Wedding Drink Stations

Drink stations is becoming more and more popular. Bride and grooms want to share with their guests their favorite things. (Sounds like Oprah during Christmas, but I digress.) Drink stations are also  welcomed during really hot weather, outdoor weddings, and during cocktails when some guests don't drink alcohol. For these drink stations, you can have flavored water, soda, iced teas, or a special blends of lemonade.

A couple of years ago, I worked with a bride and groom with designing their wedding. The bride really wanted Taiwanese bubble tea at her wedding for her guests to enjoy at the end of the night. I totally loved this idea and we went with it. We set up a drink station with various types of chilled tea, bubbles (tapioca balls), fruit jellies, and thick straws. All of her wedding guests loved this special touch.

I strongly encourage all brides and grooms to have a drink station at their wedding. If you have a favorite custom drink, showcase it. This is another perfect way to show your unique or blended personalities.

~Monica
Owner and Lead Designer @Wishahmon















Photo Credits: 1) Nicole Hill Gerulat Photography 2), 3), 4) Jessica Claire 5) Marilyn Nakazato 6), 7) The Wedding Tea Room 8) A Bryan Photo 9) Jemma Keech

Comfort Foods at Your Wedding

Everyone has a comfort food that just makes everything ok again. I have to admit that I have quite a few comfort foods and they only became a comfort food of mine about five years ago when I first started eating cheese. Growing up I didn't eat any cheese at all. (Did you know that there isn't a single Chinese dish that uses cheese as one of the ingredients?) Five years ago, my friend made me my first grilled cheese sandwich. This is how the conversation went:

      Me: OMG! This is so good!
      Friend: Are you mocking me?
      Me: No. Seriously, I've never had a grilled cheese sandwich before!
      Friend: It is just bread and sliced cheese.
      Me: Cheese comes in slices?!

Getting back to the reason for this post, wouldn't it be great to share your comfort foods and story with your wedding guests? Of course, they will have to be minature versions but they will make great cocktail appetizers or snacks towards the end of the night. Here are some of great ideas of comfort foods you can serve at your wedding. (Most of them are my comfort foods!)

~Monica
Owner and Lead Designer @Wishahmon

Mac and Cheese bites


Grilled Cheese and Shots of Tomato Soup


Spaghetti and Meat Balls


Mini Hotdogs


Pigs in Blanket (Never knew the names of these until now!)


Milk and Oreos


Photo Credits: Style Me Pretty, Peter Callahan, Jeremy's Daily Photograph

Thematic Thursdays: Wedding Furniture

With more couples planning a wedding that suits their personality, style and budget, we are finding a lot of different configurations for wedding receptions. Rather than formal sit down dinners, cocktails and lounge receptions are becoming more and more popular.

Having lounge furniture at your wedding allows you to have a lot of versatility to fully utilize the venue space. The idea of having lounge furniture may sound too informal and not-very-wedding-like but you can have sleek, vintage, or rustic furniture to really pull off your wedding theme.

Incorporating wedding furniture is not just for outdoor weddings. It can also be used for indoor weddings as well. Keep in mind if you do want to have wedding furniture brought into your venue, it will cost more because rather than using the venue's table and chairs, you are now renting and bringing in your own furniture. One way to save some money and to still incorporate wedding furniture is to have a couple of pieces as statement pieces. You can have a piece of furniture at your sweetheart table, photo area, or near the bar area!

I absolutely look forward to seeing more weddings with unique configurations! Do share if you are doing something different for your wedding!

~Monica

Photo Credits: 1) Fete 2), 3), 4) Trendsetting Weddings 5) James Christianson Photographer | Via: Style Me Pretty

Hotel Arts Wedding

Maggie and Aaron is one really laid back and easy going couple. As a matter of fact, I saw Maggie at another wedding I was doing one month before hers. I said: "Uhhh...Maggie, we really need to get together to nail down the final details of your wedding decorations." Her response: "Oh yeah, we should probably do that!"

We did meet up before their wedding and lucky for me, the previous design didn't change at all. They did throw in a little surprise task for me, which I will discuss on another post! Maggie and Aaron wanted a modern wedding with lots of fun. We accomplished this with lots of yellow cymbidium orchids and candy in their wedding colors. The overall look achieved was modern, fun, and laid back. Exactly what Maggie and Aaron wanted!

Images from top to bottom: Guest Sign In Table, Orchids All Over, Ceremony, Reception Entrance, Loads of Candy as Centerpieces, Custom Clear Cupcake Stand, Favor Boxes with Two Cute Dolls

Art Gallery Wedding

Trendy and hip couple, Nena and Dan decided against the traditional Chinese ceremony and reception locations and opted to have their ceremony at The Art Gallery of Calgary instead. They decided on having their ceremony at the Top Gallery, followed by a sushi and cocktail reception.

Although, they had decided against the traditional wedding locations, they couldn't disregard some Chinese taboos. The gallery was showcasing a series of black and white photographs in the area where the wedding was going to be held. Black and white photographs are often associated with death in the Chinese culture. To bring some "life" into the room, we incorporated a lot of color in the decorations. Colorful chairs with pink organza sashes were used in the ceremony. The bride's mom works at a flower shop and provided me with fresh pink, yellow, and champagned colored long stem roses for my decorations. (It was a dream come true for me!!)When the room was all decorated, it was cool, colorful, and smelled like sweet roses!