As an intimate wedding photographer in San Luis Obispo, I love it when couples include cultural traditions into their wedding ceremonies and receptions. According to Korean tradition, mandarin ducks stay with their partner for life. When I saw the beautiful gift of two wooden mandarin ducks at the gift table, I became intrigued by cultural gifts given by family and friends.

Andrea and Tim decided on having a small destination wedding in San Luis Obispo. They chose a classic fall garden wedding. They wanted their celebration to be joyful, romantic and intimate. This wedding was during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic so all guests were required to wear masks, all events were outdoors and the wedding was limited to 20 people per the State of California event guidelines.

Personalized details were key for this couple to keep their wedding authentic and a family affair.

Andrea’s father meticulously designed and created the florals for the wedding which included the bouquet, boutonniere, and other florals.
Tim’s uncle gifted the couple two wooden mandarin ducks for their household. It is a Korean tradition to give a married couple this gift, because ducks pair for life.
Tim, who is Korean-American is a big fan of Korean player, Park Si-Jung formerly on the Manchester United soccer team, so Latina bride, Andrea ordered a special Manchester United grooms cake for him to signify his love for the game and his favorite player. Andrea’s cousin, an amazing baker, baked the groom and wedding cakes.

Since so few guests could attend, the entire ceremony was recorded live on Zoom so that they could participate. The couple thanked the online guests in various languages immediately after the ceremony.

One question that I love to ask my couples as a wedding photographer in San Luis Obispo is to get to know them a little better is:

How did you two meet?
“We met on the dating app Hinge. Hinge advertises itself as the app that is ‘designed to be deleted’. Tim messaged Andrea and asked if she wanted to go hiking and before she could respond he changed the plan to dinner then again to coffee. When she saw he suggested coffee she accepted and they met on Super Bowl Sunday for coffee. Andrea assumed Tim didn’t like sports because he asked to go out that day, but he just didn’t realize it was Super Bowl Sunday! He didn’t want to change the plans. We bonded over our shared college experiences at first, talked about our childhoods, and living in the Central Valley. After coffee we got ice cream, then went to dinner, and that’s where it all started.”

Congratulations Andrea & Tim.