New York Weddings

My heart leapt the moment I opened up this treasure of a wedding from Sue Kessler of Christian Oth Studio. Leapt with pure adoration for the couple, leapt with love for each meaningfully moment and leapt at that thought of sharing it with all of you. It also did a flip or two for the brides gorgeous, custom made wedding gown and RED reception dress from the company she co-founded, Bensoni. To DIE for. It’s all to die for actually, and you can see all the reasons why in the full gallery of gorgeous!

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From the Bride… I wanted my wedding to be classy and elegant and most importantly meaningful. I believe that a wedding is a very sacred and serious, yet happy and joyous occasion, and I wanted mine to represent all of that. I didn’t have a planner and worked on my own with the help of m husband, my vendors and, of course, SMP! As a fashion designer and co-founder of the women’s clothing line Bensoni, I decided to design my wedding dress as well as the red reception dress, the ruffle white cocktail dress and also all of the bridesmaids dresses. I loved the colors I chose for my bridesmaids, as they represented each of their personalities and felt that it also went well with a May wedding.

I secretly took private lessons with my bridesmaids of a Korean traditional court dance that was danced by the Queen and her court ladies for the king as a gift to my husband, his parents and my parents. I am Korean and my husband is Taiwanese, so I wanted to do something that is culturally Korean. My mother used to be a Korean traditional dancer at a young age so it was a dedication to her as well. I also designed our wedding logo. It is of a rooster on top of a sheep, which represents the Chinese zodiac signs of my husband (sheep) and me (rooster). We loved the logo so much that we decided to put it on everything! The large mirrored window was a purchase from Etsy. I had wrote all the names of our guests the night before our wedding, and my husband wrote everyone’s names on each menu. This felt more personal than hiring a calligrapher.

Wedding Photography: Sue Kessler of Christian Oth Studio / Wedding Venue: Osborn Castle at Cat Rock in Garrison, New York / Floral Design: Fleurs Floral & Event Design / Wedding Cinematography: Kiss the Bride Films / Catering: The Cleaver Co. / Lighting: Eventlights Inc. / String Quartet: iconiQuartet / Officiant: Shauna Kanter / DJ: DJ Choimatic / Photo Booth: Hudson Valley Photo Booth / Wedding Dress + Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Sonia Yoon (The Bride) of Bensoni / Engagement Ring: Anna Hu Haute Joaillerie / Earrings: Van Cleef & Arpels / Head Band: Jennifer Behr / Hair + Makeup: Eun-Jung Kim

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Cinematography

Kiss The Bride Films

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My Monday morning just got a whole lot easier because of this gorgeous New York wedding that the uber-talented Charlotte Jenks Lewis sent our way.  It is an enchanting fête of fairy-tale proportions so full of joy and romantic details that the glow we feel from gushing over it is sure to last us through the whole week.  Click here to spend your morning daydreaming in the full gallery!

Click here for the FULL wedding!

Well Spun Weddings worked their magic and captured all the elegance of the day!

From the bride… The day that I married my best friend and soul mate Jeff officially made it up to the top of my “best days of my life” list. As cliché as it sounds, it’s the truth. The wedding day couldn’t have been any more perfect. The sun was brilliant and bright, and a perfect September breeze swept through the air. Perhaps the sun dance my girlfriends and I stomped and chanted several weeks prior worked! The weather wasn’t the only perfect thing about the day. It was a culmination of every little piece of our lives coming together and falling perfectly into place on that ONE special day. It was no longer visualizing and fearing the walk down the aisle and exchange of vows, but walking it with peace and ease on my fathers arm and reciting my vows with honesty and love. It was our treasured friends and family from across the country and world who joined together in love and happiness. It was all of the décor I had spent sleepless nights thinking about, and spent days creating on our apartment floor, that took on life. It was the countless concept planning meetings with vendors that became real.

Speaking of vendors, we couldn’t have chosen a better team. About seven years ago, one of the editors at the magazine I was working at came back from her wedding with the most beautifully captured photographs. Although I hadn’t yet met Jeff at the time, I wrote the photographer Charlotte Jenks Lewis’s name down and swore to myself the day I got engaged that I’d hire her — and you better believe she was the first person I hired when beginning my vendor search. The venue on the other hand was our toughest. We searched for six months and looked at 30+ venues in two states, but things just weren’t adding up. Although Jeff and I both live in Manhattan and live and breathe city life, our hearts both remain true to nature. Many of the venues we’d looked at certainly had the beauty of nature, but the reception sites themselves were a bit too rustic, to say the least. It seemed impossible to find an elegant venue in the middle of acres of land — until a random Sunday drive when we accidentally discovered The Garrison. The moment we drove up the long, tree-lined driveway, we knew The Garrison was the venue we’ve been searching for. The glass walls of the reception room were the perfect clean backdrop to the beauty of the Hudson River and the 300 acres of trees that surround it. The décor had the elegant country vibe we had been searching for, and the staff and event coordinator Annie Rozycki were professional, friendly and a complete pleasure to work with. Once we booked the venue, the rest of our vendor search fell into place. We instantly fell in love with Steven Bruce Design, who created our whimsical floral designs and décor. We knew it was a match made in floral heaven the minute we discovered their vintage chic website with a banner running across saying “a little uptown, a little downtown, a little all around” — which fit our eclectic Manhattan/nature loving selves to a T.

