Battery Park Wedding from Bia Sampaio Photographs
If an iconic New York City wedding is what you needed this morning, an iconic New York City wedding is what you will get, courtesy of the lovely Bia Sampaio Photographs. It's classic and chic like any good Manhattan wedding should be, and features a pair of the most amazing Valentino's I've ever laid eyes on. The gallery features it all, so if you're ready for a little New York, New York, click here to see it!
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We designed our wedding in New York City (where we met) with a number of special and personalized elements to represent our lives and backgrounds. I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and have been studying Spanish and the Latin cultures all my life. I lived abroad in Spain in college and recently worked in Argentina for two years. Balram grew up in Vijayawada, India and moved to the United States for graduate school in 2000.
We were married in a beautiful historic church built in 1844 on the lower east side of Manhattan. After the ceremony, our wedding party and close family and friends joined us on a party bus that took us to two photo sites: Washington Square Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Then we arrived at Battery Gardens for the cocktail and reception at 7:00 PM.
We chose this venue because of its iconic location on the southern tip of Manhattan overlooking the Statue of Liberty. The cocktail hour was on the patio with a three piece band playing live flamenco music in the background. It was lovely. Two of Balram’s friends gave a North Indian dance performance shortly after dinner to get the party started! We had a DJ so that later in the night a fast paced Bangra and Bollywood dance set was played for an hour with a live dhol drummer on the floor. So much fun!
The room was decorated with a romantic and elegant Mediterranean feel. We used wine carafes of various heights for our centerpieces illuminated by mercury glass votives around. Soft linen napkins with crochet lace edges were placed at each setting. After dinner, a platter of petit fours including Argentinean alfajores and Indian Kaju Burfi were served with limoncello in Italian glass decanters and tiny French cordial glasses. Indian juti slippers were passed around the dance floor, and finally our wedding favors were silver plated tins with fresh loose green tea imported from India wrapped in silver organza.
Photography: Bia Sampaio Photographs / Flowers: Adore Floral / Jewelry: Bangles by Nadri, Pearl Necklace by Miguel Ases / Ceremony Location: Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church / Reception Location: Battery Gardens / Invitations and Paper Design: Sara Bundren Graphic Designer / Shoes and Clutch: Valentino, Flowers D'Orsay / Dress: Watters and Watters / Fitting bolero and veil designed and made by: Adrienne’s Bridal / Wedding Cake and Alfajores: Chef Archana Rao of Love Street Cakes / Makeup and Hair: Y Gallery Salon, New York City / Bridesmaids Dresses: JS Boutique by Nordstrom