We are officially under 1 month away from the big day! Having just gone through a bit of a crisis (more on that later) in my career, I am so ready to finish the last mile of my wedding planning process on a high note and in 3 weeks, walk down the aisle and marry my best friend!

In the next coming weeks, I have a hair appointment, final dress fitting, video shoot to finish up, and an appointment to apply for a marriage license. But I wanted to share some REAL insight and advice on what I’ve learned in the last 11 months with you today. If you’re a bride to be, listen closely.. and if you’ve been there and done that, read on and laugh with (at) me!!

By the way, these photos are actually part of my Engagement Shoot, taken by the amazing Jen Fellows from Acqua Photos. We decided to capture something real and AUTHENTIC of what’s actually going on a few months before the wedding – looking at details of the wedding and enjoying every moment. Instead of dressing up and trying to act all lovey-dovey (we did that, too, for the record, and I didn’t love the end result), we decided to capture what’s REAL. I can’t tell you how much MORE I love this kind of photo shoot; it tells a story without me having to try at all!

So here are the things I’ve learned in the last 11 months that I wish I knew before I started:

1) Starting earlier is ALWAYS better than starting later

And I don’t just mean the wedding planning process itself, but the bits and pieces of the process. It’s never too late to get that MINTED order in (especially knowing sometimes they mess up!! I had such nightmares dealing with them), start thinking about your guest list, and finalizing your seating charts… These are things that you think you can’t do until later in the process, but start laying them out! You can change your mind later, but at least you won’t be starting from scratch when time is all of a sudden limited. Which, trust me, WILL happen to you!

2) Select the right wedding planner

This is kind of an obvious one on the surface. Depending on what you need, you may be looking for a day-of, month-of, or full-service wedding planner. Some specialize in ethnic weddings, other specialize in design.  I personally interviewed 6 different wedding planners myself within a 2 month period and eventually decided to go with Nicole George Events.

The reason I picked Nicole over all the other ones I interviewed was because she seemed more 1) organized 2) calm and composed 3) stylish when it comes to personal style. Honestly, that’s about how much you can glean from a 30-60 minute meeting with anyone. If you ask me, hiring a wedding planner is such a tricky business because you can’t really “try out” their service. You have 1-2 meetings to determine whether you like them, and after you’ve signed with them there’s pretty much no turning back. I am extremely lucky that Nicole turned out to be everything she was during our initial consultation. She is always prompt and responsive in terms of communication, and understands my vision, and listens more than she talks. The most important thing has been that she provides feedback at the right moment – she understands to complement my vision, and not to overpower it. These are such important traits for people in the service industry, especially wedding related business because everything is so personal.  I love that about Nicole.

So when you’re looking for a wedding planner, I’d say look for people that click with you personally, someone whose demeanor you can work with (they’re not talking too fast, taking 3 days to respond to your email, wearing a lip color that you could never imagine wearing, or proposes ideas that are surprising to you in not-so-positive ways). If you should be judgemental ONCE in your life time, this is the time to exercise judgement.

3) Have a theme, but more importantly, tell your story

With Nicole’s help, we defined the stylistic theme of our wedding very early on. It was blush and midnight blue in terms of color, and the overall style is romantic, soft, and gardenesque. This was all Nicole’s work, so it was easier on my part.

What was more challenging is how to weave the story of how Victor and I met, how we are as a couple, and what binds us together, all into this look and feel. If you’re trying to do the same, I’d recommend

A. Work on your vow first, even if you’re way early in wedding planning. Write down the things you have to say to thank and appreciate your significant other. What comes to mind and what is the glue in your relationship.. what holds you together? Go from there.

B. Think about the touch points on the wedding day – a cocktail napkin probably won’t have as much impact as a sign displayed at the front entrance. Pick and choose the aspects of the wedding day where you want the story to come through. You can’t have EVERYTHING tell your story.. that will be sensory overload for your guests!

C. Much like what I did for our engagement shoot… think about ways to capture you guys in your most natural and authentic state. Having anything that’s less posted and scripted is always better!

4) If you don’t have a vision, tap into Pinterest. But only moderately.

Every wedding planner I interviewed said that they have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest. And it’s true! It’s the best tool there is when it comes to perusing the different options out there, but it isn’t always the easiest to organize and keep track of things.

I personally liked to go to StyleMePretty.com or TheKnot.com to look for aesthetic inspiration. Or I go to a big/established wedding planner or famous photographer’s websites to get ideas. Unless these people have been paying special attention to SEO, not all of their material land on Pinterest.

5) Don’t forget to involve your significant other

Depending on the significant other’s personality, they may or may not be heavily involved in the wedding planning process. I say involve them anyway, but gauge what the “right level” is. It’s very common for the bride to take on most of the responsibilities and make most of the decisions. But it’s BOTH of your big da, so you don’t want him to be surprised about what happens during your wedding, especially financially related items, haha. Yes, be on the same page regarding your budget, and involve him in your decision making process.