Wedding Photography: Charlotte Jenks Lewis Photography / Wedding Venue: The Garrison in Garrison, New York / Event Coordinator: Annie Rozycki of The Garrison / Flowers: Steven Bruce Design / Cinematography: Well Spun Weddings / Band: New York Edge Music / Wedding Cake: The Pastry Garden / Wedding Invitations: Designers Fine Press / Wedding Dress: Tara Keely / Bride’s Shoes: Aruna Seth / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Amsale / Groom’s Suit: Custom / Groom’s Shoes: Allen Edmonds / Wedding Sign: Love the Unique

From this moment on, when I think of romance, I will think of these lovely Garrison nuptials courtesy of the oh-so-amazing Exquisite Affairs Productions.  Overflowing with gorgeous detail after gorgeous detail, they are as fairy tale-esque as they come.  A soft yellow color palette, beautiful florals by Linda Baldwin Flowers, a charming cake topper and some breathtaking views… It all adds up to one seriously dreamy day.  And did I mention this gorgeousness takes place at a castle?  It so does and wow.  We have all of the stunning images by Maggie Heinzel-Neel Photography to swoon over in the gallery, so join me there for even more!

Click here to see the entire gallery of images!

From Exquisite Affairs Productions… It was an absolutely gorgeous day…no one could have asked for better weather.  Robyn and Kevin were married on Sunday May 29, 2011, and their wedding was personalized from beginning to end.  You knew you were part of their world, even as an outsider with all the special details included.  Yellow & white striped straws for the fresh lemonade, wine bottles were signed by each table for the bride & groom to open on their anniversaries to come, yellow & white cookies per setting served as favors, and the bride’s personal collection of milk glass vessels housed all the gorgeous flowers.

Wedding Ceremony & Reception Location: Cat Rock at Osborn Castle / Catering: Oliver Kita Fine Catering / Catering Coordinator: Events that Matter / Wedding Coordinator: Christine Viola + Tara Geremia of Exquisite Affairs Productions / Hair: Zoku Salon / Make-up: Garrison Salon / Wedding Photography: Maggie Heinzel-Neel Photography / Wedding Videography: Signature Films / Flowers: Linda Baldwin Flowers / Officiant: Rev. Megan Sanders / Strings: Romanza Music / DJ: JTD Productions / Transportation: Continental Limousines

So many fabulous elements to this wedding, so little time. This Prohibition Era inspired wedding by Patricia Kantzos Photography is bursting at the speakeasy’s seams with fun pieces of the couples personality. They mastered the idea of having a theme wedding without being themey, and the result was a weekend that had style for miles. The entire affair made for a Hudson Valley humdinger of a wedding, and there is even more in the full gallery!

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From the Bride… We had such a blast planning our wedding!  We wanted the wedding to be a reflection of who we are and so we did not use a wedding planner.  Although we had the expertise of my sister who is an event planner!  We LOVED coming up with ways to make our wedding fun and unique but beautiful and elegant at the same time. We loved the fact that we had an entire weekend–starting with rehearsal dinner the night before and ending with breakfast the morning after.  We kind of wanted to have a destination wedding, but without being too far from home.  This gave our guests the choice to join us for the entire weekend (which most did) or to drive up just for the wedding. It really was the most special day of our lives, and sharing it with our friends and family was the greatest feeling. Moments we will remember forever.  And just all the love in the room that entire day was overwhelming.

We chose Garrison, NY because it is 1 hour North of where I grew up, and because it is in the mountains. Jeffrey and I love the mountains and so we felt that it was a good reflection of who we are. We also realized that St. Basils Academy was located in Garrison.  This was the academy that my mother lived at for a short time when she was a little girl. My mother had always told me her time at St. Basils was the happiest time of her life as a child, and once we visited we knew it was the place for us.

