Gladstone, New Jersey Wedding from Trent Bailey Photography

Stephanie Weers
December 6, 2013
Categories: The Blog

My favorite kind of weddings are the ones that break the “rules.” The weddings that buck tradition in favor of bespoke. So when this edgy-meets-modern-meets-classic Jersey affair plopped in our wedding loving laps, we knew it had SMP written all over it. But of course, the photos from Trent Bailey Photography and film by Red Shoe Bride didn’t hurt one bit either. So what are you waiting for? Get your pretty on in the full gallery right here.

[iframe //player.vimeo.com/video/67143517?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=66ffcc 600 338]

Colors

Seasons

Spring Weddings

Settings

Estate Weddings

Styles

Whimsical

From the Bride… The moment Andrew and I got engaged, I knew one thing for sure about our wedding. I would not make my bridesmaids wear traditional bridesmaid gowns. Having worn my fair share of horrible dresses, from black crinkle chiffon that looked more like a Halloween costume to a bright pink heavy taffeta number to a wedding that was outside and 95 degrees, I was not about to have a ’27 Dresses’ moment. Inspired by the annual Old Hollywood issues of Vanity Fair, I decided that all of my bridesmaids would pick their own gowns in a coordinated color palette. I sent the girls images of old VF covers shot by Annie Leibovitz for inspiration and asked them to let me approve each dress before they bought it. What turned out was the perfect mix of nudes, champagnes and metallics – ideal for a Spring wedding.

This set the tone for the rest of the affair. We wanted our wedding to feel more like a great, modern party rather than a stuffy reception where everyone is counting the minutes until they can go home.

We live in NYC but wanted to our wedding to feel like an escape, so we looked at venues outside Manhattan in NJ, CT and the Hamptons. We settled on The Mansion at Natirar – known for their farm to table restaurant, 90 Acres, and recently bought by Sir Richard Branson – any other place we looked at just didn’t hold a candle to Natirar and their spectacular views.

Now that the location was handled, Andrew decided that since the bridesmaids were all wearing non-traditional gowns, he was going to add a little flair to the groomsmen as well. As the groomsmen gift, he took all of the boys to Niketown in NYC to create custom sneakers for the wedding. The boys wore them for some fun photos and then switched into their tuxedo shoes to walk down the aisle.

Since we are both Jewish, we wanted to get married under a Chuppah. However, neither of us were keen on the traditional floral arch. I have always coveted my grandmother’s lace bedspread and since she recently passed away, I thought incorporating the bedspread into the Chuppah would be a great way to honor and include her in the ceremony.

We walked down the aisle at sunset while the band played our favorite U2 songs – City of Blinding Light and It’s a Beautiful Day (electronic piano, acoustic guitar and VOCALS) so much better – it felt like a concert. When it was time for me to walk down with my parents, they switched to Tony Bennett’s The Way You Look Tonight. Not a dry eye in the house. Cocktail hour was filled with fun food including a make your own slider bar and our signature cocktail – Prosecco poured over Orange Liqueur and Bitters on the rocks. Once guests made their way into the permanent tent on property for the reception, they found mini Stoli Vodka bottles at their seats with a note that said ‘Let’s Get Hammered’ – since our last name is Hammer we thought it was the perfect play on words.(and thanks to my paternal grandma who hand tied all of the tags on the bottles!)

We danced the night away with our closest friends – it was the best. I can’t thank our wonderful photo and video teams enough for capturing all of the details. Now I can relive this night every day. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.