This amazing couple was a blast to work with! Nadia hired me back in January to come alongside her as she finished all the details of her wedding. At the time of hiring me, Nadia had all her visions and dreams for her wedding in her head, and didn’t really know how to get all she wanted accomplished for her wedding done in a timely manner. I remember that after our Planning Consultation, she left feeling relieved in knowing that if she stuck to her planning guideline, she would have everything she wanted done with time to spare to enjoy her wedding week…

As the months flew by, I remember about two weeks before the wedding Nadia calling to ask me about postponing her wedding date and what she needed to do if that was the route she had to go. When I heard this, I immediately had to find out why. Thankfully, the only reason they might have had to postpone her wedding was because of the “swine flu” epidemic and the fact that both she and James had several relatives (including their dads) that were supposed to come from China for their wedding. Well, because China has such strict travel rules, they imposed a “quarantine” on all travelers returning/coming into their country. What this meant for James and Nadia is that any guest that came to the US for their wedding and then returned to China after wards had to be “quarantined” for what we were informed would be 30 days, so no returning to work. I asked both Nadia and James to confirm that their fathers would still come, regardless of the quarantine. Thankfully, they both were able to make it, but sadly several of their Chinese relatives did not.

Their wedding day turned out to be one of the hottest days in May, but I was just truly grateful it was beautiful for their Rose Garden Ceremony at the Richard Nixon Library. Nadia chose a warm, beautiful combination of flowers in golden yellow, peaches, pinks, and red hughes. The flowers added such beauty to the already gorgeous rose garden and especially brought out the amber warmth of the East Room for their reception.

One of the smartest decisions that Nadia and James made was to have a professional officiant and MC for their wedding ceremony and reception. Phyllis was fantastic, engaging and a wonderful translator for everyone who spoke both English and Chinese. I know this made all of the guests feel welcome and honored to have someone who could interpret all the wedding traditions and customs…

Nadia and James decided to meet before the wedding ceremony and were able to really enjoy having some time together. Nadia blew me away with her gorgeous wedding gowns too…. yes, I did say “gowns.” She had three of them… A very romantic, ivory and lace wedding gown for the ceremony, which she stayed in for pictures with all of their guests in the Rose Garden after their ceremony (they did this as a receiving line…). Then after their formal grand entrance in the East Room for the reception, both Nadia and James slipped away to change into very traditional Chinese wedding apparel: Nadia was in a sassy, chic red Chinese gown and James in his “Jet Lee” black tunic and ivory pants. Stunning they both were to say the least. Then later for their first dance, they changed again… Nadia into a formal peachy pink ball gown and James into a white tux. They awed their guests, and me, with a memorable choreographed first dance that had everyone on their feet clapping and screaming in delight. Oh, I forgot to mention too that along with Nadia changing her attire three times, she also completely changed her hair and makeup to align exactly with her new gown. Nobella did a fantastic job at creating a new, glam look for Nadia each and every time. Bravo!!!

Guests enjoyed fantastic cuisine and yummy cocktails, of course by no other than White House Catering, and they danced the night away to the grooves and music by the DJ’s of Fly by Night. Oh, I also have to brag about the lighting effects by FBN as well. The warm amber hughes and personalized name on the dance floor made the East Room feel as if it was built just for Nadia and James’ wedding…

Congrats to Nadia & James! Thank you, thank you for the beautiful wedding… Blessings to you both!

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