“The moment I feel in love with Marcus Bell was when I opened my inbox and saw these pretty pictures…….
……It’s just that a wedding photograph rarely leaves me speechless.”
Abby Larson | Style Me Pretty
visit Style Me Pretty, the world’s most visited bridal blog to read the feature and the comments.
Combine an epic location with a magnificent couple, add a swag of supremely talented family and friends and you have the ingredients for magic. Charisse and Aldo from New York City had all that and so much more in their awesome Bali wedding.
So many special details for this very special couple. Charisse is of Chinese descent, so Charisse & Aldo incorporated a traditional chinese tea ceremony into their day. The intricate outfit worn by Charisse for the tea ceremony is called a “kwa”, and was originally worn by Charisse’s grandmother (who has now passed) for her own tea ceremony over 60 years earlier, and brought all the way to Bali from LA by Charisse’s uncle. All the brides in Charisse’s family now wear their grandmother’s kwa for their tea ceremony. What a perfect way to celebrate your family heritage!
Charisse & Aldo’s family & friends brought so many special touches to the day – it is hard to know which ones to tell you about. First there was their influence on the outfits - Charisse’s jewelry chosen by her sister Candice, the renowned jewelry designer from Hong Kong specifically to match her Vera Wang dress & Valentino shoes, Bridesmaid’s outfits & accessories by 57 Grand whose co-founders Saukok Tiampo and Carmen Ho are close friends of Charisse & Aldo, and then of course the Converse shoes customised with the names of all Groomsmen in the wedding colours – how cool did these guys look?
THEN there was the music. Aldo’s cousin and one of the groomsmen, was MiG Ayesa who just happened to be one of the top 3 finalists in the reality TV show Rockstar: INXS & is now performing on Broadway as Stacee Jax in Rock of Ages - so who else would you get to sing for your first dance? MiG sang one of Charisse & Aldo’s favourite songs ”Baby I love your way”, and it was one of the most touching bridal waltzes I’ve experienced. Not to leave it there, MiG joined with close family friends Michael, Joe & Franco Chan to kick off the dancing with a Beatles medley. Throw in some spontaneous singing throughout the night, a play list to die for, guests that can’t stay seated & you have the recipe for a broken dance floor – yes I am serious – they broke the dance floor! Now that’s a party.
Alila Soori Villas provided a gorgeous backdrop and fabulous food topped off with great service and a Mille-crepe cake specially created by Chef Aston for the Bride and Groom, and topped with little wooden likenesses of Charisse & Aldo with their two dogs – another gift from someone close.
Thanks so much Charisse & Aldo for inviting me into your wonderful circle of friends for this very special day. May music fill your heart and your home always. What a fantastic wedding. What a dream job.
