“To infinity and beyond”… while yes, this phrase may tap into my love for childhood movies but besides that, it’s also one pretty fabulous motto, wouldn’t you say so yourself? This cute couple used it throughout their special day, bringing an air of whimsy and fun to their elegant affair, captured by Bia Sampaio Photographs and The Candi Project. See every pretty pic (from the ladies in their gorgeous Twobird Bridesmaid dresses to one adorable flower girl) right this way!
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From the Bride… My overall vision was to create a day that felt romantic but with a wink, and didn’t take itself too seriously, even though getting married itself was obviously a serious decision. I wanted to create something that felt timeless, classic and beautiful, but also infused the silly sides of our personalities (ie: cornhole at cocktail hour, photo scavenger game during dinner, booth with crazy props during reception, etc).
It was very important to me that everything about my wedding aesthetic felt timeless and classic, even down to the colors. I didn’t want to look back at pictures 10 or 20 years down the line and wonder what I was thinking! My friends teased me when I said my wedding style was romantic with a wink, but my point was, that I wanted everything to be pretty, but not to take us too seriously! In general I love grey and white with an accent color, but wanted it to feel more special for the wedding. So I thought a silvery grey and ivory combination, would balance feminine pops of pink!
When John and I first started dating, we spent a lot of time in the West Village. And over time, frequently ran into a Japanese artist, Katsu, who painted beautiful watercolor scenes of the neighborhood, several of which we purchased. We had always talked about purchasing an original painting, but couldn’t justify the expense. When we started talking about wedding invitations, I suggested that we have Katsu paint us into a scene on one of our favorite tree-lined streets, and the painting would be a wedding gift to each other, and also serve as a design element within our wedding invitation. The original hangs over our bed now, and serves as a beautiful piece of art, and a nice nod to our wedding, and we had the invitation designers include it within the wedding invitation suite. It wasn’t obviously that it was John and I in the painting, but I appreciated the subtlety.
I love the traditions rooted within the saying, “something old, something borrowed, something blue, and something new.” I took my something borrowed and something old very seriously – and so from my Mom, I borrowed my Nanny’s wedding band, as well as her 10th wedding anniversary band, and wore those stacked with a 25th anniversary band of my Grandma’s, who had recently passed away and left me the ring. To know how many years of love I wore on my right hand, and whose lives those rings had been a part of, and that I got to share them all at once, meant the world to me.
Personalizing the wedding down to the last detail was something we took very seriously, even creating our own logo and working with art designers to design the entire wedding suite. As a marketer, having a logo seemed instinctual, but I wanted to “stamp” the occasion with something memorable but that was rooted in our every day lives. I often say to John, “I love you to infinity & beyond,” which was the inspiration for the logo (a version of an infinity symbol + our initials) that we threaded throughout the event, from invitations, to wedding day decor. I even worked with our photo booth operators to custom select a backdrop that worked with our color scheme, and designed the printouts to match our wedding suite – logo and all. Our guests were assigned to tables, not by number, but by neighborhoods in Manhattan that had special meanings in our lives. Signage at the table included a note about why that neighborhood was special to us. A friend of ours built us a corn hole set that John painted and branded with our logo, and ordered bean bags with each of our Alma Matters, UNC for me, and UB for John!
One of our favorite things to do as a couple is to cook and to eat, so food had to be an unspoken guest at the wedding! For our wedding favors, John, my parents and I spent many weekends in our assembly line around the kitchen table – stuffing spice jars with pink Himalayan sea salt, tying silver bows and tags with the words, Live.Love.Eat, and filling little pouches with an odd number of sugared almonds, an Italian tradition, and coiling a special poem around each one. John and I each designed custom drinks to suit our tastes – and had signage made for the bar, calling each drink by a nickname.
I loved walking on to the dance floor and seeing our bridal party lined up and making a bridge for us to enter through. That was the signal for me that the fun was about to start.
I felt like Cinderella going to the ball when I put on my Reem Acra dress and Jimmy Choo shoes. I loved the fitted beaded bodice, and delicate layers that were reminiscent of flower petals.
John wore a black tux, groom mustache socks, a pink and white striped bow-tie, and boat-propeller cufflinks that I had given him as a wedding gift. Groomsmen also wore black tuxes, and John gave each of them matching groomsmen mustache socks, and pink and white striped ties.
Our ring bearers wore black tuxes and classic Converse, and our flower girls wore white JCrew dresses and silver sparkly Toms. I wanted the kids to have items that they could wear again, and I love the juxtaposition of fancy attire with casual footwear!
I needed to find a dress that would be flattering on my bridal party whose bodies are all so different, so I went with a TwoBirds dress, that could be tied numerous ways, and looked good on everyone!
John and I frequent Momofuku Milk Bar in the East Village, so it was no question that when we got married, that we would have a Momofuku wedding cake. It is literally like eating funfetti from your childhood, but the grown up, decadent version of it.
Murphy’s law… believe in it. You can be the best planner in the world, but all the planning can not account for Murphy’s Law. Just know that despite that, it will all be ok, because you’ll have your life partner in crime, by your side, getting through it with you. And don’t sweat the small stuff (even if the small stuff happens to be your wedding bands falling down an air conditioning vent before the ceremony!)
Photography: Sampaio/Walz Photography | Cinematography: The Candi Project | Floral Design: Bowman Dahl | Wedding Dress: Reem Acra | Cake: Momofuku Milk Bar | Ceremony Venue: Orchardleigh House | Reception Venue: The New York Botanical Garden | Bride's Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Bridesmaids' Dresses: twobirds Bridesmaid | Makeup: JKo Beauty | Hair: Daniele Searing | Groom's Attire: J.Crew | Flower Girl's Dresses: J.Crew | Flower Girl's Shoes: Toms | Getting Ready Location: Gramercy Park Hotel | Ring Bearer's Attire: Men's Wearhouse | Ring Bearer's Shoes: Converse