Mercy Ann Gonzales Patio fell in love all over again in the process of planning the myriad details of her wedding to John Pacubas at the Old Federal Reserve Building in San Francisco . She relates, “You learn a lot about yourself and your partner through all the planning. He is really patient. He lets me run with things.” When times got a bit tough, John was ever present to calm his bride’s nerves and offer reassurance. Mercy happily admits to her lifelong dream of a perfect wedding, and reminded her fiancé often during the planning process, “Don’t you know I’ve been planning his wedding in my head since I was five?” Ironically enough, it was John who determined one of the most important details of the event. When the two visited San Francisco’s illustrious Old Federal Reserve Building, Mercy says it was John who fell in love with the space first. She wholeheartedly agreed, “We thought it was the perfect place. It has a romantic feel to it…from the moment we reserved the date we both imagined walking down the grand stairs to the entrance!”

Mercy worked with her brother to design custom invitations that would set the tone of the wedding. A modern floral damask print was carried throughout the letterpress stationery and in all of the details including Jordan almonds wrapped in organza and personalized with the couple’s initials. Mercy was steadfast about her desire for a classic, all white setting, ordering varied shades of white and ivory flowers for the tables along with ivory cushions atop gold chiavari chairs. She says, “The place itself was beautiful so I wanted to keep it simple and classic.” Amber uplighting enhanced the amazing old architecture of the room, and shimmery ivory fabric draped from floor to ceiling at the entranceway was reminiscent of elegant opera hall curtains.

Mercy genuinely enjoyed the process of pulling together her dream, and she says enthusiastically, “All of the ideas came together when I was searching for my dress in New York City. I had a lot of fun shopping around for the details.” Even her choice of china patterns matched beautifully, with silver detailing that seemed to mimic the very stitching on her Carolina Herrera gown. The same stitching was recreated in the wedding cake. Mercy called Shinmin Li after seeing her work in Pacific WEDDINGS™, and asked her to recreate the gown details on each tier with ribbon and piping. Li added floral accents of white peonies, hydrangea and tulips to coincide with the bridal bouquet.

On June 9, 2007, Mercy and John were married in a glorious ceremony at the grand ballroom of the Old Federal Reserve Building. Mercy will never forget her walk down the aisle escorted by her father. The vision of John waiting at the altar took her breath away. She looked and felt radiant standing alongside her bridesmaids and attendants who were dressed in crimson red. A team of Honolulu photographers from Visionari flew in to capture the stunning event and photographed the newlyweds at landmarks throughout the city where they had fallen in love. Both John and Mercy recall their elation as they snuggled in the regal Rolls Royce just after the ceremony, both of them exclaiming, “We’re married! We did it!” When the momentous time arrived to make the grand entrance into the ballroom as they both had imagined, they were introduced as man and wife, and in one defining moment they began their new life together.