Real Wedding: Christopher and Alison

Gong Xi Fa Cai, dear readers! We hope you have had a lovely celebration with your loved ones, and enjoyed the long weekend. While the Year of the Snake is upon us in 2013, it is Christopher and Alison's wedding that has brought out the wild side in us!



Many of us love animal prints -- on our bags, shoes, mobile phone cases, furniture, manicures, fashion accessories, et cetera -- but how many of us are brave enough to use bold animal prints on one of the most important days of our lives? Christopher and Alison definitely are a brave, young couple! And kudos to them for decorating their wedding the way they wanted it. Their wedding reception at Hilton Kuala Lumpur was truly a night to remember, not only for our wonderful couple but also their guests.

While Alison and Christopher planned most of their big day, they had some help from Mun Tzin of Milestones for their reception in Hilton Kuala Lumpur. Many thanks to Edwin Tan for the beautiful photos of this amazing wedding, and of course, to our couple for sharing their most treasured life event with us and our dear readers. We hope that this wedding decor will inspire soon-to-be brides and grooms to go with their hearts desires in terms of colors or patterns without worrying about being "tacky" or being "over the top".




Alison attended a friend's wedding in 2011 that we decorated; she was suitably impressed and contacted us when it was her turn to tie the knot. Our bride tells us that she has always loved animal prints. While she and her future husband were deciding on a theme, they remembered how they loved the decor in a Roberto Cavalli club in Milan, which became their inspiration for a leopard print-themed evening.

The flower arrangement you see on the bridal table (above) has one of the longest list of blooms we have ever used: rustic green hydrangea, dark purple hydrangea, purple iris, green cymbidium, euphorbia leaves, enchinops, encheberia, green fruitcosa and orchid roots. Wishing Tree provided the gold and black drapes for the walls, and did the tailoring for the leopard print cloth sourced by Alison. To ensure that we didn't go overboard with the leopart print, alternate tables were draped in black table cloths provided by the hotel.





We decided to use the leopard print only on table cloths and as accents on vases and candle holders. Going overboard on animal prints is a big "don't" when you are going for romantic and elegant! The floral arrangements were all about bright colors, textures and small blooms, which would complement the repetitive pattern of the leopard print. We felt that anything more monotonous or with less texture seemed to defeat the purpose of using leopard prints for the ambience that Alison was trying to create.




When the ballroom lights went out and the purple-tinged spotlights came on, the effect was marvelous and magical. Alison tells us, after the wedding, that her guests loved the decor and some declared that it was the best wedding they had seen! It really makes our day, week and month to receive feedback like this from our brides -- we thank you so much for letting us be a part of your big day, Alison and Christopher.

We wish you both a wonderful marriage, and thank you for sharing this beautiful evening with us and our readers. Just as Roberto Cavalli's animal print-themed club inspired your wedding decor, we hope that yours will in turn inspire other couples to use these bold designs on their big day!

Real Wedding: Lauren and Hua Yew

Several years ago, Lauren received her first bouquet of flowers from Hua Yew on Valentine's Day. She loved the bouquet very much. Since that day she had always known that if she got married in Malaysia, the florist where her first bouquet came from would do the flowers for her wedding.

And that is how Wishing Tree became a part of Lauren and Hua Yew's big day.



Congratulations again, Lauren and Hua Yew, on your marriage. We are honoured to have been there at the beginning of your courtship, and all the way to the altar -- what a privilege indeed. Thank you for sharing your wedding with us, and with our readers!

(All photos by Fifoto Photography)



Lauren planned the wedding herself, while living and working in Singapore with Hua Yew. She started planning about a year in advance, and booked Wishing Tree the moment she booked her reception venue at Hilton Kuala Lumpur Hotel. This is no small feat, for working bride to personally plan two weddings in two different weddings! But of course, Lauren is no ordinary bride.

