the 80km trail from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the fall. The views were breathtaking—both figuratively and literally. Unfortunately, Tim’s rental bike wasn’t the right size and kept malfunctioning, which nearly left them stranded on an island with no cell signal as the sun was setting.

They hadn’t eaten enough during the ride, so by the end of the day they were exhausted. They barely returned their rental bikes on time but still missed the last ferry back to Onomichi, and there was no train available. While searching for the next destination, they got lost and were even chased by unknown animals—possibly a boar, though they were too scared to look back. They finally made it to the finish line, returned the bikes, and managed to catch the last bus off the island. When Google Maps directed them to get off at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, the bus driver spoke to them in Japanese. Thankfully, Tim understood enough to communicate, and the driver told them to get off at a different stop. They eventually made it home safely. Hao later joked that without Tim, she might still be lost in Japan. Only afterward did Hao learn that Tim had planned to propose on the final bridge of the route at sunset—and his late-night “medicine” run had actually been a trip to pick up the ring. The actual proposal happened later in Tokyo at one of their favorite spots: a scenic bridge following dinner at a sentimental restaurant they had gone to on their previous vacation.

I wanted a colorful wedding, nothing uniform, and the floral arrangements by Soirees Southern Events to look freshly picked. I worked with House of BASH to create something bright and airy—just like a party in a garden. I wanted it to feel formal while being whimsical.

I found my dress before I found my venue. It was the first dress, at the first store, on the first day of the dress shopping journey. But I didn’t commit immediately. I gave myself time to explore other options, tried five other stores in town, like Kleinfeld, Teuta Matoshi, Vera Wang, etc. From the simplest design to the most over-the-top design, nothing felt right. I kept thinking about that dress. Every three months, I went to try it on again, and I still love it the same way as if it were the first time I tried it on. There were many other prettier dresses I’ve tried on, but when I closed my eyes to imagine myself walking down the aisle, my mind went blank. That’s when I knew she was the one. Since the shawl and the bow are detachable, after the ceremony, I took the shawl off and replaced it with the typical off-the-shoulder sleeves. The sleeves were made of the same fabric as my veil. The train bustled, and I moved the bow from the front to the back, transforming her from an A-line silhouette to a ballgown.

My maid of honor’s dress was from Reformation. Jeannie and I wanted something simple and to support sustainable causes. The other three are from Revelry. I chose the color palette and let my bridal party express themselves through their choices of dresses. The groomsmen’s looks were from The Black Tux. Tim wore a watch made by Thanh, one of the groomsmen, who hand-crafted it just for the wedding.

Tim and I decided on 3 principles when we planned this wedding. First, pictures and videos are the most important thing for us. That’s the only thing that our kids and family can keep and share. So, I interviewed over 100 photographers, viewed over 300 albums and portfolios, and I chose the best of the best. I never once doubted if Hunter could do her job.

The Second Principle: We need to have a good time. We made sure to only invite our favorite people. The last thing we wanted was to invite someone because we were told to.

The Third Principle: Have a wedding we don’t regret (hence, tripling the budget, oopsie) but we didn’t go crazy with anything. We wanted our guests to feel happy.

Your wedding doesn’t have to be big, but it must be with the people whom you love and who love you, the people who don’t mind traveling across the country, oceans, and continents to be with you on your special day, and with the people who just support you mentally and physically unconditionally. Your fiancé doesn’t have to take an active role in planning. I love the freedom Tim gave me to choose whatever I wanted. He understood that every girl always has a vision for their wedding. We funded our own wedding, and he trusted me to handle the finances completely.

Tinkerbell hosted the bar with her signature Peach of Me (yeah, a reference to Britney Spears’ song) for a vodka-peach-lemonade cocktail/mocktail. I also ordered drink stirrers with Rufio’s and Tinkerbell’s faces on them. Most of the dishes are vegetarian and gluten-free to accommodate our guests, as half of them are vegetarian. I was excited about the carbonara, and Tim’s favorite was the beef brisket. He’s a Southern man, born and raised in the South, so a good slab of smoked meat is always one of his favorite dishes.

Jeannie and I had to fold 200 cranes, and selected the best 120. It was such a fun time. The place cards were vinyl-ironed napkin ribbons that I personally designed and made. The table numbers reference the flower box stand I had for the ceremony. It was a fun project learning how to work with wood, making each mini flower box.

The wedding favors were chopsticks with our names and wedding date engraved. I designed, cut, and folded every single box and wrapped each of them. Yeah, that took me two months! And last but not least, while our dogs were there shortly, we wanted to include them as well as our friends’ and family’s pets by sending them home with pet favor bags—Rufio’s biscuit bar for our furry friends.

Nicole from Gingerspice Bakery outdid herself on this. The bottom tier (Tim’s favorite) was Sakura (dense matcha cake, yuzu pastry cream, with matcha buttercream). The middle tier (my favorite) was Lemon Berry (lemon pound cake with blueberries, lemon curd, fresh berries, vanilla pastry cream, and buttercream). The top tier (shared favorite) was Pistachi-oh my (pistachio cake, fresh berries, dark chocolate crumbles, cardamom cream cheese with salted caramel buttercream). It was decorated in a floral arrangement made with clear wafer paper that draped from top to bottom, while 3D pastel butterflies and flowers were sprinkled around the cake. I love the whimsical look! The ruffles on the bottom tier added a different kind of texture to the cake with a gold accent on the edges.

We also had a dessert table, the Treat Yo’ Self dessert bar, hosted by our dog Rufio. We chose the best desserts, and everyone couldn’t stop talking about how good they were. There was a creme brulee bar, custard cream puffs glazed with lemon and lilac colors, fruit tartlets, Earl Grey shortcake, matcha tea cake with blackberry, pecan brownies, pistachio cookies, and other cake flavors turned into parfaits.