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Designers Nat Kim and Nick Fernando transformed Koerner’s Pub into a 100-person celebration layered with Korean and Sri Lankan details, sculptural florals and custom fashion. By Caroline Mitchell / September 24, 2026 Photographs by Mason Neufeld. Photographs by Mason Neufeld.
Nat Kim and Nick Fernando first met as students at UBC’s architecture school. While Fernando has taken his education into a job as an architectural designer and Kim works in interiors, they did recently collaborate on one major work: their wedding. “It became our project for a while,” Kim laughs.
Unsurprisingly, the wedding plan started visually, with the couple integrating nods to their respective heritages—Kim is half Korean, while Fernando’s family is from Sri Lanka and Austria. The centrepiece of the ceremony, for instance, was a modernized version of the Korean byeongpung screen, which they built from birch and brass. The vibrant orange bird of paradise florals nod to the colours of the Sri Lankan tropics.
Both the ceremony and reception took place at Koerner’s Pub: appropriate, given that their love story began on the UBC campus. “We can’t agree on whether we actually met there,” says Kim, “but we had a lot of good memories there.” Plus, the multi-level outdoor space allowed the 100-person party to be neatly segmented into ceremony, dinner and dancing. “We were able to choreograph people moving from space to space. As designers, we had so much fun with that.” Ah, the romance of user-experience design.
It was a day full of moments to remember. Kim and Fernando were showered with rice-paper confetti after the ceremony; photographer Mason Neufeld snapped gorgeous party pics of guests on the dance floor in front of an artfully lit bamboo screen. And, a year later, one big reminder of the festivities is present in the couple’s everyday life—not only does Kim now make and sell custom byeongpung screens as part of her design studio’s furniture collection, her own wedding screen takes pride of place in their West End living room. “It’s my Zoom background,” laughs Kim.
Korean tradition says that the byeongpung defines the ceremonial space; they are usually decorated with symbols of longevity and prosperity. Kim and Fernando put their own spin on those symbols: to represent cranes, they filled the screen’s openings with bird of paradise flowers; a rich, warm stain for the wood is representative of the sun. (Though the byeongpung’s panels are usually paper or silk, they built the full structure from wood as a nod to the symbol of the pine tree.)
Kim wanted to work with florist La Bomba before she’d even met Fernando. “That was the first phone call I made when we got engaged, before the venue, before anything,” she says. Funnily enough, the floral shop was actually right down the street from Fernando’s place when they were newly dating, so the first bouquet he ever got Kim was from there.
Fernando had an amazing experience with Modernize Tailors in Chinatown. “They were bespoke from start to finish,” says Kim. “He’s a designer, he’s detail-oriented, and he was able to choose every last button. He loved it.” Modernize made his shirt as well.
Kim wore a gown from Toronto label Former Girlfriend. “I have an art history background and it reminded me of so many romantic paintings,” says Kim. Her tailor, Joanna Delaney , made alterations so the dress could convert into party-mode during the reception: the skirt clipped up into an asymmetrical pouf. Delaney also made the veil. Kim’s reception gloves were from Etsy ; her gold shoes were Reformation .
The couple took a pre-wedding trip to Sri Lanka, and that’s where Kim sourced her necklace for the ceremony. (For the reception, she swapped in a piece from Vancouver designer Wolf Circus .) Kim’s gorgeous green engagement ring was designed by Fernando and crafted by Liane Vaz ; her wedding band came from Vancouver’s Sital Jansson .
The couple hosted friends for a beach barbecue at Jericho the night before the wedding. The wedding party was given a colour palette and left to their own devices. “Luckily, they all have great taste. I was pretty hands off,” says Kim.
Venues at UBC all use on-campus catering (except for dessert), so the couple didn’t have a lot of options there; luckily, they were extremely impressed with the food—and added tiramisu from True Confections in chic coupe glasses. Kim and Fernando did have control over the tablescapes. La Bomba suggested displaying the flowers sticking out of blocks of raw clay for a dramatic centrepiece. (Post-wedding, they’ve used that clay for art and craft projects.)
Caroline covers weddings, style and travel for Vancouver magazine.
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