Today Dallas Wedding Planner is excited to start the new year sharing the beautiful wedding of Ana and Mike. This wedding has lots of personality and style and obviously made their wedding day a huge success. The love and excitement of this day was captured by Perez Photography.

How did the two of you meet? We met at the Taste of Addison in 2007.  I was with a group of friends and Mike was with his group of friends.  There are different versions of who talked to who first, but Mike called me the next day and asked me out for sushi and as they say….the rest is history.

Tell us about your wedding ensemble: My wedding gown is Evita by Maggie Sottero.  As soon as I put it on, my mom, sister, two  bridesmaids and future mother-in-law all got teary eyed.  I loved that it was different from all the other dresses I had tried on.  I bought the dress and cathedral length veil at Lulu’s.  My shoes were my favorite! (J.Crew)  I love that I can wear them again.  I also wore a feather headpiece that I purchased from Etsy.com.

Did you have a design inspiration for your wedding? No.  I picked things I liked and hoped they would all come together.  We wanted our wedding to be fun, and it was just that.

Wedding day colors: How did you decide on your wedding colors? The wedding day colors were the hardest to decide.  I changed my mind about 4 different times.  I finally chose the yellow and grey combo because my mom used yellow in her wedding.  We didn’t really know what direction we were going in as far as the design goes, but we knew we wanted a modern elegance and in the end it all came together.

Is there a story behind the mustaches? Throughout the planning I stalked wedding blogs and websites!  I saw the mustaches on a Martha Stewart website and I thought they would be a fun prop for the photo booth.  Not only did the guests love them, they made for some memorable photos.

What are the hardest decision you made during the planning process? Picking a venue.  Finding a place that met all our needs and within the budget was a difficult balance.  Between the hidden fees and constricting policies, we decided against our first choice and went with The Empire Room, which proved to be an amazing venue.  We couldn’t imagine our wedding being anywhere else!

Adjectives that describe your wedding day:
Ana: elegant, romantic, FUN
Mike: exhilarating and beautiful

What was your favorite part of your wedding day?
Ana:  Seeing Mike for the first time.  We decided not to do a “first look”, so seeing him at the end of the aisle smiling back at me as the doors opened made it all worth the wait.  Nothing could top that!
Mike:  I agree!

How did you decide on the design for the groom’s cake? I collect Buddhas.  I try to buy a Buddha from every city I visit.   Little did I know that Mike’s nickname growing up was/still is “Budd ah”!  It was only fitting that we have a Buddha as his groom cake.  The Buddha cake stole the show!

Did you have any DIY items at your wedding?
Invitations, Programs, Table Numbers, Mustaches, Bathroom Baskets

What was your most favorite part of planning your wedding?
The DIY projects. Mike and I worked on all the projects together.  It was great to see us work so well together.  I was creative genius and Mike figured out how to make 200 of them. We were also blessed to have flowers flown in from Hawaii for our wedding.  Mike’s uncles are florists in Hawaii, and as a gift to us, they hand threaded the strands of orchids used in the entire wedding and hand made leis for us to wear during the reception.  It made our wedding unique and personal and added a touch of Mike’s Hawaiian background.

Where did you honeymoon?
Hawaii! We spent 3 days in Honolulu visiting the major tourist sites including Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, and Waikiki Beach.  We then flew to Kona and spent 3 days resting and relaxing at a resort.  The last 2 days were spent in Hilo, where we visited Mike’s family.  It was great to meet his family since they weren’t able to attend the wedding and to personally thank his uncles for the beautiful flowers.

What advice would you give a bride planning her wedding?
Plan as much as you can as early as you can.  We has a year and a half to plan our wedding and 2 months before the big day, we were done!  Also, choose things that will make your wedding personal and will show your personality. And TRY to stick to the budget!

What was the most unexpected event on your wedding day?
The most unexpected event that happened was that nothing unexpected happened.  All went as planned.  We credit the wedding planner and all the vendors for doing an amazing job!

Here’s a list of Ana and Mike’s wedding professionals:

Photographer: Cesar & Tanya Perez, Perez Photography
Ceremony  Location: The Empire Room
Reception Location: The Empire Room
Florist Name: Samantha Lekkas, In Full Bloom, Clyde & Gordon Flowers (Hawaii)
Musicians/DJ: Norma Garcia, Feel The Beat Musical Productions
Bakery:  Fancy Cakes by Lauren
Hair/Makeup:  Mo Bowers, My Fairy Godmother
Wedding Planner:  Christina Stuntz of Signature Events
Lighting: Lite Dallas
Photo booth: Booth Booth
Linen Rental:  BBJ Linen

This wedding was beautiful and looked like everyone had a blast. Congratulations Ana and Mike.  We wish you both years of joy and happiness together.