Guests Enjoyed a 10-Course Traditional Vietnamese Dinner at This Lush Outdoor Wedding in California

Christine and Hung met on a flight from Virginia to California in October 2009. When the two were seated next to each other again on their connecting flight, they dove into hours of conversation and learned they had a lot in common. At the time, Christine had just started her first year of medical school, and Hung was finishing his post-baccalaureate. Six years later, the two reconnected as they completed their residencies in Southern California.

Their friendship turned romantic, and in April 2019, the now-couple planned a trip to Chicago. Inspired by a George Seurat painting, Hung convinced Christine to join him for coffee on the Nichols Bridgeway. On the bridge, Hung popped the question, and as soon as Christine said yes, their close friends came out from hiding to surprise her; the celebrations commenced! The couple originally planned a July 4, 2020, wedding, but the pandemic hit four months before their big day—so, they decided to tie the knot in a small backyard Zoom ceremony on their original date and pushed their big-day plans out to July 2, 2021, when they could celebrate safely and fully with all of their 118 guests.

When that day arrived, Christine and Hung put their cultural backgrounds at the forefront: Their outdoor wedding took place at Rancho La Lomas in Silverado, California, where botanical gardens set the stage for the couple's Old-World garden vision, which they punctuated with Vietnamese weddings traditions and foods (including a 10-course dinner). The pair worked with wedding planner Susan Dunne to lock in all their vendors in the first two months and design a floral-heavy wedding with a color palette of soft pinks, hot pink, fuchsia, greenery, and gold accents.