In one of their first encounters with each other, BT & Tuan talked briefly about how handwritten letters were a fading (yet powerful) form of communication. Over the next few years, they would write to each other between Virginia & Washington State, forming a friendship and deeply rooted love for one another from across the country.
Now, together they work hand-in-hand operating a luxury floral design business in the Seattle area. Their wedding day was special not only for the cultural significance (they honoured their Vietnamese heritage with a tea ceremony and custom made traditional Ao Dai designed by celebrity designer Thai Nguyen on the wedding day) but because every floral detail was carefully and intentionally created by the wedding couple. They call themselves a "couple of flowers" and love the way the phrase encompasses their love for floral artistry and their partnership in all things. Throughout the wedding day - which was beautifully captured by Seattle wedding photographer JANET LIN - BT & Tuan paid homage to their passion for floral design. The bride and groom handcrafted the bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages for their closest friends and family the night before the wedding. The jaw-dropping escort display featured floral filled cloches and the phrase "bloom where you are planted" along with the couple's custom monogram.
From the whimsical ceremony site to the tented reception at TWIN WILLOW GARDENS, each flower was hand selected by the couple and carefully curated to be a representation of their loving partnership. And there certainly was no shortage of blooms, this "David Austin" wedding featured more than 500 David Austin roses among countless other varieties in a romantic, yet joyful color palette.
The couple's sweet beginnings forged through hand-written letters came full circle in the form of their wedding vows. Because those early days of deep and thoughtful dialogue were so important to their relationship, BT & Tuan felt strongly about writing their own vows. As Tuan sat in the groom's suite the morning of the wedding writing in his vow book, tears of joy and gratitude flowed. It was truly a one of a kind wedding day in honour of such a truly remarkable "couple of flowers."
TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR WEDDING DRESS/ATTIRE: I wore three different dresses at our wedding: wedding dress from BERTA, Vietnamese Ao dai from THAI NGUYEN ATELIER, and a reception dress from BCBG MAX AZRIA for our first dance.
I went to six bridal boutiques before I decided on my Berta wedding dress from IDINA BRIDE. I decided on a fitted backless, mermaid, Berta dress that had delicate hand sewn beads, beaded straps, a slightly sheer skirt with a long train. My Berta wedding dress checked off all the things I was looking for: form-fitting silhouette, backless, and intricate details. While it is a small detail, I loved the playful velvet bow around my waist.
I flew to California to meet with THAI NGUYEN who is a host on Netflix’s Say I Do and known as the #fairygownmother to discuss details for my Vietnamese custom Ao dai and take my measurements. There's nothing more surreal than meeting someone you've watched on TV face to face! Walking into the boutique of a celebrity designer like Thai Nguyen and knowing I was going to have the opportunity to work one-on-one with him to create an element that held so much cultural importance for my wedding day was certainly a highlight of the wedding planning experience. He listened to my preferences and then created a custom, one-of-a-kind piece that was beyond my wildest expectations. My Ao dai was an ivory color with floral beaded lace, silk pants, soft pleated tulle, ruffle sleeves and a traditional Vietnamese headpiece. I will forever treasure that experience and the opportunity to honor my Vietnamese heritage in an ensemble that made me feel so beautiful.
WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR WEDDING STYLE? Tuan and I wanted our wedding to be romantic, floral-filled, and fine art inspired. After attending dozens of weddings as event florists, we wanted to incorporate the best of what we experienced from each wedding and to make our wedding feel unique to us as a pair. We were especially interested in highlighting our Vietnamese culture, love for food, passion for the Pacific Northwest, and teamwork as a #CoupleofFlowers. Tuan and I were very open to being guided by our amazing wedding planner Events By Genevieve who specialises in timeless and fine art weddings. We collaborated on unique ideas together that would elevate our wedding design including the extravagant seating chart display in floral cloches.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS LOCATION? We got married at Twin Willow Gardens in Snohomish, WA which is about an hour away from where we live in Seattle, WA. Knowing that summers in the Pacific Northwest are the best in the world, we wanted to get married in a forest setting at an outdoor venue that could accommodate 150 guests and is close enough to Seattle for our out-of-town guests. Twin Willow Gardens provided the perfect backdrop for our romantic wedding with its lush gardens, magical ceremony space, and pristine reception tent. We fell in love with the wooden ceremony space that provided an enchanting and intimate setting for us to exchange our wedding vows.
