Photo credits: Mrs. Eggplant unless otherwise specified

I am not a tiara type of girl. In my mind, a tiara was one of those accessories that screamed, "princess!" Early during my planning, I decided that it would be a snowy day in July before I'd wear a tiara at my wedding.

Of course, I ended up wearing a tiara at my wedding. I like to call it a headpiece so it sounds less princess-y.  You see, it started with the dress. I fell in love with a gorgeous satin dress with rhinestones lining the bust. Then, I discovered Thomas Knoell, designer of couture accessories, and it was love at first click.

Thomas Knoell creates accessories that are carefully hand crafted in various metals and adorned with Swarovski crystals. I loved so many things about his pieces, but mostly, I loved that the silver had an antique feel and finish. The jewelry was elegant enough to make a statement, yet subdued enough to complement my bridal attire rather than compete with it.

I ordered my headpiece through Jin Wang, a San Francisco bridal atelier that carries Thomas Knoell. When I learned of the price, I did a double take. But, I bit the bullet and cut back on spending in other areas of the wedding (e.g. our programs and invitations). Surprisingly, the price that Jin Wang charged was slightly less than what it would've cost to purchase directly from Thomas Knoell. I custom designed my headpiece, choosing antique silver for the metal with accents of light pink crystals.

Although the headpiece looks thick and sturdy, it was feather-light and delicate. The pink crystals were barely noticeable while I was wearing the piece. They just added a touch of interest and a hint of color. I loved that the crystals sparkled like crazy and reflected pretty, colored light.

And now, some pictures of the hairpiece in action:

Photo credit: Apertura Photography 

Here it is, paired up with my gown.

Photo credit: Apertura Photography 

And here's a closer look. Thomas Knoell can also customize the piece to be longer (if you want it like a headband behind your ears) or shorter (if you want to wrap it around a bun).

Photo credit: Apertura Photography

Although the hairpiece was pricey, I take comfort in knowing that my future sister-in-law loved the piece as much as I did, and she'll be wearing it next year during her nuptials. I highly recommend Thomas Knoell to other brides that are looking for elegant, yet subtle hair accessories. He also makes beautiful earrings, bracelets, and other jewelry. The hair pins and combs can be a less expensive option to the band style pieces. Check the website out for more.

Ahh, the wedding reception details. I think happy thoughts when I see these photos. It's so satisfying to see nine months of planning come to fruition. The projects weren't Martha Stewart perfect, but they were special to me; it was the blood, sweat, and tears of myself and my closest family and friends that helped to pull this event off. I'm also deeply indebted to our floral designer/DOC/life saver, Stacey Miller. She handled a few emergencies without mentioning a single word to me and she made our day utterly fabulous!

Part I: Primped and Prettied
Part II: The Dashing Gents
Part III: The Wedding Duds + A Suite Switcharoo
Part IV: The Threads, and How They Unravel!
Part V: Meet 'n Greet
Part VI: Ceremoniously Wed
Part VII: Wedding Portraits

All photographs are property of the awesome Apertura Photography.

While Erwin was finishing up or portrait session at Stanford University campus, Ray headed back to take awesome pictures of our wedding details: 

 
For escort cards, I made the flowered creations above. My cousin created three amazing ribbon boards that complimented perfectly. I'll write a full post on the project soon, I promise. For now, let me say that the cards were a huge pain in the you-know-what. I punch each borders by hand until my palms were crying bloody murder and my Martha Stewart punch cracked.

I made special place cards for Mr. Eggplant and me. Obviously, we knew where we'd be sitting. But, these make for a good photo op, don't they?

Guests commented on our table numbers and told us they really liked them. Some even took them home!

Stacey designed a mix of high and low centerpieces. These balls were the flowers from our ceremony, re-purposed as tall table decor. 

Our low centerpieces were elegantly wrapped roses in a clear vase. Simple, yet pretty.

Thankfully, the banquet room lights were dim for this photo. In real life, our wedding cake was not as beautiful as this picture. The fondant was a faded green color that didn't quite match the ribbon that I provided to the bakery. However, at $2.77 a slice, I'm not complaining.

My cousin gifted me with these initials to decorate our cake table. The letters were purchased from Paper Source and she painted them in pretty shades of pink and brown.

Ray took a pretty photo of our Wang Love Knots cake servers. I've already used these a few times since the wedding, so I consider them a good purchase.

