WEDDING BLOG

Multicultural Wedding in Costa Rica with Taiwanese and Norwegian Traditions

June 3, 2010 | editorial team

A destination wedding can be a wonderful opportunity to get away with a group of your close friends and family, to spend true quality time together. In this week’s Real Wedding, photographed by Ben Chrisman Photography, that is exactly what the bride and groom, Kay and Thomas, decided to do. The couple and their loved ones jetted off to Costa Rica in February for this colorful tropical celebration!

The Goals: Besides having a dream destination wedding, Kay and Thomas wanted their day to be a personalized and memorable affair that really brought people together. By doing special things like writing personal and funny vows, and incorporating both Taiwanese and Norwegian traditions, the couple got the unique wedding they were hoping for.

The Design: For her color palette, Kay chose to simply use red for its traditional meaning of good luck in Chinese culture. The invitations, from Wedding Paper Divas, had a casual tropical theme to match the feel of the venue, the Zephyr Palace at Villa Caletas. In honor of Kay’s Taiwanese heritage, the couple released beautiful flying wish lanterns. A bit like a miniature hot air balloon, they are traditionally used at celebrations to symbolize the hopes, dreams and wishes for the bride and grooms’ new life together as a couple. For Thomas’ Norwegian heritage, they served guests Aquavit, a special flavored spirit made in Scandinavia.

For their ceremony, Kay and Thomas wrote touching and humorous personal vows in a wonderfully unconventional way – for each other! First, Kay presented Thomas’ vows to Thomas: “You Thomas, take me, Kay, to be your wife. To have and to hold from this day forward, you will do my laundry and give me most of the closet space. For better or for worse, you will believe in my parking karma. For richer, for poorer, you will manage my 401K. In sickness and health, you will love and cherish, any misfit dog I bring home. So long as we both shall live.”

Next, it was time for Thomas to present Kay’s vows to Kay: “You, Kay, take me, Thomas, to be your husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, you’ll eat pork at Christmas and make curly dumplings on my birthday. For better or for worse, you won’t mock my spreadsheet models. For richer or for poorer, we will visit our parents every year. In sickness and in health, you will kick snoring dogs out of the bedroom. To love and to cherish, and to put away the laptop during dinner. From this day forward, as long as we both shall live.” How cute is that?!

The Look: Kay’s fabulous wedding dress was “self-made.” After selecting a dress off-the-rack, she made alterations to it, creating her ideal wedding look, complete with a handmade veil she made herself, and gorgeous Christian Louboutin shoes. She also made necklaces for her bridesmaids using antique watch faces decorated with birds that she found at a Parisian flea market, symbolizing “time flies.” They were a lovely addition to their cream and black bridesmaids’ dresses from Anthropologie. Thomas wore a dashing custom made suit from JC and Son Tailoring Co.

The Moments: Despite being the dry season in Costa Rica, it was pouring down rain the day of the wedding. Thomas says, “It actually worked out perfectly, we planned to start the ceremony at 4:30pm, but our guests were late because they stayed at a small boutique hotel in Jaco that ran out of water since everyone was showering at the same time. Our guests arrived at 4:45pm, and as soon as they sat down it started to rain. They all rushed inside and soon it started pouring. There are many tense pictures of us – Kay trying to pray the rain away, and Thomas trying to figure out a Plan B. Just after 5pm, the rain subsided and the clouds parted for our wedding ceremony. According to Kays dad, the word rain in Taiwanese is a homonym for good luck. Indeed, it was a lucky day all the way around.”

Later, during the reception, a family member surprised the couple (who weren’t planning on having a first dance) with a song he had written just for them, leading to an impromptu and meaningful first dance for Kay and Thomas after all.

As the night ended, guests headed outdoors to light their wish lanterns. Both the bride and groom fondly remember hearing everyone’s wishes as they prepared to release them, and as Imagine by John Lennon played in the background, the lanterns floated up into the beautiful Costa Rican sky.

The Pros: To learn about all of the incredible wedding professionals who helped to make this wedding a reality, please visit our Real Weddings section .

Thank you so much for sharing your sweet wedding with us Kay and Thomas! What a lovely event!

If you’re planning a wedding in Southern California or Seattle, don’t miss our trusted Plan Your Wedding Hotlist!

Vintage Fashion Engagement Photos from top New York Photographers – Maloman Photographers

June 3, 2010 | editorial team

Don’t miss the super fashionable engagement photos on Photobug today, from top New York photographer, Stephan Maloman.

Naturally Beautiful Wedding Makeup from Lynn’s Makeup Art

June 3, 2010 | editorial team

Here at Junebug, we love all things wedding makeup related. From the pretty, pristine packaging, to the way it can transform and enhance your look, we adore it all. So, we asked makeup genius and super-talented Junebug member, Lynn Switzky from Lynn’s Makeup Art, to tell us how to get a clean, romantic and natural look for your wedding day. Using one of her recent brides, Hailey, as the perfect example, Lynn gave us all the details…

The Idea: This look is great on any bride. Hailey was going for a soft romantic look for her wedding day. She doesn’t wear a lot of make-up on a day-to-day basis, so she wanted to look polished but not too dramatic. If a bride is looking for something subtle that will showcase her natural beauty, it’s always best to stick with earth tones. You can’t go wrong with them because they look great on everybody! Golds and champagnes are wonderful too because they add just enough light and shimmer to make the bride’s wedding makeup sparkle.

The Eyes: We wanted to emphasize her eyes, so we went for a soft smoky eye; which I sometimes call a daytime smoky eye – not too dark and not too light, but a wash of a medium shade all over the lid. We used a beautiful bronze from MAC called Tempting, all over her lid and blended it out with soft brown shadow, also by MAC, called Soba. To add a soft shimmering highlight on her brow bone, we used MAC’s Ricepaper. For a less dramatic look, we lined her eyes top and bottom with a dark brown eyeliner from MAC, called Teddy. It’s a beautiful dark brown with a bronze shimmer to add a little more light and emphasis on the eyes. I love to use metallic eye liners because they add so much light to the eye that the the eye color really pops. I curled her lashes, and of course, only applied waterproof mascara. It’s a must for the wedding day! It’s also a pro secret: only waterproof mascara will hold the curl! If you try regular mascara the lashes will just fall back to normal. We used a denser false lash for tiny bit of extra drama. They were thick from base to tip, and flared longer at the outer corners. For a more natural look, use wispier lashes that are thinner at the tips.

The Face: I think keeping the skin as natural looking as possible really allows the bride to shine, not the make-up. I love using Youngblood Mineral Radiance Moisture Tints for subtle coverage, and Chanel Teint Innocence for a little extra coverage and a dewy finish. Always set with powder, like Youngblood Hi-Definition Powder to ensure the make-up lasts all day.

The Cheeks: I love using peachy-pink tones on the cheeks for a rosy and natural look. Sometimes pinks look a little too “doll” like, and peaches and corals can look beachy, so look for shades that are a mix of both pink and peach. To bring out the shape of your cheekbones, contour the cheeks with a bronzer, and highlight the top of the cheeks with a light shimmer powder, then apply the blush to the apples of the cheeks. This technique will give you a beautiful rosy glow and bring out your bone structure in photos.

The Lips: Longevity is key for weddings, so I like to use a natural pink liner and fill in the entire lip, then I used a soft nude/pink gloss, like Love Nectar from MAC. Most of my brides want something sheer, soft and comfortable to wear on their wedding day, so they usually wear gloss. Lip gloss is also easy to re-apply throughout the wedding.