We’re Married!! Our Wedding Day Story

JOVIN AND I GOT MARRIED on Saturday 6/6/2020!

We had a small intimate ceremony with our immediate family here in this backyard! We livecasted it to our extended family and friends. We are so thankful for all the love, support and prayers that came our way during this time <3 We are so grateful for everyone that was able to join us on our big day through zoom/youtube live!

Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven”

This has been a bible verse I’ve been rereading and keeping in my heart. Even through the multiple postponements of our wedding, discussing difficult situations and emotional roller coaster ride, we both believe that God perfectly plans all things for our good. We wrestled a lot with decisions and shed tears over feeling like many things were taken from us. It was hard to think that all that we planned in 11 months wasn’t going to be how we envisioned it to be. One thing that never changed is who God is. We truly believe that God planned out our entire wedding process and day to paint a more beautiful picture of what it means to wait and trust God through these uncertainties and difficult trials.

Alright, let’s rewind a bit back to our engagement day! Jovin and I got engaged a little over a year ago on April 20, 2019. We actually got engaged at the exact same location we got married because of current circumstances!

When we were deciding on our date, our goal was to celebrate it with all our friends and family! Our original wedding date was on March 28, 2020. We were deciding possibly getting married in January or February but with the holidays, we thought it would be too busy and possibly too cold – so March it was! We picked the first Saturday that our venue had available after March 7 because of daylight savings, so the sunset is late (around 6:30-7 instead of 4pm).

We didn’t pick our venue until 2 months after getting engaged. Picking a venue takes A LOT of time so make sure you start early! We took 9 months to plan our wedding – doing our engagement shoot, booking our florist, photographer/videographer, food tastings, DJ/music, discussing with our day of coordinator down to the minute of how our wedding day would look like and a lot more little things you don’t realize you need to do until you’re a bride. Wedding planning is not simple but it’s definitely fun. I learned a lot about decision-making together with Jovin during that season! I do plan to make another blog post on wedding planning tips!

The beginning of March was when covid-19 really hit and also when we confirmed everything with our vendors/helpers. Jovin and I were hopeful and continued to stick to our original plans. Once mid-March hit, changes happened SO quickly in Los Angeles. On March 15, there was a CDC recommendation in place for only allowing gatherings of 250 people or less. We were really worried at this time because we wouldn’t know how it would escalade. I was hoping that number wouldn’t go under 250 since our guest list was at 240… but with 2 more weeks until our wedding, I didn’t know how it would change. About 12 hours later, another recommendation was released for gatherings 50 and under. This was when things really hit us. I got really emotional and I couldn’t even talk about it without wanting to cry. We were notified by our family not living in the U.S. that they would not be able to fly here for our wedding. We were actually more glad because we cared about their safety more than anything.

This was when we sat down and had an honest conversation on what our options were. We wanted to make sure we didn’t make decisions selfishly, but wanted to consider others first. The one thing we agreed on for our decisions going forward, was that we wanted to prioritize how safe people felt, the risks and following the county and state recommendations.

It wasn’t long before our venue and some vendors actually reached out to us to postpone because they had to temporarily close or stop services because of the California stay-at-home order. By this time, we knew we couldn’t get married anytime soon and the only decision was to postpone. We decided to wait for the right time.

I know many brides have gone through this or are still going through this. I am with you on this <3 It’s not easy. One thing I always tried to remember is that Jovin and I will still get married. Getting married earlier or later will not affect our marriage. It doesn’t change anything. It only changes the wedding date! If anything, this time can be well spent. We used the time to pray more together, grow deeper in our relationship with one another, and to learn more of what it truly means to be husband and wife.

I remember Jovin and I were talking about how things will go wrong on the day of our wedding. Well, we didn’t expect that it would turn out this way! Overall, our wedding day way was such a perfect intimate backyard wedding. It has all been such a blessing. Marriage is so sweet. I love not having to say goodbye, but I get to say goodnight now. And I get to wake up next to my best friend!

We know marriage isn’t easy. We will encounter hardships but I pray that when things get difficult, we work together as a team so that through our union, we are stronger together than alone. We’re a team now! I’m excited to grow alongside my best friend 🙂

Before The Wedding Ceremony

Jovin was getting ready at house where we were getting married. I was at a hotel 5 minutes away, getting my hair and makeup done with my mom, sister-in-law and mother-in-law! It was a very simple and chill morning getting ready.

I finally got to wear my Mrs. Kison robe that has been sitting in my closet for way too long.

This is my wedding dress! I originally had two dresses – one for the ceremony (with a train) and one for the reception (no train). I was going to just wear my reception dress since it was a small intimate wedding – but I just went ahead and wore the ceremony dress!! It’s a mix between A-line and mermaid.

