One Fine Day

If you’ve always dreamed a classic and elegant wedding, then you’re going to love Pakou and Kyle’s bright and refined wedding day filled with love and joy. All thanks to Krista Esterling Photography for capturing the wonders and smiles during their special day.

T H E L O V E S T O R Y

A short and sweet anecdote from Pakou:

I wish we had a super romantic love story, but we actually met on “MeetMe” the dating app. It was super casual and cute. He messaged me and asked to be friends and from there, our relationship bloomed.

T H E P R O P O S A L

November 25th, 2020

It’s been a tradition for the past 25 years, that Kyle and his family would go up north to Duluth, Minnesota the first week of November as a family vacation. Pakou, who was really excited for this trip as it was a chance for her “just to be away from the cities and work”. They went a day early to explore. Kyle, who’s extremely genius (you’ll know in a bit), brought his drone and GoPro to document the whole trip, and record Pakou as his model. “Of course, totally oblivious to the entire planned proposal, I said “YES””. Kyle bought his drone 6 months before the proposal because he had always known he wanted to film the entire proposal himself, “So, by telling me he wanted to video me as model, that was his cover-up so I wouldn’t suspect him. Sneaky!”

The couple pulled up to Split Rock and found a little hidden peninsula that had the most beautiful view of Lake Superior. Kyle asked her if she liked the spot, she answered “yes”. He then took out his drone and flew it around to show her the view of Split Rock which showcased the beach, the beautiful blue lake, and the greenery surrounding them. “Do you like the view”, he asked – “My goodness, it was beautiful”. Kyle asked her to stand by the point of the peninsula and be ready, so there she went, triumphing her way to the point. He came up to her and showed the view from his controller of how the picture and video looked, he asked if she liked it, “Yes, I love it.” She responded. “Do you like this?”, he asked as he put down his controller, got on one knee and pulled out the ring to show her – “I was completely cut off guard. This entire time, he was asking me questions so that the proposal would be to my liking”.

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the smoothest and smartest proposal ever – hands down to Kyle for pulling that off!

T H E D R E S S

“It was amazing.” Pakou went to Effie’s Bridal in Burnsville, MN. “We had an incredible consultant, Andrew who listened to what I wanted – fit and flare, elegant and simple”. Pakou didn’t even see the dress as they walked past it, but Andrew said that might be the dress for her, he then took it off the mannequin and insisted to try it on after the other dresses. After trying on 3 dresses, she asked him to bring out the Lis Simon dress. “Right when I walked out of the fitting room, I knew it was the one. It was absolutely beautiful. I cried, my mother-in-law cried, and he cried. On top of that, we added a custom overskirt to give it a little more sass! We then celebrated with champagne.”

T H E W E D D I N G & R E C E P T I O N

September 18th, 2021, at Intercontinental Saint. Paul Riverfront Hotel

Elegant and classy was the overall theme of their wedding. The ceremony was held in a big, beautiful ballroom where a huge floor-to-ceiling windows by the dance floor.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM YOUR SPECIAL DAY

Pakou surprised her husband with a dance! Inspired by the one and only, Melissa Molinaro’s famous wedding performance, Pakou and her girlfriends practice for 6 months every Saturday – “it was something no one expected, and every loved it, especially my husband.”

Her absolute favourite moment was their “first look” – it was pure and beautiful.

PREPARATIONS AND INSPIRATIONS

Pinterest and Instagram were the two platforms that helped Pakou visualized her dream wedding.

From Pakou

Get an actual wedding planner to take the stress and load off of you. Little things like, taking incoming calls or gathering everyone together for pictures - this will help a lot.
Also, bring your lipstick/lipgloss with you everywhere. You’ll definitely need a retouch after kissing all day for photos.

HONEYMOON

Pakou and Kyle went on a mini honeymoon to Vegas. Their dream honeymoon is to visit Hawaii! Unfortunately, with their strict Covid restrictions, they decide to hold off until their 1-year anniversary.