The Highlands Country Club is magnificent!  The grounds were beautiful with the stunning chandelier, fireplaces, floor to ceiling French doors and windows!  Plus, we had access to The Tavern restaurant that we turned into the Candy Room.  Chef, Eric Gabrynowicz, was incredible!  It was picturesque with the mountains and the Hudson River in the background from both St. Basils and The Highlands. We were going for a Prohibition-Era NYC theme. Most of the canisters I purchased for the candy room are vintage- antique straw holders, candy bowls and containers. For the photo area, I used things I already had and were in the family—the vintage suitcases, vintage accessories, mirror, and the vintage frames for the photos that we had displayed.

Along with all of the vintage touches, our Escort Cards were Metro Cards and the table cards were NYC subway maps.  Each table was named for a location in NY that has meaning to Jeffrey & I, like Von Bar, where we met, Yankee Stadium, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park and Grand Central (where we had our engagement shoot with our photographer Patricia).

Our Greek Wedding Crowns were made by my aunt using pearls from a necklace that had been my Grandmothers when she was alive.  It was really important to me to have crowns that were unique and custom-made.

Having a live Greek band and lots of Greek dancing was really important to us!  We wanted to make sure that the guests knew that they could not break the plates – it is a Greek wedding. Hence the “These plates are not for breaking” signs that I had made for each plate.

We really love our wedding photos and cannot thank Patricia enough. Patricia was incredible.  She made it easy to work with and everyone fell in love with her!

Wedding Photography: Patricia Kantzos Photography / Wedding Design & Coordination: The Bride / Wedding Ceremony Location: St. Basil Academy / Wedding Reception Location: Highlands Country Club / Wedding Dress: Nicole Miller / Wedding Veil: Custom by Nancy Sinoway Design / Bride’s Shoes: Vintage via Isobel Arnberg / Floral Design: Westchester Floral Decorators / Floral Broach & Pendant: Vintage / Wedding Cake: The Pastry Garden / Cake Topper: Fancy Flours / Groom’s Attire: Jones New York + Eisenberg & Eisenberg + Paul Stuart / Bride’s Ring: Seattle Diamonds + Somos Creations / Bride’s Necklace: Doyle & Doyle / Groom’s Cufflinks: The Missing Link at The Showplace / Bridesmaid Dresses: J.Crew / Bride’s Garter: Illisa’s Vintage Lingerie at The Showplace / Candy: Economy Candy

There isn’t a rule in the Wedding Planning Handbook that says high-maintenance = high style, and this is just the wedding to prove that. The delegating duo in this darling affair picked vendors they loved, and then just let it all fall into place. The October occasion ended up being a perfect fall fair, and the proof is in the pudding…or in this case, the proof is in all the lovely images by Uplift Photography in the full gallery of images!

Click here to see the entire image gallery!

From the Bride… I’m a veterinary student, which left very little time to plan and obsess over wedding details. We picked the Garrison because it offered so much at the same location (ceremony and reception space, the food, the cake, all the tables and chairs, etc). We also wanted to have the ceremony outside, and with a mid-October wedding, having the option of a covered space took a lot of the stress out of our day. We also picked vendors who had great style, and just trusted them to do what they do best.

My (now) husband took charge of the music, since that was important to him. We went with some non-traditional choices; I walked down the aisle to Tom Petty’s “Here Comes My Girl,” a family friend become ordained to give a very personal ceremony, and we had a small wedding party.  We also had more traditional parts of the day; the white dress, wedding cake, and a father-daughter dance. Overall it really fit us, and we had a great time!

My advice: pick good people to work with, and delegate!

Wedding Photography: Jade O’Connell of Uplift Photography / Floral & Event Design: Steven Bruce Design / Ceremony & Reception Location: The Garrison / Bride’s Dress: Melissa Sweet via Priscilla of Boston / Catering & Wedding Cake: The Garrison / DJ: Bri Swatek of Spinning with Style / Groom & Groomsmen Attire: Men’s Wearhouse / Wedding Invitations: Greenwich Letterpress

We have one more of Spotlight Style’s fantastic New York weddings for you today!

From Preeti, founder of Spotlight Style and Rita and Mike’s wedding consultant and designer …

Rita and Mike wanted to have a wedding outdoors with a modern feel. Osborne Castle was a beautiful venue with over 300 acres of greens so the couple was able to have a private wedding on a mountain top overlooking Hudson Valley.

The bride wanted a mandap to represent the same feel…so it was made out of birch tree pillars with floral pomanders and chocolate brown fabric.

The guest card table was made with a tray of grass and planter sticks for namecards…to keep with the beautiful outdoors feel.

cake from Jolly Be Bakery

photography courtesy of LaRie Taylor

Congratulations Rita & Mike on an absolutely beautiful wedding celebration from all of us here at Style Me Pretty!!