When I was looking for a dress, I wanted it to not be too tight on the knees but still fitting, all over lace, ivory colored and a low V back. It took me 10 dresses before I found the one!! I got it from Mon Amie Bridal Salon!

The hanger used in this photo was given to me as a bridal shower gift from a few of my bridesmaids! It says Mrs. Kison in the middle!

My bride bouquet! It has mauve roses (my favorite), white and pink roses, hydrangeas, peonies and eucalyptus. I LOVED IT so much!

When I picked my shoes, I wanted something comfortable so I can walk all day in them so I got a block heel that’s 2.5 inches!

We wrote letters to each other that our photographer delivered before the ceremony. It was such a sweet moment reading it. It made me so much more excited as I prepared to see Jovin for our first look!

Reading our letters!

After reading the letter, my mom helped me put on my wedding dress! This was about 1 hour before heading to our first look spot! This was a time to take photos with my family and detail shots of accessories and my dress.

We also took some close-up portrait shots before leaving the hotel room. I absolutely love this lighting!

Okay, by this time it’s around 4pm and I’m about to head to our first look spot. Jovin went first to find a spot. I was hiding in the back of the car while our photographer and videographer went to set up and organized us so we wouldn’t see each other. When I saw him, it became so much more real!! “This is the guy I’m going to marry today. The guy I’ve been patiently waiting to marry. The guy that God has placed in my path to spend the rest of this life with. I’m so excited!! AH.”

The photographer we went with was Nice Print Photo. They do amazing videography and photography!! The two people we shot with was honestly the BEST team ever – they’re so fun!. We want to shoot with them again just for more photos.

This photo is just a couple seconds before our first look. I wasn’t too nervous, I was more excited! I went behind him to hug him and kissed him on the cheek before he turned around!

We took some time to pray together and prepare our hearts before heading over to the house for our wedding ceremony!

Our Backyard Ceremony

This was the setup! We had our original florist come super early to set up for us. The arch, draping and florals was what really made this ceremony look beautiful! I didn’t know how it would look until I got to the house, 10 minute before the ceremony. The florals and bouquets were all the same flowers – roses, peonies, hydrangeas and eucalyptus. The theme was light pink, white and mauve.

Our florist was NPD events. They do such amazing work!! The florals were SO much nicer than I expected and made our ceremony so much more beautiful!

I still have the bouquet in our apartment and I change the water everyday so it stays alive. Just seeing it beings back such sweet memories of this special day!!

Haha it’s Junior wearing a bowtie walking down the aisle. Cutest ever.

Our pastor is amazing!!! He has been such a big support system to us – counseling us, praying for us and always being so willing to hop on facetime calls with us when we call him at random times when we had questions or just want to talk. He has been such a blessing from us speaking with so much wisdom and loving people with such a tender heart.

Jovin reading his vows!

Lookin’ handsome my dude :’)

Reading my vows <3

I took all week writing my vows and have read them so many times I can recite them clearly from memory now, haha!

During the ceremony we sang a worship song (How Deep The Father’s Love), our pastor shared scripture on what it means to be married (Ephesians 5), shared stories of our relationship together, had an exchange of vows and rings and unity ceremony with candles!

Raising my bouquet!! Woo, we’re husband and wife!

“YOU MAY NOW KISS YOUR WIFE”

Mr. and Mrs. Kison!!

THE FAM <3

We didn’t have a tall table to place our laptop so it had it’s spot on a chair! Figuring out how to do the livecast was a lot of work – Jovin was able to figure it all out in one night thankfully!

In this photo, we were greeting all our guests that were watching. Our hearts are so so grateful. We were reading through the comments which were so funny and entertaining, haha!

After, we changed our unity table to our cake table! The top layer was a vegan chocolate cake with chocolate fudge and white frosting. The bottom one was a red velvet cake with cream cheese and white frosting!

Our florist helped provide several roses to place on our cake. I’m a lover of all things mauve/peach right now!!

We also used our original cake topper and wedding welcome sign!

Our cake was from Patty Cakes! It’s a family owned bakery in Orange County. I’ve tried about 5 flavors and it’s very consistent. Their cake and frosting is one of the best I’ve tried!

Speaking for myself, that smile never left my face the whole day. I’m so happy to have married my best friend.

Honestly, such a PERFECT day!! Here’s to married life. So so excited to see what unfolds for us together <3

Thank you guys all for your sweet messages – we are both so thankful for following along our journey! You’re all amazing. Love ya’ll and can’t wait to share more!!