HOW DID YOU MEET? Tuan and I briefly met at a conference in Washington, D.C for Vietnamese leaders in 2011. In 2013, we were reunited in a parking lot at Eden Center while I was visiting my best friend and maid of honour Julianna. For a number of years, we were in a long-distance relationship often exchanging letters in the mail. After living together for two years in Baltimore, MD while I was finishing up graduate school at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, we moved to Seattle, WA in January 2019, got a dog named Henny, and began to settle down.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: Tuan proposed to me on the morning of September 14, 2019 at Seward Park in South Seattle with just the two of us. It was a moment that was months in the making. Tuan went as far as pretending to take an interest in photography just to pick up a nice camera to record the proposal. The day before the proposal, Tuan convinced me to join him for a short walk and photo session at Seward Park, but little did I know that it was a photo session for our engagement. As we walked the path of the park that we frequented throughout our relationship, Tuan briefly disappeared from my sights. I eventually found him in an opening in the woods right off of the usual path. A camera was set up in the distance and the two of us stood together for a picture. It was there that Tuan told me the camera was actually recording a video. He looked into my eyes, stuttered his feelings with a face full of tears, and got down on one knee to ask me to marry him. I said “yes!”
DID YOU HAVE ANY DIY ELEMENTS? As wedding florists, we created our own wedding flowers. Many people advised us against this because of the amount of work and stress involved but we would not have had it any other way. Fortunately for us, we had an amazing team of floral freelancers and our wedding party helping us put the flowers together for our wedding. Many of our favourite weddings included us playing a part in bringing the special day together. We wanted to give our wedding party and close friends the experience of helping us with the wedding flowers since this was an activity that we enjoyed doing together for other wedding couples. The night before our wedding, our house became a floral factory with 30+ people working on different floral items from centerpieces to boutonnieres. The morning of the wedding, I woke up extra early to get my hair done and then went over to the venue to oversee the floral work. I remember installing smilax vines on the reception tent chandeliers with curlers in my hair and Tuan holding the ladder for me. This is similar to how we would work together as a team for other people’s weddings!
DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS: We wanted to create a floral and decor story that pulled guests in and kept them interested. Our wedding flowers featured two different colour palettes to provide an intentional transition between the ceremony and reception.
The ceremony florals were timeless white florals and greenery. Tuan and I wanted the ceremony space to feel classic and very wedding-like. At the entrance of the aisle were two large floral arrangements on white urns that had mock orange, olive branches, white delphinium. We had floral ground pieces lining both sides of the aisle with lush white rose petals down the middle of the aisle.
Our reception florals were romantic shades of blush, peach, and champagne. Guests found their names and seat assignments on glass cloches with delicate floral arrangements inside. The reception had high and low elements between centerpieces, hanging installations, and ground pieces to bring guests' eyes to different areas as they entered the tent. Elevated centerpieces on gold Harlow stands and lush floral runners for two long tables were filled with seasonal and local floral products, perfect for a garden wedding including peonies, roses, ranunculus, raspberry branches, blueberry branches, mint leaves. A mix of round and rectangular seating was utilised to keep the floor plan interesting and provide dimension.
We wanted to create an area of high impact with florals including decorating our getaway car. We rented a black vintage Porsche and designed a jaw-dropping floral installation on the back of the car with toffee roses and luxurious florals. Not only did it make for the most romantic getaway moment; it provided the perfect photo opportunity for an epic photo op!
FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: We loved the vibes of our cocktail hour which included having a live jazz singer, sushi appetizers, and an abundant charcuterie table.
