{article: the 5 love languages}

Today's blog is a little different than most of my previous blog posts. Recently, I stumbled upon The Five Love Languages website courtesy of one of my favorite Youtubers, Ingrid Nilsen. Ingrid posted recently about her discovery with her five love languages and it made me curious about my personal five.

The Five Love languages argues that people express love in different ways, and people feel loved in different ways. These five types of expression are the five "love languages." According to the site, people feel loved when a partner expresses love in the language that is natural to the recipient. If love is expressed in a different language, that message of love isn't received.

Finding out what love language makes our partner feel loved would definitely be beneficial in order for us to be aware and know what to provide. Sometimes even when we think we are loving or showing affection to our partner based on our own standards but if that's not what our partner needs, it won't make our partner feel loved. 

So you may ask well how do I know what are my partner's languages? Start by asking yourself some discovery questions like what does he/she value? What does he/she most often complain about? As much as it is important to ask ourselves how I express love, it is just as important to ask what makes my partner feel loved? Self-knowledge and self-awareness is crucial to our own happiness and I think the way of looking at love within relationships is very important, not only to understand ourselves but our partners as well. Knowing how you prefer to be loved is important for your relationship. It’s romantic to think your partner should just know how to love you—but it’s also a bit unrealistic, and can even be unfair to expect something from your partner if you’re not willing to tell him/her how you prefer to be loved and appreciated in your relationship.

The five love languages are Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch. 

Information below is from the The Five Love Languages website. 

Words of Affirmation

Actions don't always speak louder than words. If this is your love language, unsolicited compliments mean the world to you. Hearing the words, "I love you," are important – hearing the reasons behind that love sends your spirits skyward. Insults can leave you shattered and are not easily forgotten. Kind, encouraging, and positive words are truly life-giving.

Quality Time

In the vernacular of Quality Time, nothing says, "I love you," like full, undivided attention. Being there for this type of person is critical, but really being there – with the TV off, fork and knife down, and all chores and tasks on standby – makes your significant other feel truly special and loved. Distractions, postponed dates, or the failure to listen can be especially hurtful. Quality Time also means sharing quality conversation and quality activities.

Acts of Service
Can vacuuming the floors really be an expression of love? Absolutely! Anything you do to ease the burden of responsibilities weighing on an "Acts of Service" person will speak volumes. The words he or she most want to hear: "Let me do that for you." Laziness, broken commitments, and making more work for them tell speakers of this language their feelings don't matter. Finding ways to serve speaks volumes to the recipient of these acts.

Physical Touch
This language isn't all about the bedroom. A person whose primary language is Physical Touch is, not surprisingly, very touchy. Hugs, pats on the back, holding hands, and thoughtful touches on the arm, shoulder, or face – they can all be ways to show excitement, concern, care, and love. Physical presence and accessibility are crucial, while neglect or abuse can be unforgivable and destructive. Physical touch fosters a sense of security and belonging in any relationship.

Receiving Gifts
Don't mistake this love language for materialism; the receiver of gifts thrives on the love, thoughtfulness, and effort behind the gift. If you speak this language, the perfect gift or gesture shows that you are known, you are cared for, and you are prized above whatever was sacrificed to bring the gift to you. A missed birthday, anniversary, or a hastry, thoughtless gift would be disastrous - so would the absence of everyday gestures.  Gifts are visual representations of love and are treasured greatly.

I wanted to share my personal love language profile with you all and encourage you to take the profile more for self-knowledge and discovery. Here's how I scored on Five Love Language profile.

11	Words of Affirmation
7	Quality Time
6	Acts of Service
4	Physical Touch
2	Receiving Gifts

I think the Words of Affirmation, Quality Time and Acts of Service are the ones that resonated with me the most. As our lives get busier with everything that is around us, it is that much more difficult to find time together so when we do get the opportunity to, my husband I make a conscious effort to make sure we have quality time and enjoy the time of just being together. 

If you want to know more about The Five Love Languages or find out what your and  your partner's love languages are, visit their website to take the questionnaire. 

{jillian + raphael | married | cerritos}

These two are so very special to us and we’re so honored that they chose to plan and celebrate their wedding day with our team. Jillian & Raphael are more like family to us and we share many milestones with our families together. They've been together for quite a while before finally walking down the aisle to each other (much like me and my husband) and they were just so excited to finally share forever.

I genuinely feel honored to have worked with Jillian & Raphael. It’s not every day that you come across two sincerely sweet, caring, thoughtful, down to earth people like them. their kinds of smiles that you know they have really amazing hearts. Jillian & Raphael were married last September at St Irenaeus Catholic Church in Cypress and later celebrated with all of their families and friends at the Cerritos Sheraton Hotel for dinner, drinks and lots of dancing. Their ceremony was so emotional not only for our couple but also for their families and friends who came from all parts of the world including all over the US, the Philippines and Switzerland. 

