Harper's Bazaar: LLG Event Design at Pelican Hill

Set overlooking the California seaside, with a clear blue sky above, the Rotunda Pelican Hill in California served as the perfect backdrop for Erica and Mike's lavish nuptials.

"We considered so many beautiful venues, so it took a long time to choose because though they were all beautiful. We wanted something that really caught our eye. And even better, Pelican Hill caught our hearts," said bride Erica of the venue.

"With the beautiful oceans views, Italian architecture, Rotunda ceremony dome… we knew it was the perfect spot."

Those features were indeed the perfect backdrop for Erica's "glittery, shiny, full of sparkles and a special night-time glow" vision.

The end result was that, plus so much more. Sweeping installations of white roses, baby's breath and orchids were arranged around the aisle, altar and signing location, twinkling chandeliers and golden details made up the décor and one very elegant Galia Lahav gown served as the cherry on top.

Below, every gorgeous detail from the day.

The Bride’s Little Black Book

Photography: Lost In Love Photography
Videography: Moon and Back
Bride's dress: Galia Lahav and Bridal Reflections
Bride's shoes: Christian Louboutin
Bridal robe: Le Rose
Groom's suit: Alton Lane
Groom's shoes: Salvatore Ferragamo
Hair and makeup: Kelly Zhang Studio
Flowers: Celio's Design
Flower wall: OC Flower Walls
Cake: Pelican Hill Resort
Catering: Pelican Hill Resort
Event planning: LLG Events
Lighting and draping: Amber Event Production
Wedding venue: Pelican Hill Resort
Wedding favours: Fusion Gourmet Food
Invitations: Kelsey Malie Calligraphy
Entertainment: DJ Karam
Photobooth: Hashtag Photo Booth

On How They Met

"We have a mutual friend who introduced us over the phone when I was in Korea and Mike was in New York. She thought we would be a good match, and surely we wound up speaking on the phone day and night for many months before finally being able to meet in person. Mike invited me to Los Angeles on his birthday and asked me to be his girlfriend. That's how this story started. Every year over his birthday, we celebrate our anniversary too. We dated for five years before finally getting married!"

On The Proposal

"Mike's proposal was as sweet and thoughtful as him. He came to Seoul, Korea for the proposal because he wanted me to be able to celebrate with our friends and family there. He prepared a reception at the Signiel Seoul hotel in the Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in Korea. So after he proposed in private with rose petals on the floor and a blooming flower bouquet, which was so like him—very quiet and intimate, we celebrated 101 floors high in the sky with an amazing nighttime view of the city."

On Her Vision For The Day

Looking forward to the day, I knew I didn't want to miss any of it because it would be the best moments of my life. I wanted to take in every second and focus on the day. We prepared for over one year, so we were ready and knew everything would go well. We also wanted all of our guests to enjoy themselves as much as we knew we were going to. Decoration wise, I knew I wanted the day to be glittery, shiny, full of sparkles and a special nighttime glow."

On The Location

"The ceremony was in the Rotunda at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, California, and the reception was behind the Rotunda space on their patio."

On The Significance Of The Location

"We considered so many beautiful venues, so it took a long time to choose because though they were all beautiful. We wanted something that really caught our eye. And even better, Pelican Hill caught our hearts. With the beautiful oceans views, Italian architecture, Rotunda ceremony dome… we knew it was the perfect spot. We visited the venue a few months before our wedding and fell even more in love—the food was great, the dessert was phenomenal, and the staff were so friendly."

On The Guestlist

"We had 185 guests attend from all over!"

On The Food and Drinks

"We served a warm truffled potato leek soup with crispy duck to start, and everyone loved this to warm them up after the ceremony by the ocean with a nice breeze. The main course options were Kalbi marinated beef short ribs and Maine lobster tail tempura, a traditional Korean style preparation of very high quality meat; seasonal Alaskan halibut with farro risotto in saffron orange sauce; and crispy quinoa fritters with roasted baby vegetables in a romesco sauce. For signature drinks, we had an old-fashioned for Mike, and 'The Golden Bride' cocktail for me."

On The Cake

"I didn't think too much about the cake. I told Pelican Hill that I wanted a simple and elegant design incorporating the same flowers as the reception, in order to extend the same theme. They chose their speciality butter sponge cake with strawberry and had my flowers swirl around the outside cake display. Everyone loved it so much, there wasn't any leftovers!"

On The Flowers

"I picked white roses for my bouquet because they are traditional and the most romantic flowers in my opinion. I also used white roses and geranium flowers to line the mirrored aisle at the ceremony, which created such a dramatic effect. For the table arrangements, I chose baby's breath to extend the white colour theme, yet also match the feel of our starry night reception. Our lighting was like stars with tons of little twinkling lights, so the baby's breath matched that perfectly."

