CRYSTAL JADE JIANG NAN WEDDING IN SAN FRANCISCO [ALICE +FREDIE]
what's your favorite memory when you first started dating?
Alice: My surprise Valentine's Day.
Fredie: On our first date--"Children are like dogs." "Yeah, but you can't call 'em bitches."
It was 2013 in Beijing when Alice met a handsome Swedish guy at a Karaoke Bar. The first thing she thought was ‘Who is that drunk hipster?’ and Fredie’s thoughts were ‘DAMN’ when he saw her. This is how their romantic relationship started.
Very beautiful and devoted relationship between three continents, one place they both call home now and a romantic unexpected proposal on one early Friday evening. “One Friday after work, Alice was very tired coming home and was looking forward to the weekend. She walked through the door and their dog, Haley, came running to her with a box around her neck! It fell off and Alice picked it up and then came Freddie dressed up and down on one knee.”He proposed her.
Five years later after Alice and Fredie first met and still madly in love living and working near Hong Kong , they came to San Francisco to tie the knot, the city where Alice was born and raised. Friends and relatives from all over the world joined them for their intimate celebration at the Cantonese restaurant Crystal Jade Jiang Nan. The restaurant has a spectacular view of the Ferry Building. It was the perfect place for their wedding celebration. I love photographing those small weddings filled with honest emotions shared with close family and friends.
I had the big pleasure to be part of their wedding day on July 21st, one day before my 37th birthday. I was very excited to meet Alice and Freddie in person at their wedding. When they booked me in the beginning of January this year we only met during our skype video call once because of the long distance between each other as they live far far in Hong Kong. Their wedding day was pretty much the only time I got to know them more in person. But honestly, it felt like we knew each other from a very long time. It was so much fun to photograph them, everything was clicking so naturally between my camera and them posing. I was told Fredie doesn't like being in front of the camera, but now I am not sure if I should believe that. They were both very patient and enjoying the moment together that day. Being around hem that day I felt I could keep photographing them without stopping, unfortunately we were going to run out of time and they wouldn’t be able to enjoy time with their guests.
Few weeks before their wedding Alice found out that the restaurant had permanently closed to the public in an online newspaper. Of course she freaked out in the beginning, but fortunately was still open to booked events like theirs. Luckily, they were one of the last couples to had their wedding in that venue with million dollars view of the beautiful Ferry Building . I call this lucky couple.
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The cake and the cupcakes were from Kara’s Cupcake . The cake was decorated with the same flowers that were used for the centerpieces and the bouquet. I found that very attractively beautiful approach and chic. All the fresh flowers were bought from San Francisco Flower Mart.
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One of the things that make me love what I do is the opportunities to capture wedding traditions of different cultures. This is Chinese Tea Ceremony, which reminds me of some similar Bulgarian wedding traditions.
