Purchasing her stunning Farrow gown from Lovely Bride San Fransisco, the wedding between Michelle & Connlaoth was a beautiful mix of so many personal elements.
‘It was actually the very first dress I tried on and I immediately fell in love. It was the first gown I’ve ever tried, I thought… “Is this THE DRESS??” I am such an indecisive person so I did not commit right away. I had to try on dresses from over 10 bridal shops in SF and LA to make sure I’ve tried them all. I did like some others but I always compare it back to the very first dress I tried. THE FARROW. I went back a few months later and said YES TO THE DRESS!’
Names: Michelle & Connlaoth
Wedding Date: July 6, 2019
Guest Numbers: 185
Wedding Location: Gardener Ranch in Carmel Valley, California
Photographer: Sarah Kathleen Photo
Tell Us Your Love Story
We actually knew each other for a couple of years through my work before we started dating. I work for my family’s (small business) electrical supply store in San Francisco, CA. Connlaoth and his brother have their own electrical contracting company (called Mulholland Electric).. so they are electricians and they shop at our store! A few years after being loyal customers, Connlaoth told me he was going on a boys trip to Las Vegas. I offered to give Connlaoth my friend’s contacts (who lives in Vegas) if he needed anything like bottle service, etc. So I gave C my number and told him to text me. Connlaoth took that as me making the “first move”. Now that he had my number, he decided to finally ask me out. Him being Irish, our first few dates consisted of grabbing drinks at local Irish pubs. We learned that we are so different in terms of our Irish and Chinese Vietnamese cultures.. he has a really nice Irish accent that took some getting used to lol. We also learned that we enjoy so many of the same things. One thing we both love is traveling, being outdoors, and nature! Our wedding theme was actually based around a travel theme 🙂 Our first weekend trip together was in Monterey, Carmel, and Big Sur so it was only fitting that we had our wedding in Carmel, CA! We’ve also been to International destinations like: Philippines, Vietnam, Colombia, Ireland, Spain, Hong Kong, and our honeymoon took place in Fiji & New Zealand. We’ve gone van camping along the coast up to Oregon, drove through the Mighty Five National Parks in Utah, Antelope Canyon in Arizona, just to name a few.
How did he put a ring on it?
Connlaoth decided to propose in Vail, Colorado in December 2017. He chose Vail because I actually brought him there on his 30th birthday a few years ago.. it was truly heaven on earth and immediately fell in love with the quaint little snow town. Two years later, I asked him where he wanted to go for his birthday because we like taking adventures over materialistic gifts. My thoughts were “Why? We’ve already been there”. (We like to visit new places because there are so many places we haven’t been yet). But he was adamant. I had a feeling that he was going to propose because friends and family were giving it away. It was a Friday night, we had gone to a fabulous dinner and on the walk home, there was the covered bridge. He said “I’ll take a picture of your back?” and turned me around. I said: “Here?? It’s so dark”. When I turned around, he was down on one knee and both just bursted out in tears. He also had a photographer hiding in the bushes and we went on a little photoshoot after. Mind you, it was about 11 degrees! We went back to our hotel and there were roses on the bed shaped into a heart w/ champagne. It was perfect. I called my family and best friend immediately to tell them the news but tried to think of a cute way to tell everyone else when I returned home.
The next morning, Connlaoth woke me up soooo early because he said we had to be the first ones up the slope for snowboarding, rent our gear, buy tix, and have breakfast, etc. This is was the biggest surprise – we headed down for breakfast and when I walked in a huge group shouted “SURPRISE!” and there were all of my siblings and my besets friends there. I bursted into tears again and he saved me all the hassle from trying to come up with a cute way in telling everyone! My heart was SO FULL.
Where did you draw inspiration from? Pinterest, Instagram
What made the wedding personal to you?
We made it personal with little touches. Like: his uncle from Ireland was our officiant, my uncle read a script, his parents sang our exit ceremony songs, we used table “destinations” of places we’ve been to together instead of table numbers, Connlaoth entered on a motorcycle, we had our Snoopy one of our dogs as one of the ring bearers, we BOTH walked down the aisle with BOTH of our parents, my cousins played piano for one of the ceremony songs, we incorporated both of our cultures, with Irish and Asian desserts, Asian lion Dancing, the details, Connlaoth built our arch 🙂
What were you most nervous or excited about? Just marrying my best friend!
Now, the most important part – the Dress!
Tell us about your dress? The dress I chose was the Farrow Gown by Tara Lauren. I saw this dress a long time ago on Instagram and loved the photo. When I got to Lovely Bride, the employee didn’t even pull this dress for me. I requested it myself (knowing they were a stockiest and remembering the ig pic I saw). It was actually the very first dress I tried on and I immediately fell in love. It was the first gown I’ve ever tried, I thought… “Is this THE DRESS??” I am such an indecisive person so I did not commit right away. I had to try on dresses from over 10 bridal shops in SF and LA to make sure I’ve tried them all. I did like some others but I always compare it back to the very first dress I tried. THE FARROW. I went back a few months later and said YES TO THE DRESS!
What stockist did you get it from? Lovely Bride SF
Vendors to credit: Photographer: Sarah Kathleen Photo // Floral: Bellevue Floral Co (she was also one of my bridesmaids and one of my besties!!) // Coordinator: Pretthi Affairs // DJ/Acoustic Guitarist: Marcus Cappellazzo // Violinist: Shaina Evoniuk // Video: Kyle Wong & Doug Jue // Catering: Nora Spanish Catering // Cake: Van’s Bakery // Lion Dancers: Lion Dance Me // Lighting: Spectrum Systems // Hair: Boathouse Hair Salon (his sister owns this hair salon in Ireland!!!) // Make up: Beauty by MH // Rentals: Alexis Party Rentals, Forage Vintage Rental Co