Our couple wanted an elegant, tasteful wedding with a fresh and natural atmosphere. Green and white were their favorite theme colours. Thanks to Lauren and her vision for their wedding reception, here are more snapshots of their wonderful wedding:



For a pop of texture and glamour, we used diamante accessories to bring more life into the green and white theme. Such a simple yet effective layer, as diamante ornaments are pretty easy to find.



The greens were arranged "organically", with varying sizes, heights, textures, structures and shades...



We hung many green and white paper lanterns on several large, leafless trees throughout the ballroom. They helped to break the visual monotony of green and white flowers with their height and spherical shapes. This is something we like to do when a design theme is focused heavily on a particular colour or one type of flower, etc.



Above is one of general views of the ballroom from the entrance. The central walkway is flanked by tall floral arrangements heavy with lush orchids and flowing ivy.

We at Wishing Tree, are truly honoured to have been a part of your big day. We are very pleased that you, your husband, and your guests have enjoyed the flowers -- nothing makes us happier than to hear that your experience with us has been a positive one. A little note from our bride reads:

"My guests from all walks of life and who attended from all around the world could not stop commenting on how beautiful the flowers were, and how amazing the decor was in the church and in the grand ballroom. Lily totally transformed the ballroom within my budget and I wish I could relive the moment again..."

Thank you once again, Lauren and Hua Yew. Best wishes from all of us, always!

Real Wedding: Mike and Stephenie

Our heartiest congratulations to Mike and Stephenie! Thank you for choosing us to provide the ambience for your big day. We are honored to have been a part of your wedding.



Our bride, a reader of the Wishing Tree Blog, stumbled across the blog some time ago and "instantly knew she would trust Wishing Tree with the decor", Mike tells us. "Looking at previous entries confirmed that Wishing Tree would be able to give us what we were looking for -- elegance and simplicity." We have been decorating weddings for 14 years, yet we still get butterflies in our stomachs when we are entrusted with this responsibility!

This is the first time we are featuring a wedding reception held in Teeq Brasserie at Lot 10, Kuala Lumpur. It is nice to see that increasingly more couples are opting to celebrate their weddings in more "unconventional" venues. Mike and Stephenie did not plan a traditional Chinese wedding, which meant no huge Chinese restaurants and hotel ballrooms. And so they found Teeq -- a chic, rooftop venue, in the heart of Kuala Lumpur with amazing views of the city's skyline.

A big "thank you" to the talented Andy Kho, a personal friend of the couple and official photographer for Hello Magazine Malaysia, for the wonderful photos to remember this evening by.

By the way, did we mention that they planned the wedding while pursuing medical careers in the UK? Together with our couple's input and direction and Teeq's in-house manager, Cleopatra Tan, we made sure that Mike and Stephenie could rest assured that their big night would go without a hitch.




Teeq is an architecturally and visually appealing venue, with woody textures and earthy tones. The interior decor, dominated by glass, stripes and deep plum furniture, was perfect for simple and elegant arrangements that were yet stunning enough to hold their own.

There were two types of seating options at Teeq -- at the regular dining tables, and at the semi-circular booth tables. Hence the two types of table arrangements, as seen above and as you will see below.




Large arrangements of fresh, white orchids perched proudly on tall, slender glass vases immediately catch your attention as you enter the dining area. Our bride and groom were clear on what they wanted -- "clean designs and simple colours", and we truly appreciate the Powerpoint slides that Stephenie created to best convey her ideas and direction from such a distance.

We can't say this enough, although we try and prompt brides and grooms as much as possible -- but it is always so important for clients to tell us what they want or what they love, what they don't like, and share their ideas with us, no matter how "crazy" they think the ideas sound. Every input you give us goes onto our inspiration board for your event, and they help us create to your heart's desires. Or at the very least, the closest we can get.




For us, we loved the venue of Mike and Stephenie's wedding reception -- it was a reflection of the couple's tastes and personalities. But most of all, we loved Stephenie's favorite part of the wedding -- getting to know Mike's family members, some of whom had traveled from afar whom she had never met before. "The small and intimate setting meant that guests could mingle easily, and the atmosphere was a much more personal one," says our bride.

