Leslie and Jeffrey's Wedding Featured in BRIDES

Humbled. Honored. Proud. Elated. We're beyond thrilled that in three years, we've had three separate weddings featured in the national magazine BRIDES. I personally don't plan my clients' weddings with a goal for it to be published in a magazine (unless they specify in the beginning that they would like for it to be published), but I feel so happy and giddy when that does happen, because I think it's such a meaningful keepsake for the clients. Imagine being able to show that to your children, or grandchildren!

Leslie and Jeffrey's wedding is especially deserving of getting this SIX page spread in BRIDES. Every detail was so meticulously designed and planned, with Leslie at the helm as a super involved bride and a group of very talented Event Professionals to support her. Beaulieu Garden is a beautiful, magical property in the wine country. As soon as you drive down the tree lined path, you cannot help but instantly fall in love with the picturesque beauty around you. It was the perfect place to hold Leslie and Jeffrey's 'summer getaway' wedding, where friends and families traveled from all over the world to celebrate with this special couple.

This wedding had all the elements of a perfect guest experience. From the moment the guests arrived, they were greeted by valet attendants, followed by a Paula Le Duc Fine Catering staff with their famous out-of-this-world minted ice tea. Imagine strolling through a lovely rose garden with minted ice tea on a warm summer day, before being greeted by smiling ushers to show you to your seats for the ceremony. The ceremony began precisely at the invitation-stated start time, which I find to be extremely important in respect to all of your guests who made the effort to arrive early or on time. After witnessing a heartfelt ceremony, guests took another stroll to the adjacent 'Secret Garden', where they were greeted with delicious hors d'oeurves from Paula Le Duc Fine Catering, which included Pecking Duck Mini Tacos, Buttermilk Fried Chicken Bites, and Ahi Tuna Cones, amongst other delicacies. Several vignettes were designed by Leslie and Gloria Wong where guests got to peer into the lifestyle of Leslie and Jeffrey, along with special childhood memories and meaningful travels.

Dinner was served under an arbor filled with twinkle lights and vines, with romantic, flickering candles hanging above the head table where Leslie and Jeffrey enjoyed an evening of laughter, extraordinary food, and great music with those that matter to them most. The party continued after dinner, where guests danced under the starry sky, enjoyed cupcakes with varying shades of pink frosting, a wedding cake by Cake Coquette that was way too pretty to cut up, and a photobooth where the laughter never stopped.

Though it was hard to say good bye at the end of the evening, Leslie and Jeffrey were sent off in their vintage car with all the love and blessings in the world from their friends and family.

A Sweet and Classic Wedding

Classic weddings never go out of style. I love this simple, sweet wedding that I worked on with Nancy Liu Chin Designs a year and a half ago, at the Menlo Circus Club on a hot summer day. The lush, pink peonies filled this tucked away space with sweetness. Lovely all around....thanks Nancy for the two great boards below which brings back all the memories of that beautiful June day!

Photography by Cooper Carras Photography

Our 2010 in Review

Happy New Year! We are so excited to welcome 2011, but before we do so, we want to take some time to reflect upon some wonderful achievements and experiences from 2010.

January--we started the year off with a beautiful New Year's wedding at the St. Regis in San Francisco, photographed by the very talented Jose Villa. Congratulations on your anniversary Michelle and Joe!

Also in January, we co-produced the second Wedding University, an all day educational session for newly engaged couples to learn the art of wedding planning, while enjoying champagne and sophisticated culinary from the Four Seasons Palo Alto!


The Wedding University SDE from andrew msv on Vimeo.


February and March--our entire February and March was dedicated to fine tuning the details of The Academy for Planners and Designers, a 3 day conference that we co-produced for event planners, event designers, and floral designers from all over the world. Over 120 attendees from all over the country, Canada, and Mexico traveled to San Francisco to attend this, and it was the most complex, yet amazing event we have ever produced! It was a year in the making, and we spared no expenses to bring in top notch speakers from around the country to teach all about business, marketing, design and planning. Ofcourse, a conference for planners and designers must have amazing parties as well, and there were two over the top parties as a part of the 3 day experience, designed by the very talented Gloria Wong Tritasavit of Gloria Wong Design.


TAPD Online Academy from andrew msv on Vimeo.

April and May were spent focused heavily on the planning of our clients' summer weddings. We also helped one of our clients plan a lovely, intimate birthday party at their Napa Valley home on the first of May!