We had the pleasure of working with Chef Roman Allen and Chef Young Cho to curate our passed sushi appetizers that included: yellowtail buds w/ strawberry yuzu sauce, Kobe beef teriyaki tacos, shrimp ceviche, and bluefin poke tacos.
Our lavish charcuterie table was from Graze Together. We wanted to incorporate tropical Asian fruits (dragon fruit, longan, rambutan, etc.) for a unique touch and to delight the Vietnamese aunties in attendance.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OUT TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING? We would suggest booking vendors that come highly recommended and align with the vision for your wedding. It is not always a good idea to look for the best deal when it comes to wedding vendors because oftentimes you get what you pay for. It is important to trust your intuition when it comes to retaining vendors or deciding to go in a different direction. Also, trying to maximize price can end up being more costly because it takes time and trade-offs when you decide to not book the most qualified vendor that is able to execute with experience and professionalism.
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? We were married under an enchanting canopy of old growth cedar, hemlocks, and maple trees filled with lush white florals. I loved how intimate it felt to gather in the ceremony space with our guests. We were literally wrapped by a forest of trees with beautiful white florals surrounding us. I couldn’t believe how magical ceremony space felt. It was like time had stopped when I walked down the aisle with my father. I will cherish that memory forever.
WHAT ASPECT OF THE WEDDING WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU BOTH? Creating a beautiful ambiance through florals and thoughtfully décor was important to the two of us since we are professionals in the wedding industry. As florists, it was important for us to do our own wedding flowers. Not only because it was more economical but also because we wanted to showcase our floral design skills to create an unforgettable day for our wedding. We enjoyed having ownership of the selection of our floral product and freedom to innovate with our floral designs. The idea of having two color palettes for the wedding actually happened on our wedding day, after we decided that having all-white ceremony flowers looked better than trying to incorporate colors of our reception florals.
Tuan and I are huge foodies. We wanted to treat our guests to a culinary experience with our favorite dishes. From the charcuterie table, passed sushi appetizers, Spanish paella, to the late-night Taiwanese popcorn ticket and boba, we wanted our guests to experience our favourite foods and leave with happy bellies.
ANY OTHER DETAILS THAT HELP TELL THE STORY OF YOUR DAY? I loved working with Creative By Sofiya on our custom wedding invitations and wedding day paper goods. It was fun for me to source vintage stamps from different places for our wedding invitations that reflected our home states Washington and Virginia. Sofiya hand addressed all of our envelopes with beautiful calligraphy. We closely collaborated on all the different aspects of the wedding invitation suite including the envelope liner, custom drawn map and pantone color of the ink! No details were missed.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR HONEYMOON: After our wedding, Tuan and I went to London and Paris for our honeymoon. We enjoyed the culture and architecture of both cities. It was so romantic to walk around at night in Paris and experience the bustling city and people being out and about. Since we had enjoyed getting our photos taken for our engagement photo shoots and wedding, we decided to book a honeymoon photo shoot in the city of love – Paris!
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE OR DO DIFFERENTLY? We wish we would have taken more mental snapshots of our wedding day because it truly goes as fast as people say. There were parts of our wedding that we didn’t get to experience because we were busy greeting guests or getting ready for the next wedding activity. We joke all the time that we would have loved to be guests at our own wedding so that we could enjoy all the different pieces that we worked so hard to bring together.
A huge thank you to Seattle wedding photographer JANET LIN for sharing this beautiful wedding with us. Janet is a fine-art wedding photographer based in Seattle, Washington and serving destinations worldwide. She grew up in the dark room of her father's photography studio, watching people's memories come to life in images through a seemingly magical process. With a passion for loving people, learning their stories, and documenting human connection, the decision to pursue photography was an easy one. Janet's goal is to capture the true essence and spirit of a moment, creating timeless wedding images that will serve as cherished artefacts of your marriage. On a wedding day she strives to balance a quiet documentary approach with an artistic and editorial perspective. You can see more of her work in her portfolio here.
Leave A Comment