Thank you again, dear Mike and Stephenie, for sharing your lovely wedding with us! We wish you all the best in the UK and hope to see you again.

Real Wedding: Kenneth and Shereen

Congratulations dear Kenneth and Shereen, on your recent nuptials! It was an honor to meet you and to be a part of your lovely wedding. Many thanks to Max Goh Photography from Malacca for the photos, and Elegante Wedding for putting together this wonderful event.

Above is the cascading bouquet we created for Shereen. As she is a very petite lady, we took special care to make sure that the bouquet did not look overwhelming on her tiny frame. Using pink roses, rose spray, pink cymbidium orchids and purple phalaenopsis orchids, tied together with a dusty pink satin ribbon, our bride got the bouquet her heart desired. To cut down on size (keeping in mind the bride's physical frame), we plucked each phalaenopsis orchid off the stem and attached them individually to the bouquet.

For our couple's big day, the Wishing Tree team took a little trip down south to the town of Muar in Johor state. The town of Muar is about 150km southeast of Kuala Lumpur, with a population of about 250,000. We were told that this town had never seen a wedding quite so grand as Kenneth and Shereen's!

Our beautiful bride is from Indonesia, and to celebrate her big day, she and her new husband decided to throw a memorable reception for family and friends - Indonesian style aka "grand"! The largest venue for their reception was a hall - so we transformed it into a "ballroom", to our couple's delight. Drapes were used to divide the hall into separate areas for the cocktail reception, foyer and dinner. The hanging umbrellas were part of the hall's decoration, so we used them in our arrangements with fairy lights, flowers, and more lighting.

Adding to the grandness of the evening, we lined the aisle with tall floral stands heavy with lush roses and hydrangea, and young green orchids that have yet to bloom.



A simple and lush floral arch for the stage, filled with hydrangea, roses and phalaenopsis orchids. Most of the blooms are fresh, and some are made of paper! Can you tell which are the papers flowers??



We created a large and low centerpiece for the bridal table. It's not visible in this photo (and we don't have a better picture) but the other side of the arrangement cascades down the table! It is beautiful and lush and full of hydrangea, roses, dianthus, baby's breath and gorgeous phalaenopsis orchids.

Once again, thank you Kenneth and Shereen for sharing your day with us, and your wedding on our blog!

Real Wedding: Chuan Yau and Jennifer

"Pastels" are on our minds for this wedding of our lovely couple, Chuan Yau and Jennifer. Our beautiful bride is from Taiwan, and she loves an elegant pastel palette. It's only fitting that she is surrounded in nature's wonderfully pale colors on her wedding day!

Many thanks to our couple's wedding day coordinator, Mun Tzin from Milestones, and Jon from Jon Low Studios for the amazing photos. It sure was a hot day on the lawn of the legendary Carcosa Seri Negara, but Chuan Yau and Jennifer pulled off their intimate ceremony perfectly.



Pale, sweet colors in pink white and lilac.. Lush and full-bloomed textures... What's not to love about the roses, hydrangea and matthiola? They looked gorgeous against the green backdrop at Carcosa, and complemented the soft, blush-colored bridesmaids' dresses.




See the pouffy stuff lining the aisle? That's tons and tons of organza shaped to look like flowers! We used this wonderful fabric to demarcate the ceremony area on the Carcosa lawn. It's great for effect, and great for the budget!

In the evening, the wedding party moved to DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur.



Jennifer's all-peony bouquet made another entrance at the dinner reception. We love it when our couples reuse their flowers from a daytime ceremony at their evening reception. Their beautiful pastel-colored blooms from the wedding ceremony appeared once more later in the day, at the foyer of the reception. All arrangements inside the ballroom were created with the same color palette and flowers, with additional luscious white phalaenopsis orchids!

 


Thank you Chuan Yau and Jennifer for letting us be a part of your big day, and for sharing it with our readers!