In addition, we were especially ecstatic to see one of our weddings from last year featured as a multi page spread in the national Bride's magazine in May! Congratulations to our fun-loving couple Julie and Nathan!

In June, we had two beautiful weddings that couldn't have been more different. The first one was a romantic outdoor wedding at Beaulieu Gardens in the Wine Country--congrats to Leslie and Jeffrey! 

I am unable to post any photographs of this wedding yet as it will also be featured as a multi-page spread in an upcoming issue of Bride's magazine. Once the magazine is out, I will be sure to post the gorgeous photos from Lisa Lefkowitz! 

Our second wedding in June was a black tie affair at the Bently Reserve, located in the heart of San Francisco's financial district. Congrats to Helen and Hwa! Their beautiful wedding was featured on the popular wedding blog Style Me Pretty. Photographs below by Lisa Lefkowitz.

In July, I flew to Anguilla in the Caribbean for a site inspection at the Viceroy Anguilla. Ofcourse, I had to take my husband with me and make it a vacation! It is an amazing property, and you can read about our trip here.

I also flew to Dallas, Texas in July to film designer extraordinaire Todd Fiscus for a few educational segments that Wedding 360 was producing. It was tremendously inspiring, and I learned a great deal for my business. The videos can be purchased and view online here. All films produced by the very talented Andrew Hsu of Studio MSV.

In August, we had a gorgeous wedding at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay that gave guests a winter wonderland experience in the middle of summer. The entire Ritz Carlton ballroom and foyers were recarpeted in white, and we had a stilt walker and contortionist to entertain guests. This wedding will be featured in Mocha magazine soon, so I can only post a few photos for now. Congratulations to Joy and Tim!

Also in August, we received a bit more press; this time, in Northern California Brides magazine! 

September was a HUGE month for us, with an over the top, ultra extravagant wedding at San Francisco City Hall. Congratulations to Nune and Roger! In 8 months, approximately 1200 hours were spent on the design, logistics, and production of this wedding between my team and the team from our design partner Gloria Wong!! What a journey that was, and I am so, so proud of the entire team for all of their hard work to make this wedding the success that it was. Here are some behind the scenes photos of our 33 hours of set up at City Hall...

A record high amount of paperwork I had for my team, detailing out the production of this wedding

HUGE decal for the dance floor! Performing on that stage were California from LA (American Idol's house band), and Village People! 

Nancy Liu Chin's dedicated team at work! 

It took a lot of hours and manpower to get this astounding floral arch up and in place!

October was a super busy month for us too, with two weddings. The first one was at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, one of our favorite venues for its uniqueness and spectacular panoramic view from their Hamon Tower. Congratulations to Carolyn and David! 

The second one was deeply, deeply special to me. Amanda, who has been working with me as my Event Production Lead for nearly 2 years now, got married!! She married her cute high school sweetheart Steven, and it was an incredible honor for me to be her wedding planner. As I sent her down that aisle at the Julia Morgan Ballroom, I really had to hold back tears, as it felt like watching my little sister get married! Amanda has been such an integral part of my business ever since she came on board, and I am so thankful to have met her. Congratulations Amanda and Steven! 

I LOVE this wedding highlight video that Kevin Chin Cinematography just completed for them. I especially admire how he was able to convey the intimate, emotional feelings during parts of the day, and then the fun, party vibe in others. It is a perfect reflection of Amanda and Steven's 20 hour wedding day! 

Amanda + Steven from Phillip V on Vimeo.

Also in October, we participated in a cover shoot for Today's Bride, which was a lot of fun. We got to work with some of the very best talents in the industry!

We had our last wedding of the year in November, at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Congratulations to Minnie and Brian, a sweet, loving couple that was remarkable to work with. 

December is a time for us to really reflect upon all the learnings from each of the weddings that we worked on, and fine tune our processes so that we can continue to do the best possible job for our clients in the year to come. The last week of December is 'shut down' time for us though, as we also value the joy of spending the holidays with our families. 

All in all, we are extremely happy with 2010, and look forward to a spectacular 2011. Last, but not least, a huge shout out to all my event leads and assistants this year--Amanda, Joey, Katie, Karen, Ginger, Julie, Gail, Yvonne, Alice, Jean, Megan, Jacqueline, Steven, and Alan!