Captured by Henry and Mac, this vintage-jazz-picnic-DIY-backyard wedding is just the thing to get your creative juices flowing. Which is the type of wedding we just happen to love. Filled with tons of personal details like home brewed beer (Hoppily Ever After, anyone?) and borrowed antique furniture, this wedding is quickly becoming a fav for me, and I’m pretty sure it will for you too. Click here for more.
From the Bride… Adrian and I live in Brooklyn and are both from the New York metropolitan area, so we knew we wanted to stay local for our wedding and have our families involved with the planning process. We chose the grounds of my parent’s residence in Nyack, NY, which is situated on the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River’s Tappan Zee Bridge crossing.
My parents live in the renovated carriage house next to Carol Channing’s former residence, now a separately owned home. Together, my parents and their neighbor playfully dubbed the grounds of their homes “Chateau Marmot,” a tongue-in-cheek homage to the glamorous Hollywood hotel, as well as the resident marmot that is spotted now and again in the gardens. Adrian and I chose our date, June 23, and set our sights on the familiar, lush green property as our venue. Even though it is only about 30 miles from our Brooklyn apartment, it feels like a far-away country retreat whenever we visit for a weekend or a holiday.
With designer and artist parents, and our own backgrounds in the performing and visual arts, we knew this event would be an original creation, with each detail carefully fashioned to reflect our personalities and our relationship. Once we had established our vision, a summer picnic affair inspired by the jazz age, we enlisted the help of a set designer friend, Deb O, who lent her amazing sense of creativity and professional prowess to help us realize our dream. Working on a budget, we gathered borrowed antique furniture and props from our own collection, friends and family, and only had to rent the basics.
There were countless DIY and personal touches, right down to the paper and twine wrapped sandwiches. To create an interfaith church/synagogue environment outside, we handmade our own “stained glass” windows using colored lighting gels from a friend who works in TV production, cardboard that we spraypainted black and cut shapes out of, and antique frames that my mother had stored in her garage. We hung these in the arbor under the homemade huppah, and they set the scene for our ceremony and filtered the natural light beautifully, while also adding a pop of our wedding theme color range to the setting.
We spray painted lace-stencil paper bag lumineers for evening lighting accents. Our mothers collaborated on a woven paper huppah with homemade stamps of our initials inside of a hand-decorated antique frame. The groom and his friends brewed two custom wedding beers, named “Hopilly Ever After” and “Man and Weiss,” and we printed labels using our theme color of teal. Beer and wine chilled in a clawfoot tub which we touched up with accents of teal and gold paint. Our antique frame-inspired cake was flavored with earl-grey extract (my favorite tea!), and each of our sandwiches were specially curated by Adrian and I and named after places we have lived or visited together. Individually wrapped homemade mint whoopie pies with handmade labels printed with our initials and “Let’s Make Whoopie” were delicious take-away treats.
Picnic blankets lined the grass facing the arbor where we exchanged our personally written vows. A jazz quartet played swinging standards on the terrace during the afternoon cocktail reception, which later led into a free-seating picnic style dinner. After dinner, guests gathered in the tent around a family heirloom loveseat , while our wedding party members made champagne toasts. Dessert was served and our best man, Joo Young, DJ’d a raucous dance party late into the evening. After a few hours of dancing, a round of late-night snacks were served: popcorn and french fries in newspaper cones. The late June weather was perfect and the pacing of the day was relaxed yet lively. Adrian and I, along with our 150 guests had an absolutely magical and unforgettable day that exceeded our hopes and expectations.
Wedding Photography: Henry and Mac / Venue: Private Residence in Nyack, New York / Wedding Planning + Floral Design: Deb O Design + bride, groom + mothers / Catering: Mimi’s Plate / Wedding Cake: Patisserie Didier Dumas / Wedding Dress: Bride’s grandmother’s 1950s Saks Fifth Ave dress, reworked by Ann Hamilton Bridal / Bride’s Shoes: J.Crew / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Their Choice / Hair: Halo Hair / Makeup: Contessa Schexnayder