We met in a Japanese jujitsu class. I saw Elvis in the corner of the room working out with his cousin. Immediately I thought, “ooh…kind of cute”… but after watching him for a bit, I figured he wasn’t training seriously (which was important to me) and most likely would be a jerk. After class that day, I ran into him as he was leaving and I said “Hi”. He returned my “Hi” quite unemotionally and I thought “Yep, I knew it, jerk”.
To my shock, he continued coming to class and even began asking me questions on how techniques worked. After talking in class and via text for about 2 months, he passed all my tests and I asked him out.
Our engagement was the biggest non-surprise surprise. We had decided almost 2 months prior to getting engaged that we were going to get married. We had already begun looking at photographers, florists and venues. We even had Seven4one already booked!
Unbeknownst to me, Elvis had asked both our families to show up for dinner one evening. It was a Friday and we both had gotten off work early so we could meet with a photographer and get out to Malibu. (Funny enough, that photographer ended up being the photographer we chose to do our engagement and wedding photos.)
Elvis was very insistent that we arrive at sunset. Once we got there, he dragged me down to the beach, heels and all, where he had laid a blanket down with rose petals. As soon as we got there, he popped the question because I had already started crying. Both our families were on the Gladstone’s deck cheering on, as well as the rest of the restaurant.
We definitely had a lot of small special touches to the wedding just to make the day ours. We wanted to just do it our way and show people what we, as a couple, were all about.
Elvis’ wedding ring was a custom ring. He is at heart an old man that loves wood accents. It was only fitting that his wedding ring have an olivewood inlay in it. You can’t see the wood when he is wearing the ring, it looks like a regular wedding ring.
We made all our own favors. We like functional gifts and hated all the ridiculous favors that people were selling. So we decided on making handmade lye soaps for everyone. Not only was it cost effective, useful after the wedding, but it was something that we made with love for all our guests.
I baked all the desserts for my dessert bar. I am a pastry cook by trade and worked in a Michelin star restaurant and there was no way that I would serve my guests mediocre desserts.
One of our biggest issues was always costs, we cut costs in any way possible and did many DIY items (invitations, favors, desserts, programs, flower basket, ring pillow).
Everything in our wedding was designed by us down to our logo. We did not have room in our budget for a photobooth, but have always loved polaroids and ended up with a polaroid station made up of a giant foam polaroid frame to create a photobooth polaroid look.
In the end, we are beyond ecstatic about how the wedding went. It was perfect down to the “T”. Two months later, people still tell us how much they enjoyed our wedding. The staff at Seven4one was beyond amazing and made our day perfect. The attention to detail was amazing. They worked their tushies off to give us the wedding of our dreams.
If we had to do it over again, we wouldn’t change a thing.
~ Fiona & Elvis Chen
