**ROMANTIC AND RICH IN LOVE**
Lis Simon Bride Jessica + Brandon had a fun filled celebration at The Royal Glenora Club together with their friends and family. Their special day is adorned with deep jewel tones and rich darker florals. To elevate the fun, they held a tea ceremony and door games to share the beauty of their heritage.

THE LOVE STORY

Fate did its silly thing to Jessica and Brandon. The two met through friends – although they had many mutual friends, their paths never crossed until a few years later. They later found out that there was a photo of them from a night out, before they even knew each other. “It’s like destiny was giving us a sneak peek of what was to come in our love story!”

PROPOSAL

August 29th, 2020

Jessica + Brandon had planned a trip to Banff with their closest friends, a group of awesome people who became their bridal party. A sunrise hike to Ha Ling Peak was planned, hence setting up an alarm at 2 am was inevitable. Since some of their friends were hiking newbies, Jessica was taking it easy and told everyone not to rush. Meanwhile, the others were getting all antsy about reaching the summit on time. When they finally made it to the top, everyone was taking photos and Jessica was bickering at Brandon to get him in the right for some photos because he was being “weird”. Little did she know, he was on his knee, smiling up at her with a ring in his hand. Jessica could tell that Brandon’s mind had gone completely blank, she couldn’t help but tease him and said: “Are you going to ask?!” He finally found his words and asked her the question, “and of course, I said yes with all my heart”.

According to Jessica, looking back from the event was pretty funny because of how obvious the whole proposal trip was. Her best friend from Vancouver happened to be in town that same weekend and wanted to hike, and the girls kept on talking about dressing up and taking nice photos. She was so overconfident that Brandon would never be able to surprise her, without her knowing, even though it was obvious. But wait, there’s more. The surprise didn’t stop there – her maid of honour flew in from LA to join the party, and that’s when the waterworks hit. Jessica is not usually a crier, but she couldn’t hold back the tears of joy. “It was an emotional rollercoaster in the best way possible!”

THE DRESS

The White Gallery was Jessica’s third stop in the search for the perfect dress. Simple yet elegant, features that she have always wanted for her dress. Although she had another dress in mind, the moment she laid her eyes on the gorgeous Lis Simon dress, she knew she had to give it a shot. Customized MARIA + SS406 Skirt, the dress that fit her standards, was not only pretty, but is made to be customizable to her liking – another feature that made her seal the deal.

Her whole experience at The White Gallery was top-notch. The place was clean, organized, and no other appointments were being held during her visit, which made it all feel even more special. “I couldn’t have asked for a better setting to find my dream dress!”

WEDDING & RECEPTION

Sept 16, 2022 at The Royal Glenora Club

The couple isn’t traditional and knew they just wanted to hear their best friends and parents speak, and just create core memories with all their loved ones. The two took lessons for their first dance, and Jessica reckons that they messed up about 40% of it due to being nervous and being a wee bit drunk by then. During the duration of their special day, they had some mishaps with her press on nails (tip for brides using press on nails – don’t use the glue tabs! They will fall off when they get wet). During their first dance, Jessica could see her nails detaching and would slowly just peel off the ones falling and subtly slide them in Brandon’s pocket. Overall, it was a fun-filled day, and those tiny incidents didn’t stop them from having fun.

One of Jessica’s favourite part of the night was getting to dance with her dad and her 101-year-old grandad, who is in great shape! As she was brought up in a family that doesn’t express their love that much, those special moments will forever stay dear in her heart – a heartwarming moment with her family.

The overall decorations were relatively minimal because of The Royal Glenora Club was already beautifully renovated. Jessica, a flower enthusiast, went all out with the florals, which perfectly added a touch of elegance and colour to the venue.

FAVOURITE MOMENTS

Anecdotes from the bride:

I am Chinese and Brandon is half Chinese half Vietnamese, but we have similar wedding day traditions within our cultures.
In the morning, we did door games where the groom needed to “prove his worthiness”. It was a great way to start the day and so funny to watch.
We did a tea ceremony with our family and that was really special. Although Brandon and I had a very “Canadian” upbringing, we both wanted to honour our roots by having a tea ceremony. It was really special to us to honour and show respect to our family by having a tea ceremony on our wedding day.
Having to dance with my grandpa was definitely one of my favourite moments of the day, it was such a Special moment to share with him and something I will never forget.

PREPARATIONS & INSPIRATIONS

Since the wedding was held in September, Jessica opted for an arrangement of deep jewel tones and rich darker florals, as well as custom signs that she has made. To match with the theme, all of her bridesmaids had different colour dresses: burgundy, mauve, burnt orange, and a dusty rose. As for their wedding cake, one of their closest friends made one for them and made it simple by choosing to go with a white naked cake and decorated it with some roses.

Majority of her inspiration came from Pinterest – “I was definitely a little overstimulated with all the ideas, and I had to cut myself off after I found something I liked”. Just like every single one of us, Jessica got easily distracted, and having too many options isn’t always a good thing! (WORD).

HONEYMOON

Jessica + Brandon are planning on going to Hong Kong and Korea this November for their honeymoon. She also has family in Hong Kong that was unable to come to the wedding, so they planned to have a mini reception there.