After meeting through a mutual friend, Houston couple Anthony Luong and Kimberly Kim dated for five years before Luong popped the question in a surprise proposal at Mount Bonnell.
Luong had heard a legend that climbing to the top of Mount Bonnell with someone three times means you’re supposed to get married. The couple had visited the spot twice already, and so he devised a plan to make their third time truly special.
Bringing Kim to Austin under the pretense that he had a job interview, Luong told her to meet him afterwards at a swanky brunch for potential employees. Luong’s brother picked Kim up and instead brought her to Mount Bonnell, where she was greeted by the sight of some of their closest friends dressed in all white and lined up the steps holding balloons that spelled out “Will You Marry Me?”
Waiting at the top next to a heart balloon sculpture was Luong.
“When I proposed, I said we could go anywhere in the world and get married right now,” Luong recalls. “But Kim wanted to have all the right people with us to celebrate.”
After a year-and-a-half-long engagement, the couple wed at Ma Maison in Dripping Springs, surrounded by 110 friends and family members. The wedding followed a French rustic theme, with a color palette of dusty rose and gold.
While it had been raining all week and the forecast for their special day looked bleak, everything aligned with the clouds opening up and sun coming out for their actual ceremony. Luong remembers his groomsmen being nervous as they prepared to walk down the aisle. He says: “I told them, ‘You’re nervous? Imagine how I feel!’”
In lieu of a guest book at the reception, guests were invited to use a Polaroid camera to take a photo of themselves and attach it to a decorative frame strung with lights.
For dinner, there was a choice of chicken piccata roulade or beef bourguignon, served alongside buttery mashed potatoes and haricot verts. In addition to their lemon wedding cake, the couple had chocolate chip cookies and fruity pebble white chocolate chip cookies made by Luong’s cousin.
Highlights of the reception include sharing their first dance to “Mine” by Taylor Swift and the “instant classic” that was the best man speech from Luong’s brother.
To end the evening, Luong and Kim were sent off with a sparkler exit while guests grabbed Whataburger honey butter chicken biscuits on their way out. Thinking back on the day, Luong says, “I jokingly tell Kim that we should go get married again. It was magical seeing how much Kim enjoyed it and how everyone had such a good time.”
Wedding planner:Tracy Collins Events
Venue:Ma Maison
Florist:Lovely Leaves
Furniture rental:Marquee Event Rentals
Catering: Crave Catering
Cake: Sweet Treets Bakery
DJ:1st Class Entertainment
Photography: ML Photo & Film
Videography: Reverent Wedding Films
The wedding took place in picturesque Dripping Springs.
