InStyle Editor's Philadelphia Wedding
InStyle is one of our favorite glossies here in SMP land, and when we got wind that their Senior Editor, Sharon Clott Kanter tied the knot, there was NO question it'd be fabulous. Held at Philly's Down Town Club it's all the elegance you'd expect of a ballroom wedding with modern, flirty touches woven in from start to finish. Cly By Chung snapped the photos, Atlantica Pictures crafted the film and there's so many stylish moments to see right here.
From the Bride... Jared and I met when we both worked at New York magazine. He was an app developer, I was in the fashion department—we were from different sides of the office, but we met in the break room often. Soon we started dating, which led to awkward work run-ins, which led to an awkward break-up (outside our work building no less!). A few years later in spring 2012, after we had both left the company, we met up for drinks at the insistence of a mutual friend. We’ve been together ever since. Cheers to second chances.
These days, I’m the Senior Editor at InStyle magazine, where I cover events and parties for a living, among other things. The idea of planning my own event was incredibly daunting. Thankfully, through work, I had a lot of friends to offer advice through the process!
We chose to have the wedding in Old City, Philadelphia, as I grew up nearby in Havertown, Pennsylvania. The Down Town Club venue we picked was located on the eleventh floor of a Georgian Revival-style building originally built in 1921. It overlooked the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. After endlessly browsing StyleMePretty.com for décor ideas, I decided on the inspiration of pink roses and pink champagne—elegant and classy, yet totally fun and summery. The talented team at Minted helped me customize a suite of invites, programs, and stickers for favor bags, and I used the same floral Minted design to inspire the ombre white-to-pink cake created by the caterers at the venue. Then Brittany at Petals Lane dripped the black-and-white ballroom in hundreds of white, pink, and peach roses. It was absolutely stunning.
Picking out our looks for the day was one of my favorite wedding planning activities—no surprise given my day-to-day covering the fashion world. I chose an A-line gown by Pronovias, which featured a fully beaded corset. I’m only 5-feet-tall, so it took four fittings to the sizing it just right (petite sizing is different!). For the shoes, I turned to the fabulous squad at Jimmy Choo, who customized a pair of their signature Lance heels so the bottoms read “S♥J.” The finishing touch: Borrowed jewelry from Forevermark, one of my favorite diamond brands because they use all conflict-free stones. They lent me 5.2-carat diamond studs and a 7-carat tennis bracelet. Talk about a Cinderella moment! Not to be outdone, Jared was the perfect Prince Charming—he adorably wanted a James Bond-inspired look, so we scooped up a shawl collar tux from Hugo Boss and patent leather shoes from Salvatore Ferragamo. For the bowtie, we got Turnbull & Asser, the brand James Bond wore himself (in Daniel Craig era). He was thrilled.
Of course, all of the prep was worth it! Cly by Chung shot the most beautiful photographs, while Atlantica Pictures filmed all of the action. These two teams are incredibly smart, professional and talented. I am so happy I left our memories in their hands. I recommend them to everyone I know.
The reception was full of nonstop dancing thanks to the 10-piece band Rio. One of the biggest highlights of the night was when I invited my 93-year-old grandfather Poppy Hy to join me for a dance. I had coordinated with the band and my six bridesmaids that when the 1940s hit “In the Mood” came on, we would all dance with him. As the song played, each of my six bridesmaids asked to cut in, and my grandfather was so surprised and overwhelmed with joy every time a new girl tapped him on the shoulder. By the end of the song, we all joined together and danced around him in a circle while the entire room watched. It was quite the moment!
Gratitude doesn't even begin to capture how we felt that day. It was truly like living in a fairytale. I’ll never forget how Jared squeezed my hand after we said our “I dos”—I knew our forever started right then.
These days, I’m the Senior Editor at InStyle magazine, where I cover events and parties for a living, among other things. The idea of planning my own event was incredibly daunting. Thankfully, through work, I had a lot of friends to offer advice through the process!
We chose to have the wedding in Old City, Philadelphia, as I grew up nearby in Havertown, Pennsylvania. The Down Town Club venue we picked was located on the eleventh floor of a Georgian Revival-style building originally built in 1921. It overlooked the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. After endlessly browsing StyleMePretty.com for décor ideas, I decided on the inspiration of pink roses and pink champagne—elegant and classy, yet totally fun and summery. The talented team at Minted helped me customize a suite of invites, programs, and stickers for favor bags, and I used the same floral Minted design to inspire the ombre white-to-pink cake created by the caterers at the venue. Then Brittany at Petals Lane dripped the black-and-white ballroom in hundreds of white, pink, and peach roses. It was absolutely stunning.
Picking out our looks for the day was one of my favorite wedding planning activities—no surprise given my day-to-day covering the fashion world. I chose an A-line gown by Pronovias, which featured a fully beaded corset. I’m only 5-feet-tall, so it took four fittings to the sizing it just right (petite sizing is different!). For the shoes, I turned to the fabulous squad at Jimmy Choo, who customized a pair of their signature Lance heels so the bottoms read “S♥J.” The finishing touch: Borrowed jewelry from Forevermark, one of my favorite diamond brands because they use all conflict-free stones. They lent me 5.2-carat diamond studs and a 7-carat tennis bracelet. Talk about a Cinderella moment! Not to be outdone, Jared was the perfect Prince Charming—he adorably wanted a James Bond-inspired look, so we scooped up a shawl collar tux from Hugo Boss and patent leather shoes from Salvatore Ferragamo. For the bowtie, we got Turnbull & Asser, the brand James Bond wore himself (in Daniel Craig era). He was thrilled.
Of course, all of the prep was worth it! Cly by Chung shot the most beautiful photographs, while Atlantica Pictures filmed all of the action. These two teams are incredibly smart, professional and talented. I am so happy I left our memories in their hands. I recommend them to everyone I know.
The reception was full of nonstop dancing thanks to the 10-piece band Rio. One of the biggest highlights of the night was when I invited my 93-year-old grandfather Poppy Hy to join me for a dance. I had coordinated with the band and my six bridesmaids that when the 1940s hit “In the Mood” came on, we would all dance with him. As the song played, each of my six bridesmaids asked to cut in, and my grandfather was so surprised and overwhelmed with joy every time a new girl tapped him on the shoulder. By the end of the song, we all joined together and danced around him in a circle while the entire room watched. It was quite the moment!
Gratitude doesn't even begin to capture how we felt that day. It was truly like living in a fairytale. I’ll never forget how Jared squeezed my hand after we said our “I dos”—I knew our forever started right then.