This time every week, I start to struggle a bit, and I bet I’m not the only one. But I’ll share a little secret: dive into an elegant affair photographed by Christian Oth Studios and your stresses start to drift away. This classic NYC celebration, planned by Ang Weddings & Events, did just that and more, and I bet you can’t gaze at these stunning orchid bouquets by Tantawan Bloom and not feel a bit better.
From The Bride… Andrew and I met at Lafayette College when I was a Freshman and he was a Junior, we dated for seven years before he proposed on a crisp fall morning in our NYC home; I’ll skip the details but let’s just say he was still able to completely surprise me after nearly a decade of being together! Fall is a special season for us as it brings back all the memories of when we first started dating. Naturally, this made it easy for us to pick October for our special day. New York City was the obvious option for our location; a city bustling with energy and unexpected romance, and where so many classic love stories have taken place – we were excited to have New York be a part of our story too. We have seen each other through many milestones, and developed close relationships with each other’s families and friends. This made it even more important for us to make our wedding day a magical, loving, and unique moment for everyone.
We decided on The New York Palace Hotel as our venue, with its romantic wrought-iron gate entrance and many intricate rooms, it offered the perfect balance of classic New York City charm and old world romanticism. The vendors we selected were amazing and were able to interpret our vision and emotions with such accuracy, it was as if they could see the snapshot in our minds and translated it to be even more beautiful once it came to life. We cannot say enough wonderful things about our talented and professional event planner Ang Weddings and Events, our floral designer Tantawan Bloom and the team from Christian Oth Studio.
We hosted both the ceremony and the reception at the New York Palace in two completely different rooms. We wanted the ceremony to feel intimate and classic. The chuppa took center stage, and was draped with white, cream and pale pink flowers. For a dreamlike effect candles were hung along the back of the sheer fabric adding a magical warmth that enveloped the entire room; a string quartet played our curated list of songs making the entire ceremony personal, touching, and meaningful to our relationship.
In contrast to our ceremony, we wanted the reception to embody the fun and youthful energy of our relationship, but still remain glamorous and elegant – we did this with crisp whites and pastel colored flowers accented with pops of bright pinks, deep plums, and peach. Oh, and there were candles – lots and lots of candles! Two 12 foot long mirrored tables were covered with taper candles, which created a “wow” factor when entering the room. The centerpieces consisted of roses in various colors overflowing with hanging amaranthus and placed at staggered heights to create dimension and playfulness. Everything was tied together by the impeccable lighting. One of our favorite moments of the day is when we peeked into this room after the ceremony, before joining the cocktail hour. It was just the two of us, and as we opened the doors we both felt our hearts skip a beat and couldn’t help but grab onto each other’s hands – we were completely blown away with how alive the room felt, it was truly a dream!
The night flew by with a flash of smiles, hugs, and so much laughter and love, but I will never forget the moment Andrew and I had our first dance. We were surrounded by over 200 people, but felt completely alone as we danced through our choreographed steps. We came back to earth during our first turn as we heard all of the bridesmaids screaming and cheering us on, followed by the sound of my father’s heartfelt chuckle – the one that he can’t help but let out when he is truly happy, and we both knew at that moment that this was a night we would never forget. From seeing our parents faces light up with laughter (or perhaps fear!) during the Hora, to the very last moment of the night in the Palace courtyard surrounded by our friends holding sparklers under the beautiful autumn sky, we knew all the nights of planning were completely worth it. We couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with total gratitude and love for our family, friends, and everyone who came together and gave us our very own New York fairy tale.
Photography: Christian Oth Studio | Wedding Gown: Carolina Herrera | Cake: Ron Ben-Israel Cakes | Invitations: Judy Paulen Designs | Bridesmaid Dresses: Amsale | Makeup: Face Time Beauty Concierge | Hair : Liam Carey | Band: The Stingers Band | Officiant: Rabbi Ron Broden | String Quartet: Curtis Music | Venue: The New York Palace | Floral Design And Lighting: Tantawan Bloom