These two have a story that is all but conventional, so it was no surprise that their wedding was no cookie cutter affair. It was, however, beautiful and filled to bursting with so much heart. Lucky for all of us, the talented 4Eyes Photography was on hand to capture every sweet emotion from the intimate day.
From the Bride… David and I are aid workers who recently finished up a 2 year stint in Afghanistan. We met 3 years ago in Kyrgyzstan, a small country in Central Asia, where we were both working after a revolution that occurred in the spring of 2010. We met at a mutual friend’s apartment in Osh and hit it off, and the rest is history! We fell in love in an unusual place, to say the least, but it’s fitting for both of us. In our line of work, we travel around the world and it was important for both of us that our partner had the same worldview. During that first year we spent a lot of time in Osh, Kyrgyzstan hiking, exploring and getting beers at the one good bar in town. After our time in Kyrgyzstan together, David went to Washington, DC to start his MBA and I began working in Afghanistan. He couldn’t visit me there, so we met up in the US and around the world during the next year, and kept up with daily Skype calls. He proposed in March 2012 in Sri Lanka, as we were hiking up Little Adam’s Peak. It is a fantastic country to visit and a trip that we will always remember.
In June 2012 David moved to Afghanistan to start work as well, and we lived together there for the next year. After our engagement we didn’t feel the need to wait too long to get married. We were planning a wedding from afar, as we wanted to get married in the US, near where we both grew up (David is from RI and Meghan is from NJ). We knew we wanted to have a small wedding with just our immediate family and oldest friends – we ended up having just 35 people at the wedding and no bridesmaids or groomsmen. We also wanted to do something centrally located for our family and friends (we don’t really have a home base in the US) and ideally wanted to have the ceremony outdoors. We both love NYC so thought it would be the perfect location. We searched and found the Jefferson Market Garden, which is gorgeous, intimate and in a great location. The restaurant where we held the reception, Bobo, is just down the street from the garden. The staff there was very accommodating and we even had a Skype call from Afghanistan with the manager, Grace, to iron out the final details. It is in a old brownstone in the West Village and they have a really nice outdoor garden/roof deck where we had dinner and drinks. It was overall a very fun, relaxed and intimate day. It was just what we wanted!
We didn’t really choose any wedding colors and didn’t put much thought into a theme, but I would say that our wedding ended up as an elegant garden party vibe. I love flowers and our florist did an amazing job. Flower Girl in NYC used all white flowers with touches of green. It was all very simple and elegant.
David and I have never been into the idea of a big, elaborate wedding. We were married by a close friend of David, and we wrote the ceremony ourselves and wrote our own vows. We chose readings by Khalil Gibran and the Grateful Dead (David’s favorite) and our older brothers did one reading each. My wedding band was not yet finished at the time of our wedding, so I used my grandmother’s wedding band as a fill in. We decided to walk each other down the aisle, because we felt that it was important to start our married life together that way.
I’d have to say that our favorite memory is when we walked each other down the aisle. It had rained all morning and we were actually a bit worried because we didn’t really have a back up plan. But then it suddenly cleared up in the early afternoon and it was a gorgeous, not too hot August day. We remember the grass being really green, the flowers looking beautiful and our friends and family waiting for us at the end of the aisle. It was a very intimate and personal ceremony and it was my favorite part of the day.
I love so MANY of the photos! Kellie and Rupert were great to work with and did a fantastic job. I love the photos of us sitting in the big chairs in the Bowery Hotel, where we stayed before and after the wedding. And a lot of the pictures from the ceremony turned out great. There are also some nice shots from Washington Square Park. I love that there were not many posed shots, but the photographers captured a lot of the emotions from the wedding.
We gave all of our guests small gifts from Afghanistan and a card thanking them and telling them how much we love them.
Photography: 4Eyes Photography | Floral Design: Flower Girl NYC | Wedding Dress: Valentino | Invitations: Punch Bowl | Ceremony Venue: Jefferson Market Garden | Reception Venue: Bobo NYC | Shoes: Rachel Simpson | Groomsmen Attire: Jos. A. Bank