Give us the scoop 😉how did you two meet?
My husband (Miguel) and I have been together for five years! We originally met at a Salsa night in a local venue. He was a graduate student at the time and was also the DJ and dance instructor. I had recently graduated from university and was back visiting family at the time.
I felt the desire to learn to salsa dance where we ended up meeting and became friends at first. Six months into our friendship, he asked me out formally and the rest is history!
Obviously, y’all put a ring on it 💍tell us your engagement story!
Prior to his proposal, we both had discussed and knew we wanted to build a future together. I had a hunch a proposal was coming but did not know the timeline he had planned.
Miguel had a variety of different ideas on how he wanted to propose, but after much reflection, he decided it was best to propose at the place we first met salsa dancing.
He completely caught me by surprise as he asked me in front of 400+ people after he cleared off the dance floor and had me come to the center with him holding a microphone and a ring. What made it even more special was that each of our families was also present and came out to the floor after he asked!
You both had a vision for your wedding 🔮how did you come up with ideas?
We both wanted to make sure we got the best bang for our buck and kept our wedding under budget without sacrificing quality and experience. To do this, we remained pretty flexible with everything as we both agreed the most important part of the wedding was each other and celebrating with family and friends.
We made a list of “must-haves” that we both really desired for the wedding in addition to the guests. This included getting married in the church, having a dance floor with good music, tasty food, and honoring our cultural backgrounds.
With those as the core pillars of our wedding, it helped us remain calm and make the right decisions without a wedding planner.
Tell us about your fams 👨👩👧👦
My husband and I come from different cultural backgrounds, which made it both challenging and fun to blend and honor both our cultural heritage at our wedding.
On my mother’s side, we originate from the Guangdong province in China and have lived in the Chinatown and San Francisco Bay Area for the past century. Growing up, I had a close relationship with my great grandmother, the matriarch of our Chinese-American family. As a result, I have always felt her prominent influence in my pride and honor of our heritage.
With her passing after our engagement, I had a deep desire to honor her and my family’s heritage within our wedding. My mother and I felt that a cheongsam would make my great grandmother smile and a traditional Lion Dance performance would salute our origins of southern China with a twist of fun.
Both the dress and the Lion Dance performances were a huge hit with the guests and are still to this day, the most talked about aspects of our wedding.
In addition to my Chinese heritage, my husband and I also had several Latin Dance performances (including our own) to honor our Mexican heritage and his Nicaraguan background. Instead of a traditional cake cutting, we had Mexican flavored cupcakes (churro and tamal etc.) and vegan chocolate ice cream tacos.
Location, location, location 🎯where did you get married?
Our ceremony was at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento and our reception was at the Croatian American Cultural Center. We chose these places because they were not only lovely venues, but they provided the most optimal practical use for a 200 person wedding for our budget.
Girl meets dress 💃🏻how did you learn about East Meets Dress (EMD) and why did you choose an EMD dress?
I found EMD on Etsy when I searched for beautiful cheongsams online. From there, I was directed to their website and found a plethora of gorgeous dresses.
I consulted my mother and a good friend on the style of cheongsam would be best. After narrowing down which styles, I chatted with a representative of EMD online and they gave more information on each dress helping me make my final selection, the Nora Dress.
Furthermore, we discussed the sizes, what to expect, and how it may fit with my body type. EMD had wonderful services and the dress arrived with a perfect fit! All my guests raved about my cheongsam that had a very modern twist with a streak of elegance that was exactly my style!
Putting your own spin on things 💕How did you make your wedding more unique and personal to you two?
My husband and I are huge anime nerds so we decided that the theme of our wedding would be one of our favorite childhood shows: Dragon Ball Z.
We custom made many of our decorations and added a few things here and there that fans would laugh at.
Some of these included a cupcake tower with a dragon and characters, characters at each table, and senzu beans (healing green beans) as the party favors.
Our friends and family loved it and knew the wedding was uniquely ours.
The big day 👰🏻How did everything go on your wedding day?
I honestly can say everything went perfectly the way it was supposed to. It went by so fast, but every memory I have was pure bliss.
My husband and I talk about our wedding all the time. Thank goodness we have photos and recorded videos of the day so we get to relive it as many times as we want!
Seeking your wisdom 🙋🏻♀️do you have any advice for other brides planning a multicultural wedding?
1. When planning a multicultural wedding, figure out which parts of the culture are most important for you both to have.
Ask yourself if you were the older generation, what would you like to see the following generations have at their wedding? How can we incorporate others in the family or friends to participate/organize that specific piece? Are there pieces of the wedding that should be explained to the guests so it does not cause confusion or offense?
2. There's no such thing as absolute perfection. It’s very easy to stress about the wedding and wanting it to be perfect, but staying optimistic and realistic when planning is exactly where your mental space should be. With that said, your wedding day is going to be beautiful, moving and amazing!
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Special Thanks:
- The Bride and Groom: Felicia (@livetheworldfelicia) & Miguel
- Photographer: Ivan Duran (@ivanduranphoto) | Website