Junebug readers, you’re in for a treat today! Christine and Jason’s incredible wedding day started with classic Chinese wedding traditions, moved on to a beautiful Jewish wedding ceremony, and ended in an over-the-top circus themed reception at Circus Juventas, complete with performers flying high above the guests! What a celebration! Read on to hear their wedding planning story and to see all of the wonderful design, images and video from Fete Perfection, Cadence and Eli Photography and Sky Focus Films.
The Goals: Our primary goal was to include traditions of both of our families. Christines family follows many Chinese wedding traditions such as the hair combing ceremony the night before the wedding, the tea ceremony in which you offer tea to your elders, and a grand banquet. The Jewish wedding ceremony was performed at the Synagogue and included traditions such as the signing of the Ketubah, use of a Chuppah, Hakafot (bride circles groom seven times), and Birkat Kohanim (breaking of the glass).
We have been together over a decade and overtime have grown to love many things we often keep secret between each other. Our wedding gave us the opportunity to entertain our guests through tastes, sights, and sounds that best represent what we enjoy but that may have not been revealed before.
The Design: We wanted to take our guests along on a rich, passionate, and mysterious journey. We selected colors such as dark purples, silvers, and black. After selecting Circus Juventas at the venue we decided on an overall style reminiscent of Cirque du Soleils Alegria.
We began with mysterious invitations, an alluring website, and we shrouded most of the details in secrecy. To set the mood for the ceremony we had used theatrical lighting and had a light up chuppah that mirrored the architecture of the synagogue.
For the reception we knew not only the live performances would get a lot of attention but also the venue structure itself, a large almost industrial permanent Circus tent is stunning to look at. We decided to have theatrical lighting for the performances as well as moving light washes to add depth to the ceiling, walls, and seating area.
We worked with Create Catering to make a menu from scratch with flavors we love (such as Barramundi, Butternut Squash, Pumpkin, and Sushi).
The tables were placed in a way to maximized viewing angles of the performances and easy access to the dance floor. Although dinner was plated we decided to have dessert passed by butlers so that guests would get up to socialize at the bars and make their way to the dance floor.
The Look: We both love classic styles with sleek lines. This was easy to achieve for Jason with a peak lapel tuxedo. To give it the extra touch we found a tuxedo with grosgrain trim and added a covered button dress shirt to complete the James Bond look.
For Christine the challenge was finding and tailoring three dresses. Multiple dresses is a common Chinese tradition so we found a the perfect sequined red dress that would represent Chinese style of the dynasty era as well as the early 20th Century. For the Ceremony dress she went with a classic Audrey Hepburn look. For the final dress of the night, a fun silvery ball gown.
The bridesmaids wore deep lapis gowns with black cutout necklaces that highlighted their neckline. The Maid of Honor wore black opera gloves.
The Moments: We had the joy of video conferencing Christines grandmother into the tea ceremony as she could not fly from Hong Kong due to health reasons.
Stopping at our house to take pictures with our twin bunnies, Rev and Axela, was the most memorable moment of the weekend.
Our greatest success was hiring Anna Senrick from Fete Perfection. She was absolutely brilliant at understanding and helping us find the perfect vendors. She thoroughly organized and managed a wedding with a reception venue that had not only never hosted a wedding before but included intricate live performances.
The Pros: To learn about all of the incredibly talented wedding professionals who contributed to Christine and Jason’s wedding, jump over to their page in our Real Weddings Library. And for the full experience, don’t miss this absolutely spellbinding wedding film from Sky Focus Films!
Thank you for sharing your wedding story and images with us Christine and Jason! We simply adore the way you made it your own.
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