Bride Of The Week: Jean Pak

My husband and I met online. We actually had over 15 mutual Facebook friends, so we were able to ask our friends about each other even before we met in person!

After two years of dating, he took me back to our first date spot where we had an intimate dinner. Though I knew George would propose around that time, I was not certain whether it was happening that particular night because we had friends over watching football.  We were actually late for our dinner because the game lasted longer than anticipated! I have never seen him so nervous and emotional before, but after he proposed, I said YES, and we celebrated with friends immediately after.

I was clueless when it came to wedding dresses and what style I wanted. Thankfully, we had decided on our venue several weeks before, so I used my venue as my main source of inspiration and looked through social media to find different dresses and designers. A friend introduced me to Galia Lahav, and I was fortunate to make an appointment immediately after. I went in with my mother and two bridesmaids who know my style and know what looks good on me.  It was very helpful to go with them since it was my first wedding dress shopping experience ever.  Though I tried on other dresses at other bridal salons, I kept thinking of the Gia, especially thinking of the different photos I wanted to shoot in my dress while at my wedding venue. After I made the decision, I actually went back to the salon alone to try it on again.  I FaceTimed my bridesmaids and my mom who were no longer in New York and purchased it on the spot!

We decided to get married at Villa Sola Cabiati in Lake Como, Italy. It was Charles II’s and the Duke of Serbelloni’s summerhouse; it even houses Napoleon’s and Josephine’s beds and their personal items including Napoleon’s hat!  Through a recent partnership with Grand Hotel Tremezzo, it has been recently open to the public for private events.  We knew it would be perfect for our wedding venue since we would have exclusive use of the property and it would be an incredibly special weekend for our guests as they celebrated our wedding with us.  We had a three days wedding celebration: the first night was at Grand Hotel Tremezzo’s T-Beach, right on Lake Como, and the other two days were at the Villa. Since we had the Villa to ourselves for the whole weekend, it was amazing to be immersed in history and also to create our own history in the Villa!

I did not have a specific theme in mind and went with my natural instincts.  I started off with a blush, cream, and gold palette that was inspired by the flowers in the Villa’s garden and the decorative golden gates.  I envisioned a timeless and elegant wedding where I incorporated much of the natural splendor of the Villa and Lake Como.  We used many of the local flowers and added classic touches like metallic candles on the tables and stairs.  The main parlor is ornately decorated with Italian frescos, beautiful antiques and furniture, so I felt like I did not have to add much to the décor.  Since we live in New York, the hardest part of wedding planning was to find vendors and plan everything through emails and Whatsapp messages.  Thankfully, I found almost all of my vendors through Instagram and found everyone to be extremely professional, helpful, and most important of all, an absolute pleasure to work with.  They made everything run smoothly during our wedding weekend, and we are extremely grateful that they brought my wedding vision to life!

My favorite part was walking down the aisle with my husband and realizing that all our family and friends were in beautiful Lake Como to help celebrate our marriage.  We have a candid picture of us hugging at the end of the aisle because we were just so elated that all the time and effort we put into planning our wedding was unfolding beautifully.

After my engagement, my friend introduced me to Galia Lahav.  I started following GL on social media and scouring over every dress, and I knew I had to make an appointment to try on these gorgeous gowns. I was fortunate to be able to try them on at Bridal Reflections in NYC.  Everyone there was so professional and so friendly. The craftsmanship on the gown is meticulously designed and created to accentuate your silhouette. All the guests commented on how gorgeous the wedding dress was, and I felt that it was tailored to perfection.

I enjoyed wedding planning from the very beginning. I was excited to see some of my vision boards on Pinterest come to life! It was really exciting contacting my vendor despite the time difference. I enjoyed interacting with them and knowing that all my vendors and I were on the same page.  I would say that my favorite part was getting the dress, finding my very talented photographer (Oliver Fly), making my customized invitations (Momental Designs), and having food and wine tasting with our local caterer (Visini).

My wedding weekend was everything I had dreamt of and more.  We had many logistical issues leading up to the wedding (there was a Dolce and Gabanna event all over Lake Como during the same weekend, which lead to a lot of chaos for us!), but all of that does not matter because, in the end, all of your family and loved ones are there to celebrate you.  You are surrounded by those who have traveled so far to be with you on your special day, and it will always have a special place in our hearts.