I love honoring tradition, and this richly ornate Prospect Park Boathouse affair does just that. Incorporating subtle cultural motifs like lush coral Amanda Morgan Jacobs bouquets and a textured lace Lian Carlo gown proved to be the perfect blend of urban modernity and tranquil tradition. Brklyn View Photography captured their beautiful love story and you can see it all here.
From the Bride… The highlights of the day were putting my fabulous Lian Carlo wedding dress, meeting my husband to be on the steps of the Brooklyn brownstone and walking down the aisle as a married couple, all three beautifully captured by Jainé and her team.
Richie and I wanted a very richly detailed, ornate and beautiful wedding. Our main themes were coral, my favorite color, and cobalt blue, the color of the sapphire in my engagement ring. However we had a lot of ideas about what we wanted to do with the main colors, and decided we would incorporate textures and cultural motifs that would represent both our backgrounds, places we had traveled to and where we had lived.
I am Nigerian, specifically from the Igbo tribe, were coral and lace have strong traditions. Richie has a Lebanese and Russian heritage, both cultures well known for their intricate and detailed patterning. We tried to bring these elements out in a modern way with our invitations, the bridesmaid dresses and my wedding dress.
We chose to have the wedding ceremony at the beautiful and traditional Eastern Orthodox Church in Boerum Hill Brooklyn. Richie’s parents used to attend the same church when they were younger and it has many memories and connections to Richie’s family. We love how beautifully ornate and warm it was and in the Antiochian Lebanese tradition, with beautifully painted icons, the gorgeous blue and gilded gold vaulted wood ceiling.
After living on Hong Kong Island we realized how much we both love being close to the waterfront and being outdoors so for the reception venue we had both wanted a relaxing outdoor feeling for our guests to enjoy so we chose the boathouse and played up the lakeside picnic atmosphere with the coral/peach colored fruit on white fruit plates that the guests could casually eat, coral napkins and white lace trimmed fans.
Richie has also live in Kentucky and is a charming and traditional man so Richie and the grooms wore coral bow ties and coral socks. The guests received chocolate bourbon balls treats at their tables.
I would say our day was full of contrasts. Even though we both love and respect our culture and heritage and are both very traditional we are equally modern and wanted to give the whole day a soft modern, light aesthetic and well as a rich, heavy traditional one. We wanted to be in the heart of urban Brooklyn like the cities we had live in together (Richie was born in Brooklyn, I was born in Lagos) but at the same time be at the tranquil and romantic, bucolic lakeside. In the end it was a beautiful day.
Photography: Jainé Kershner Photography | Floral Design: Jaclyn Journey | Wedding Dress: Liancarlo | Reception Venue: Prospect Park Boathouse | Brides Shoes: Rachel Simpson | Catering: Movable Feast | DJ: Todd Jones | Groom's Suit: Good Fit Fashions | Groomsmen Suits: Zara