The Prado
September 11, 2010

The Connect: The couple met as students working at the VA Medical Center in San Diego. At the time, Tad was a 3rd year UCSD medical student and Tamara was on her last year as a pharmacy student. They were both assigned to the same internal medicine team and quickly became friends. After 3 months of working together, Tad asked Tamara to go to dinner at his favorite Japanese restaurant and even though Tamara had already eaten, she gladly accepted!

The Proposal: Tad and Tamara are both Disneyland fans and decided to sign up for the Disneyland Half Marathon in 2009. They trained together every day and during the marathon they ran together side by side the whole time until they crossed the finish line. As Tamara was walking away from the finish line, Tad was bent over untying his shoe and asked her to wait. As she slowly approached him, he pulled out the ring that he had tied to his running shoe and asked her to marry him. Tad later said he really wanted to propose at the finish line because the half marathon was something they had trained for together as a team and he thought this was how they should work together in their relationship.

The Celebration: They wanted their wedding to be sophisticated, modern and fun, while incorporating their ethnic cultures of Thai, Chinese, Japanese and American. The couple had three different ceremonies; a traditional American Ceremony, a Thai Water Ceremony and a short Chinese Tea Ceremony. To incorporate the Japanese heritage, they folded 1000 origami cranes and used them as their escort cards and strung them on string to decorate. They couple surprised guests with a rockin’ swing dance for their first dance that led into a night of fun with a live band, open bar, coffee cart, donut stand and photo booth.

Tamara’s Advice: “Come up with a style that is both unique and personal to you as a couple. Bring your vision to your vendors and trust them to work their magic.”



Ingredients:

CEREMONY & RECEPTION VENUE The Prado

COORDINATOR Cynthia Zatkin of CZ Events

OFFICIANT Rev. Beryl Cotter

PHOTOGRAPHY Brian Boing Photography

VIDEOGRAPHY Taylor Films

GOWN Marylinn's Bridal Salon

MEN’S FORMALWEAR J Crew, Banana Republic

FLORIST & LINENS Indulge Flowers

CEREMONY ENTERTAINMENT Silverwood

RECEPTION ENTERTAINMENT The Kicks

CAKE Sweet Cheeks Bakery

INVITATIONS Wedding Paper Divas

HAIR Beauty Ever After

MAKEUP Joel Scher

JEWELRY Bridal Rings Company

TRANSPORTATION Rolls Livery

RENTALS Plush Lounge Furniture

COFFEE BAR Joes on the Nose

DONUTS Party Donuts

PHOTO BOOTH Classy Photo Booths