Bright and Airy Multicultural Wedding Day at The Eloise

When Natalie Cheung and Christian Maravilla met through mutual friends in 2018, they quickly felt a special connection. “Christian always tells me that he remembers looking over at me and thinking to himself, ‘I could see myself with this girl in the future,’” Natalie says. Tradition was the theme of their celebrations, starting a week prior to the wedding with a traditional Laotian ceremony to recognize part of the bride's heritage, to which she wore a handmade sinh dress from Laos. For the big day, she wore a handmade cheongsam, a traditional Chinese dress, and festivities included the Chinese tea ceremony in celebration of her ancestry and a cord and veil ritual to honor the groom's Filipino culture. Natalie knew she wanted to incorporate her love for chinoiserie into the overall design, and planner Ashley Kuehnal brought the bride’s vision to life with a blue and white palette with touches of gold and pink. With Natalie’s only request for florals to be “soft and romantic with hydrangeas,” the couple was delighted when they saw 1209 Creative’s refined garden-style arrangements filling the reception space. Although their day was full of special moments, Christian’s favorite was seeing Natalie come down the aisle: “I realized just how lucky I am to be able to go through life with her by my side,” he says. As a surprise for guests, the newlyweds coordinated a traditional Chinese lion dance performance to end the night and bring good luck and prosperity to the family.