All Photography by Jen Fellows at Acqua Photo

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From now till April, I will be sharing bits and pieces of details of my wedding planning that I’ve really enjoyed. It’s an ambitious goal… but I’m going to try to document this process as much as I can. On my list are things like wedding grown selection process, florist selection, and maybe how I found my wedding planner. (this will be a long one!) Is there anything in particular that you want to see?! Leave me a comment and let me know!

First up is the wedding cake and mini wedding desserts. Originally, this wasn’t going to be a significant part of my wedding as neither my fiancé nor I are really into sweets. When comparing to all other elements of a wedding, we both thought cake and desserts weren’t an important aspect for us. BUT ALL OF THIS CHANGED when I met Peggy.

Guys, checking out Peggy’s website here and see all the amazing work she’s done!

Peggy reached out to me over Instagram/email, and we met up. It turned out we have so many things in common – we both went to UCSD, we both grew up in Taiwan, and we share very similar views in what’s aesthetically pleasing! I instantly knew she would be great to work with. Peggys’ the type of person that listens more than she talks, and is very deliberate about her design, and is very thoughtful in her approach to her designs.

If you happen to be planning a wedding, too, I highly recommend you having an in-person meeting/tasting so everyone can be on the same page when it comes to the way desserts look, taste, and how important a role desserts play in the wedding compared to every other element. It’s just such a fun type of meeting. And truth be told, and who doesn’t like to chat wedding over some delicious dessert and hot cup of tea? So let met break down in the paragraph next that outlines the way we approached the dessert designing process:

P.S. All the photos here are taken by Cavin Elizabeth Photography – If you’re still looking for a wedding photographer, you don’t be disappointed with Cavin’s meticulous work!!

1. Understanding Aesthetics & Taste

This, to me, was probably the most important aspect of it all. In viewing Peggy’s website, it was immediately clear that she shares the clean and crisp colors with feminine touches that I really like. And both coming from Taiwanese up-bringing and culture, I knew she will be able to understand I’m not the biggest fan of most of the typically American desserts simply because the sugar content is usually way too high for my palate. So with these two factors locked in, I couldn’t wait to get into the planning process with Peggy.

2. Determine Size of The Cake

Thanks to my wedding planner, Nicole, I didn’t have to worry about it this much. She provided this chart and between her and Peggy, it was clear how much cake we needed based on the number of guests we have. Having an experienced wedding planner definitely pays off!

3. In Person Meeting and Tasting

This was the fun part!! All of the photos you see in this post are taken on the tasting day. It was such a team effort pulling together my wedding planner, cake designer, and photographer to get this project done, it came together seamlessly.

Peggy made 4 cakes for me, in mini-forms of course, including an almond cake, Ricotta cheese cake, flourless chocolate mousse cake, and a French strawberry cake. I have to honestly say they were ALL delicious, in 100% honesty. I’m not a dessert person to begin with, so when I say it’s good, it’s REALLY good!! It was hard picking THE one for our wedding, but I settled on the Ricotta cheese cake because I thought it would be appealing to most people. My personal favorite was the almond cake :p

We also had 3 kinds of mini desserts including rose macarons, mini fruit tarts, and these gorgeous looking white chocolate mousse raspberry verrines. I ended up asking her to make ALL of them for the wedding – the flavors were on POINT and they all looked so deliciously gorgeous!!

 From left to right : Almonds Cake with Mascarpone Cheese Filling; Ricotta Cheese Cake also with Mascarpone Cheese Filling; Flourless Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Mousse  french Strawberry Cake  White Chocolate Mouse Raspberry Verrines  Mini Fruit Tarts  Rose Macarons

4. Adjustment and Post-Tasting Follow Up

After a wonderful time spent together tasting all the deliciousness, we had candid conversations about the wedding planning process with Cavin and Nicole both sharing their personal experiences with particular weddings in terms of planning and photography.

The next day, Peggy sent an email to confirm the type of cake and dessert I was going to have, and we also confirmed the number of each piece that she was going to make. With Nicole’s input too, we also settled on cake stands, delivery time, clean-up and everything related to my wedding cake.

I can’t tell you how much I’d recommend Peggy’s service to all of you in San Diego. I mean, these pictures honestly speak for themselves, right? Pst… she also makes birthday cakes, kids cakes, and any other events. Reach out to her if you need to inquire about her service!

All photography by Cavin Elizabeth Photography

Disclaimer: Peggy has kindly offered to provide tasting and day-of cake and dessert to me free of charge. But all opinion expressed here is with 100% honesty and sincerity.

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