Bryant Park Grill might just have bumped up to the top of my favorite wedding venues list. With the rooftop ceremony option, it’s a little secret garden in the middle of NYC, an absolutely perfect place to say your “I do’s.” Henry + Mac photographed this beautiful bash there, one that is full of pretty details while also looking like one fantastic party – captured live by Forged In The North. See more right here!
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From the Bride… Shawn and I have a bit of a unique love story. I moved to NYC in the summer of 2010 and was living with two roommates – it just so happened that Shawn was the brother of one of them. Shawn worked out of the apartment so we saw each other every day. One night we went out for pizza, the next day a walk through Central Park, and about two weeks later we started dating and have been together ever since.
From day one, NYC played a huge role in our relationship. We met here, fell in love here, and plan to raise a family here. The city has basically always been the third person in our relationship, so getting married in the city was a natural choice. When we saw the Bryant Park Grill, we knew it was the spot.
From the moment we started planning our wedding, we had two rules: 1) that we wouldn’t take ourselves too seriously, and 2) that it would be a fun party, above all else. To us, that meant being married by one of our best friends, serving the food that we loved, dancing to the music we loved, and being surrounded by the people we loved the most.
Our ceremony took place on the rooftop of the Bryant Park Grill. It was so beautiful with the perfect amount of city and nature. Our friend Jason married us and spoke beautifully about our relationship. We wrote our own vows, which were essentially love letters to each other.
We wanted the day to be filled with lots of personal touches so we ordered cocktail napkins with Beatles lyrics, customized cake toppers, drink signs and straws, cake stands, sparkly linens, and wood table numbers.
Picking the music was the decision we took the most seriously. We’re huge Bruce Springsteen fans, so I walked down the aisle to an instrumental version of “Thunder Road.” For our first dance, we wanted a fast and fun song to get the party started so we chose a live version of “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” and it did just the trick. For the rest of the night, we played everything from Doo-Wop to cheesy 80’s music to ‘NSYNC to classic rock. Our guests didn’t stop dancing the entire night, which was the goal!
We’re self-deemed foodies who love dessert so we incorporated some of our New York favorites, cookies and a cake bar from Momofuku Bakery and a Coolhaus ice cream truck which was waiting in the park for our guests at the end of the night.
There are many moments from the day that absolutely stand out to me – waking up the morning of the wedding, in bed with my five best friends and walking around Bryant Park at 7:30am because we couldn’t sleep, getting ready with my mom, grandmother, and best friends, seeing my dad for the first time, and dancing so much so that my legs hurt for the first few days of our honeymoon, but the absolute best was when I first saw Shawn outside the NY Public Library during our first look.
I can’t really explain it, but in that moment, it was like no one else existed. As corny as it may sound, from that point on the small details of the day didn’t really matter. I was marrying my best friend, the best person I could have dreamed of. Our wedding was already the best day before it even really began.
Photography: HENRY + MAC | Videography: Forged In The North | Floral Design: The Wild Ivy | Wedding Dress: Marchesa | Wedding Cake: A Simple Cake | Invitations: Pink Toast Ink | Bride's Shoes: Miu Miu | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Jenny Yoo | Makeup: Sally Duvall | Entertainment: 74 Events | Groom's Suit: J.Crew | Wedding Venue: Bryant Park Grill | Dessert: Momofuku Milk Bar | Dessert Truck: Coolhaus | Getting Ready Location: Bryant Park Hotel | Linens: BBJ La Tavola | Photo Booth: Sweet Booths