On the most unexpected and memorable moments from the day

"The most unexpected moment of the day was when I was walking down the aisle and saw one of the priests that had baptised me a few months ago. He had told me he couldn't make it to the wedding due to health issues, but he showed! When I saw him, I felt so blessed that he made it and so lucky to have him be a part of our wedding ceremony."

"The most memorable moment was before I walked down the aisle to an instrumental version of 'Beauty And The Beast.' That was the first movie I saw when I was little, and I can still remember going to the theatre for the first time. I loved Belle so much because she wasn't a traditional princess, but she still looked so beautiful and was also smart and educated. I always wanted to be that girl growing up, so I think that's why that song always makes me tear up. It's always been so special to me when dreaming of my own fairytale."

"The biggest highlight of the day was our first dance. I always loved watching a couple's first dance at weddings and would wonder how they felt because they were always looking at each other, just entirely in their own world. Getting to finally feel that myself was literally a magical moment. When Mike looked at me, nothing else mattered and I just felt so grateful and thankful to everything and everyone who helped make this day so special."

On her favourite moment from the day

"My favourite design element of the wedding was the reception lighting—we fell in love with it from the first moment we saw it. We wanted the reception to be outside to capture the amazing sunset of Newport Beach; however, we needed the area to stay lit once the sun went down so we added hundreds of small, twinkling lights that looked like stars in the nighttime sky."

"I also loved the mirrored aisle at the ceremony. It's reflection of the flowers and blue sky made me feel like I was floating on water. In addition, I was crazy in love with my grey and gold colour theme. I think it's very modern, elegant and classy. I love gold, so I focused many elements on that such as the tables, chairs, invitations and menus; however, adding in the grey instead of white made it more unique."

On finding the dress

"I went on a long search for my dress, to 10 bridal salons and tried on at least 80 dresses. However, I was on a time crunch because I had flown my mom from Korea to New York to be there with me during the search. I was originally looking for a mermaid or fitted style, but after trying on so many, I knew this "Aelin" Galia Lahav gown with an 8-foot wide train, crystal embroidery, and embellishment of gold leaves and vines was the one. It also had a glitter powder all over the dress, so it tied in perfectly with my wedding theme because I wanted the whole day to be glowing and sparkling."

"Every little girl dreams of wearing a big, long gown, and that's exactly what this was. It was definitely a statement piece. Inspired by Dior's bustier dresses, I also custom-ordered straps to make an off-the-shoulder look."

On her favourite accessories

"The necklace and earrings from my mother-in-law were my favourite accessories. The beautiful diamond studs are very traditional in Mike's family, so I was so thankful to receive them. It was a really touching moment and I'm so grateful for her."

On why she didn't have a reception change

"I wanted to keep my dress on for as long as possible!

On what her husband wanted from the day

"Mike was always focusing on how comfortable our guests would be, as he really wanted everyone to enjoy themselves. He didn't want there to be too much sitting, so he worked incredibly hard on the music list and selected all the choices for the reception and after party to make sure everyone would be up, dancing, and having a great time!"

On the photography

"I wanted the photographers to capture natural and candid moments. Lost In Love Photography is really good at this, so we were able to enjoy the wedding moments. I wanted to just enjoy and have them showcase the entire day so I didn't have to worry about forgetting anything. For example, I will never forget the beautiful sunset behind us at the ceremony thanks to the pictures they captured of us in this moment."

On the wedding favours

"Yes, we wanted to incorporate more of the Arabian theme, so we special ordered golden Arabic favor boxes from Istanbul, Turkey. Two truffle chocolates were placed inside, one made with tahini and the other a coffee flavor, both made by Mike's uncle. My hope is that my guests could take the golden box home and use it to store their jewellery or other small items, and remember our special celebration of love for a long time."

On the entertainment

"Our entertainment was such a worthy investment. West Coast Music is insane! We got so many compliments from family and friends on their entertainment. The singer's voices are amazing, the instruments are fantastic, and you literally feel like you're at a concert. That said, they still didn't take away too much from us as bride and groom. They just gave the celebration an extra boost by blending perfectly with the mood and vibe. Hashtag Photobooth was also a great choice. They have a skin glow option to make you look like you're glowing and shining in the photobooth pictures, which was perfect for our wedding theme. It was so fun to watch all of these photos after the wedding. It's such a nice memoir if you missed part of your day or didn't get to say hi to everyone. We had everyone attach photos to our guestbook, and it's so nice to feel people's love with the smiles in their photos."

On her tip for future brides

"Just like many brides say, enjoy every moment. Enjoy yourself throughout the whole planning process and how you want the celebration to be. Listen to your heart and how happy and lucky you are on the wedding day; nothing else really matters, not the way the napkins are folded or the size of your flowers. Know that with your beloved next to you, everything will be a dream no matter what."

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