Some of our favorites from Jillian & Raphael’s wedding included:

- The Bride & Groom's first look at the Cerritos Library Sculpture Gardens.Who knew such a hidden gem is tucked in somewhere in the heart of Cerritos.
- After the Bride and her bridesmaids got ready, the Bride had requested for everyone to hold hands and asked for God's grace and blessing for their wedding day. It was a touching moment that I was very fortunate to be a part of.
- I've never seen such a relaxed worry-free bride like Jillian from the first time I saw her getting ready to the time I said my goodbyes for the night. She was the pure epitome of grace and calm.
- A beautiful processional march down the aisle by the bride to the sweet sound of her friends serenading her from her Liwanag Ministry. Not a single dry eye inside St Irenaeus Church when Jillian started walking down the aisle to start her forever with Raphael.
- Lavenders Flowers provided such beauty to this wedding with all the amazing florals especially for our bride's bouquet. Jillian's bouquet was filled with white and peach garden roses, peach spray roses, blue thistle, silver dollar eucalyptus and dusty miller wrapped in a velvety indigo ribbon. The colors were the perfect palette that our bride had envisioned.

You can watch their wedding highlight video by RPhotostudios here.

Vendor Credits:

Event Planning & Coordination: Premier Soirees Event Design & Coordination

Photography: RPhotostudios

Florals: Lavenders Florals
Signages: Yellow and Lace

Videography: RPhotostudios

Entertainment: Cerritos All-Stars

Ceremony: St. Irenaues Catholic Church 

Reception: Cerritos Sheraton Hotel 

{so happi together wedding workshop | part one | unique space la | los angeles}

I am beyond thrilled that I finally get to share with all of you one of my favorite experiences that I was blessed to have the opportunity to participate in. Last summer of 2014, I was fortunate to attend a workshop that was hosted by So Happi Together. Nancy Park is the creative genius and a magnificent business role model behind So Happi Together. I remember stumbling upon Nancy’s Instagram page and becoming an avid fan of her work and her adorable little ones immediately. So when Nancy announced on her page that she was teaching a workshop for wedding professionals, my ears definitely perked up and thought this is a wonderful learning opportunity for me to grow in this industry. Being a learner has always ranked in my top strengths so it was natural that I gravitated towards this workshop opportunity. Before Nancy became a planner, she had a background in education where she taught college courses in Media Studies, Women’s Studies, Ethnic Studies, American Studies and Cultural Studies. Just by being around her, you can tell how much she enjoys working with others by educating and sharing her wealth of knowledge and experience with them. She has a fabulous team as well that is such a great inspiration for where I would like to see my team to grow into the future. 

The entire experience was divided into several parts including a 2 day workshop and participating in 2 real weddings as part of the So Happi Together team. The wedding workshop was held on July 26-27 at The Unique Space LA. Nancy designed the 2 day workshop to be as interactive as possible in order to make sure the content is relevant to all of the workshop attendees. During the workshop, she introduced us to an amazing vendor network that she has enjoyed working with. One of the most inspiring people came to join us on Day 2 for a special tutorial talk on Social Media and Marketing. Jana Williams has grown her photography business with over 60K Facebook followers, over 44K Instagram followers and has been featured in various  print and web media. Most recently her work has been published in the latest edition of The Knot magazine. Jana’s talk was so genuine and incredibly inspirational. Not only is she gorgeous on the outside but just as wonderful on the inside. She was also generous and gifted all of the workshop participants with a mini session to do all of our head shots. If you have not seen the beauty that Jana produces, definitely check out her website, Instagram feed and her Youtube page. I love her Youtube videos for sure!!

On both days, we feasted on delightful food provided by Urban PalateLA and stunning tablescapes by La Tavola Linens, Casa de Perrin and Heavenly Blooms. Sweet and Saucy and M Cakes Sweets provided delectable desserts that were too pretty to eat but you know I could not resist but to sample a few of them. The workshop was also a good opportunity to see some of our favorite vendors at work like Letters to You and Dez and Tam Photography. Dez and Tam Photography covered the event we did 2 years ago for the baby shower we planned for our love Olivia. Desi and Tammy are the creative ninjas behind Dez and Tam Photography who will make you feel at ease in front of the camera and you won’t even know that they’re around. They are just that good at what they do and done in a very non-intrusive way. One of the things that I enjoyed most from the workshop is the opportunity to meet other creative individuals with very similar interests and passion. With the intimate setting that the workshop provided, we were able to share some of our experiences, stories and even our challenges that we also took learnings from. I hope that we continue to keep in touch with other and share our business growth with one another.  

Now on to the photos... I must caveat this by stating that all of the photos below from the workshop are taken with my iPhone 5S so it definitely did not do it justice. However, please enjoy the gorgeousness that we were very fortunate to be a part of. At the end of the workshop, I left with my heart full of gratitude to Nancy and her team for everything they did to make this experience possible and a mind full of infinite possibilities of where to take this business and passion in the future. Thank you Nancy, to your So Happi Together team and all of the vendors that took part during this workshop for curating a wonderful experience and for teaching us so much about this business that we all love. 

Day One:

Day Two: