Have you ever wondered what a wedding would look like if it were the joining of a computer programmer for Etsy and a freelance writer/blogger? Well wonder no more. These New York nuptials are the crème de la crème…all out gorgeous…an explosion of beautiful fall details and maybe our new favorite wedding to date. Of course, no wedding is complete without the fabulous vendors behind the scenes and this wedding is boasting some mega-heavy hitters. Robert Sukrachand lent his hand to the picture perfect images while Hatch Creative Studio created a masterpiece of floral proportions. THE Sylvia Weinstock made one extremely gorgeous cake and the paper goods were tackled by Hello!Lucky AND Ceci New York. All in all, total perfection. See the rest of the day in the gallery.
if you think it couldn’t possibly get any prettier, then you need to see the gallery!
Eli and I saw our wedding as a public expression of who we are as a couple. We chose to have a traditional Jewish ceremony, but spent a lot of time making it our own. We added our own vows and wrote our own translations for the seven blessings. The intimacy of the ceremony was incredibly special for us and brought all our guests together beautifully. It was especially important to me that I looked and felt like myself when I walked down the aisle. My wedding dress took awhile to find, but as soon as I tried this one on, I was crying. It was the most gorgeous second skin I’ve ever worn. When Eli saw me that day, I know that he saw the woman he chose to marry. We tried to bring in as many DIY touches as possible, though we discovered that takes a lot of time! Among the highlights: My brother made our wooden ring box by hand—he even sewed the tiny pillow inside; our chuppah was my mother’s beautiful handiwork, and included 64 sunrays (for our song, “When I’m 64”); I made the bridesmaid necklaces, with each of our birthstones wrapped into the back clasp; Eli sang to me, backed by the band and his college a cappella group (easily one of my favorite moments of the night); and our wedding was entirely gluten free and delectable to boot!
I imagine that every bride has a favorite idea for her wedding, and mine was the mailboxes (Barb’s gorgeous creation!) filled with personal notes that we wrote for each of our guests. Writing those notes was a wonderful reminder of why each person was there with us that night and we loved watching how thrilled the guests were when they saw them. The energy at the reception was electric from start to finish. We felt so warmly surrounded by all our family and friends. At the end of the night, I knew we’d thrown an amazing party when all of our guests started screaming for an encore! As we were driving back to the hotel, totally exhausted, we could not stop talking about the day. We wanted so much to keep the moment, to just hold it and have it for one second longer. I feel so blessed to have the memory, to have a wonderful husband, family, and friends, and to have so much love in my life.
And a note from the Groom … I just want to throw in a few additional details. One – the band was off the CHAIN. They were tight as hell and had obvious passion and joy while performing. Everyone was dancing – even my other computer programmer friends (which is, like, a feat). Two – my suit was made from LASERS. Yes, it’s true! Alton Lane measures you with a super-futuristic laser booth and creates a suit that fits like a glove. They also are patient with the fashion-inept. Two thumbs up. Three – some other handmade touches include the Save the Dates (taken by my co-worker), the amazing website (made by Nadia and myself, which includes a custom-built online RSVP thing), and a recording booth that guests could use to leave us a fun voice message (assembled by me and Nadia’s dad, and complete with mad fun prompt signs, made by a friend of Nadia’s). Four – if you’re reading this and are planning for your wedding, know that all of those ridiculous nights when you and your spouse-to-be are wringing your hands and bandying about questions like “should we use plum or sage for the ribbons on the gift bags?” actually do pay off. It was such a mind-bending pleasure to see all of the details that Nadia and I had agonized over come together into a coherent event that was much more than the sum of its parts. I hope that viewing our pictures is inspiring or useful to you in some way.
Venue: Wave Hill / Caterer: Great Performances / Cake: Sylvia Weinstock / Florist: Barb Salzman of Hatch Creative Studio / Photographer: Robert Sukrachand / Band: Urban Guerilla Orchestra (Elan Artists) / Makeup Artist: Victoria Moyer TheDown2EarthDiva@gmail.com or 484-716-4775 / Hairstylist: Courtney Benedetti / Day-of Event Planner: Annie Lee of Daughter of Design / Stationery: Ceci New York / Save the Date: Hello!Lucky / Wedding Dress: Vera Wang / Groom’s Suit: Alton Lane / Ketubah: New Ketubah / Officiant: Rabbi Andy Bachman / Congregation: Beth Elohim