Candy buffets may be played out, but ours was a HUGE hit with everyone. Our emcee had trouble convincing people to stay seated during dinner. They were constantly mulling around the candy table.

For 180 guests, I purchased one third of a pound of candy per person. I limited the amount of sweets that each person could take home by providing compact Chinese take out cartons. These proved to be useful when Grandma Eggplant grabbed one and stuffed her leftover prime rib into it!

These were our Ferrero Rocher table favors and dinner menus, which I promise to write about soon.

Stacey decorated the sweetheart table with the bridesmaid bouquets. They looked stunning and it saved us money.

As guests trickled into cocktail hour, they were handed a guestbook page by my sister-in-law and and Mr. Eggplant's cousin, who also watched over the wedding gifts.

Stacey created tall centerpieces for the check-in table using floating orchids and water. Pictures of the Eggplant parents also decorated the space.

Garden Court Hotel served everyone with yummy hors d'oeuvres.  

Mr. Eggplant thought up our specialty cocktails: A Marry Me-hito and a Raspberry Sweetini.

I was ecstatic that people took the time out to complete the guestbook pages. They came up with some pretty creative responses. I'll share a few once I finish compiling the album.   

We had lots of babies and kids at our event. All of them were angels throughout the night and I didn't hear a single cry.

We gave goodie bags to all the kids at our event which included coloring books, crayons, and other fun gifts. They were a hit and I recommend this small gesture to everyone who is inviting young 'uns to the wedding. 

We had the entire courtyard to ourselves during cocktail hour. Here's a view from our hotel suite above.

Erwin/Ray caught a photo of us spying on the festivities below from our hotel suite, right before we headed down to join everyone.

Next up: The football that almost killed our cake and the best man that almost stole my groom!

Hi Folks! I'm back from my trip to France and Spain with the hubs and it was amazing. Mr. Eggplant and I ate lots of tapas, took lots of metro trains, and even spoke some French and Spanish. Now that I've returned, it's time to hurry and finish up the wedding recaps before our first wedding anniversary approaches.

Part I: Primped and Prettied
Part II: The Dashing Gents
Part III: The Wedding Duds + A Suite Switcharoo
Part IV: The Threads, and How They Unravel!
Part V: Meet 'n Greet
Part VI: Ceremoniously Wed

All photographs are property of the awesome Apertura Photography.

If I could change one thing about our wedding, it wouldn't be the bridesmaid dress fiasco. No, I would've left that well enough alone. The only thing I wish I had was more time for portraits. We set aside two hours and it still seemed so short. But, I'm extremely happy with our photos so I have no complaints.

After our family formals in the sanctuary, we took photos with the bridal party in the church's backyard.

  
I don't remember what we were laughing about, but it could've been the fact that I tripped and fell on my face during the wedding rehearsal.  I am truly a klutzball.

Next, Mr. Eggplant and I headed over to Stanford University campus for some one-on-one time with our photographers. Stanford has a gorgeous campus and it was only five minutes from our church and reception venue. Admittedly, I was still a little shy in front of camera. I don't think I'll ever get used to being photographed while trying not to look like a total turd.

 
I've mentioned it before, but I love long veils. They can be so much fun on a windy summer day.

Mmmm. Old Spice or Teen Spirit?

No peeking, folks. This is a private kiss.

I was surprised that my veil didn't fly clear off my head. It was quite windy on our wedding day. The fabric floated up like a kite as Mr. Eggplant and I wandered around the campus.

This picture was a two-page spread in our wedding album. So pretty!

 
Photoshop, I bow down to you. I wish my skin looked like this in real life!

 
This is one of Mr. Eggplant's favorite photos of the whole wedding. At this point, Ray took off to photograph our wedding reception details while Erwin stayed with us to take a few more pictures. Somewhere around this time, my bustle busted, which is why Mr. Eggplant is holding up my dress in the picture. Luckily, I had a safety pin in the hotel room, which I used to pin the train up during the rest of the night.

 
This is my favorite photo of the wedding. It was also taken on Stanford campus. When I finally get around to decorating our home, I plan to blow this up and frame it. I love that it's a picture from our wedding, but it doesn't look "wedding-y."

 
We tried hard to look cool and nonchalant in our pics. I'm not so sure that it worked.

 
After our photo session was over, we scurried down the stairs and headed back to our reception, still right on schedule.

Next up: The wedding details!