Jaime Loke, a doctoral student at UT, met Garret Allen, an Austin homebuilder online. At first, Jaime was embarrassed to let anyone know that the two had met online, until she realized just how many couples actually do meet that way. They would chat until the wee hours of the night, even thought Garrett had to go to work at 6 a.m., and Jaime had classes the next day. However, in Garrett’s own words, “love makes up for lack of sleep.”

Finally after chatting online for two weeks, and on the phone for two weeks, the two met for their first date. “I remember that I didn’t want our first date to end,” said Jaime. They drove around all evening so that the date wouldn’t end. After dating for a couple of months, they both knew that they had found the right one! A few weeks later Garrett got down on his knees in Jaime’s apartment and asked her to marry him, and Jaime ecstatically said yes! After Jaime called her mother, her mother insisted that they have an engagement party. The night before the engagement party, Garrett gave Jaime a custom made ring designed by a local Austin jeweler. It was the perfect ring for Jaime.

Jaime and Garrett had over a year to plan their wedding so Jaime was able to focus on many details. Jaime’s family is Chinese so it was important that the couple get married on an auspicious day. Garrett and Jaime finally chose September 30, for their special day, because it was the same date that Garrett’s grandparents and parents got married, and it was an auspicious day. Jaime and Garrett agreed on Vintage Villas for the ceremony and reception site and they chose Claire Kelly from Soiree as the wedding coordinator to ensure that all details turned out perfectly.

Instead of the typical engagement pictures, Garrett and Jaime opted to have post-wedding pictures taken instead, so about a month after their wedding, they dressed in their wedding attire, took their three dogs and got some amazing pictures of them and the pups. “Our photographer, Heather Mabry of Eclectic Images, was phenomenal,” said Jaime. They did, however, hire a videographer to capture every aspect of their beautiful wedding.

The theme of their wedding was cherry blossoms. Everything had cherry blossoms and if it hadn’t been for the time of year, they would have had cherry blossoms for their centerpieces. When their guests checked into the hotel at Vintage Villas, they were given a welcome bag of spa products from Bath & Body Works; all in cherry blossom fragrances.

The wedding colors were ice pink and ivory with dark brown as accent colors. Their wedding was held outdoors and they exchanged vows in a gorgeous gazebo. It was a magnificent day for a wedding, blue sky with a bright sun, and a mild breeze, and in the horizon was beautiful Lake Travis. “It was like a picture from a postcard,” said Jaime.

The string quartet was playing outside as guests were being seated. Jaime invited one of her dear friends, Tania Cantrell, to read a poem at the wedding. She read two beautiful poems that brought tears to Jaime and Garrett’s eyes. They also ask for a moment of silence to remember their grandparents that couldn’t be there with them.

Right after the ceremony, as the family gathered again to take pictures underneath the gazebo, Jaime’s mom said to Garrett, “You better take good care of my little girl or else you’re fired!” “aah, moms,” laughs Jaime.

Jaime broke down and cried when she saw how beautiful the reception hall looked. “Every bride has their own moment when it hits her that this is it,” said Jaime. “The flowers, the place cards, linens, chair ties, favor boxes, and all the cherry blossoms, just took my breath away!”

Another unique addition to the wedding was the performance of the traditional tea ceremony. Jaime had placed a little tent card on each table to explain the tradition behind the tea ceremony. The tea ceremony is an official Chinese ritual that equals the wedding vows in western weddings; the newlyweds kneel three times, to the heaven and earth, to the ancestral tablets and to their parents. The two then bow to each other. The bride then presents tea to the parents and relatives in sequence of seniority.

She had asked the florists to make a double happiness Chinese character in red carnations to hang from the window where the tea ceremony was held. Jaime had changed into the traditional hand embroidery Chinese wedding dress, and Garrett changed into a suit with a red shirt and a gold tie for the tea ceremony.

The wedding cake was a wonderful creation of four different flavors and adorned with beautiful airbrushed cherry blossoms. The reception buffet was a delicious mixture of both eastern and western food. As wedding favors, Jaime had a baker bake hundreds of crisp, light fortune cookies. She and her sister spent hours stuffing her own printed fortunes in each cookie the night before the wedding.

Lanterns hung above the band that played jazz music for the guests, both young and old, to dance the night away and at the end of the incredible reception, guests were handed petals to throw as the newlyweds left the reception.

The newlyweds could not go on their honeymoon immediately after the wedding because the semester had started for Jaime and she had to get back to school. However, they did get a chance to go to Disney World in December. “We had the time of our lives,” said Jaime. “It brought out the kid in both of us and instead of choosing the romantic path we drove ourselves to exhaustion riding almost every ride there!” “I’m terrified of roller coasters but for Garrett, I rode Space Mountain twice!” “If that’s not love, I don’t know what is!” said Jaime.

Austin Resources

Venue:
Vintage Villas Hotel and Wedding Center

Wedding coordinator:
Soiree – Claire Kelly

Photographer:
Eclectic Images – Heather Mabry

Videographer:
Mason Jar Productions – Christopher Jones

Baker:
Sansalone’s – Tony Sansalone

Florist:
Petal Perfect – Amber Stone

Rehearsal Dinner:
Chez Zee

Wedding Gown:
Serendipity Bridal

Bridesmaid’s Gown:
Serendipity Bridal

Rings:
Laura of Austin – Laura Miley

Bride’s Hair:
Avant Salon

Make-up:
Dawn Fedora – M.A.C Cosmetics at Saks

String Quartet:
Barton Strings

Band:
Bryan Thyme and the Time Machine

Stationary:
The Paper Place