New York Weddings

Can you really go wrong with pink and green? My preppy little heart thinks not. Particularly when they are the colors chosen for a stunning wedding shot by the lovely duo of Robert & Kathleen Photographers. And really can The Wainwright House be a better backdrop for classically beautiful images? Once again, I think not. There is so much more preppy perfection to take in, so be sure to spend some time in the full gallery!

Click here to see the entire image gallery!

From Robert & Kathleen Photographers… Seeing so many weddings and watching the way so many different couples interact with one another, we have learned quite a bit over the years. Not just about where to photograph what or which lighting conditions make for an optimal portrait, but about what really makes for strong connections between couples. We have learned this not only because we talk to our couples about what they love about one another, but because we watch for the little things that come through when there’s not a word spoken. And one of the greatest things we have learned was solidified even more through our meeting and working with Meghan and Marc. They taught us that when you have found the one person in the world that is clearly perfect for you, something special happens. You become an even better version of yourself. You become more comfortable in your own skin, more confident to be who you really are because you know there is no longer any need to be anything else. You have found someone who has reassured you that all the things that you have always loved about yourself really are the things that make you loveable. You can try new things, take bigger chances because you know that no matter what you’ll have that person by your side. And, what we think may be the most important, you can sing and dance around the house knowing that person not only won’t judge you, they’ll probably join you.

We had seen the sweet, gentle way Meghan and Marc interacted with each other during their rainy day engagement session in NYC back in May. We expected to see that again on their wedding day, and we did, tenfold. Not just when they were together either. You could see it with the smile on Meghan’s face when she was told that Marc had arrived before the ceremony, with the look of unabashed excitement on Marc’s face when he was told it was time to get into place because the ceremony was about to begin. Rob and I were both moved by the sweetness of their ceremony and the thoughtfulness of the vows they spoke to one another. It was during their reception that we saw something truly remarkable.

After very romantic first dance and a elegant dinner, Meghan and Marc took to the dance floor and let loose. They sang to one another at the tops of their lungs and moved perfectly in sync with each song, laughing and pulling each other close. And we weren’t the only people captivated by them, several times throughout the night a circle formed around Meghan and Marc as friends and family cheered them on. It made me smile because I could just picture Meghan and Marc at home doing the very same thing – letting go, having fun and just being themselves, knowing that neither of them would ever judge them for a whacky dance move or random song choice because they’d rather jump in.

It was particularly moving to us because that very same scene wouldn’t be unfamiliar in our house. Seeing the connection between Meghan and Marc – the gentle sweetness and the whacky fun-ness (totally a word), made us feel even luckier to not only do what we do for a living, but to have found one another. And having a job that makes you realize that all in one day, well that’s pretty amazing.

Wedding Photography: Robert & Kathleen Photographers / Wedding Venue: The Wainwright House / Catering: Corner Stone Catering / Hair & Make-Up: Once Upon A Bride / Wedding Gown: Vera Wang / Bride’s Shoes: Stuart Weitzman / Floral Design: Petals by Alice / DJ: Harborside Productions / Bridesmaid Dresses: LulaKate via Bella Bridesmaid / Groom & Groomsmen Attire: Vineyard Vines / Wedding Invitations & Paper Products: Dauphine Press via Kate’s Paperie

Every wedding that we share makes me happy but this one, set in the picturesque Hudson Valley, really had me grinning from ear to ear.  Each image from Scobey Photography is just so adorable and full of squeal-worthy details.  All of which were designed and created by the bride and her family.  It is so nice to see a more traditional wedding that is handcrafted with such elegance and grace.   There is more inspiration to be found from this labor of love in the full gallery!

Check out the full wedding gallery for even more inspiration!

It’s a beautiful thing when two peoples’ paths merge into one… and then become a journey. What’s even more beautiful is when two families have so much love for their children that they, too, jump into that journey: with both feet. supporting. laughing. crying. loving with all of their hearts. That is what made Alex and Brian’s wedding so incredibly special (well, that and all of the amazing details).

Alex and Brian met in Nashville while attending Vanderbilt University. They grew up in two completely different parts of the country, fell in love in Tennessee, moved to New York City together, and got married at Oak Hill; overlooking the Hudson River on a gorgeous Fall day.

Brian chose to have their First Look in the same place that her parents had taken their wedding photos years before: Bard College. We love shooting First Looks; there is just nothing quite as intimate. Bard’s campus has one of Frank Gehry’s famed architectural designs, which made for an amazing backdrop for some portraits.

Wedding guests enjoyed a cocktail hour overlooking the Hudson River – accompanied by the soothing sounds of a Jazz Band. There were so many things that made this wedding extraordinary. First off, Alex (with the help of her super-woman mom and sister) imagined, designed, and executed this entire day. Everything. The invitations, the signs, menus, favors, table decor. Every-THING.  Another beautiful touch? The cake-topper was the same one that sat on top of Alex’s parent’s cake years before.

From beginning to end, their day was such a labor of love, and it showed one-hundred-percent. It could not have been any more perfect.

Wedding Photography: Scobey Photography for Carla Ten Eyck / Wedding Florist: Floral Fantasies / Accomodations: Old Rhinebeck Inn / Ceremony Venue: Catholic Church of The Good Shepherd / Reception Venue: Oak Hill / Bride’s Dress: Romona Keveza / Bridal Salon: Kleinfeld’s / DJ: DJ Trevor / Caterer: Oliver Kita

Grab your wedding binders, moleskin notebooks or whatever you use to jot down great ideas because there are a TON of them in this handmade wedding from Weddings by Two.  When the couple couldn’t do something themselves (there doesn’t seem like much these two can’t do!) they rallied their talented friends and family to help get the job done!  We are in love with every last precious detail from the vintage illustration table numbers to the handcrafted cake stands!  There is so much more in the full gallery so go check it out!

Click here for more handmade inspiration in the full wedding gallery!

Nearly everything in our wedding was handmade, and most of it by us. I love old things; so, since our wedding was set on an old estate hugging the Hudson River, I tried to create the feeling that the year could be 2010 just as likely as it could be 1927. When planning our wedding, the words that resonated most with me were vintage, intimate, lovely, playful and tasteful.  Through and through a detail person, I was inspired by all the things that reward the senses in subtle ways. Subsequently, most of the items I used were made from natural materials — from the all-cotton, eyelet napkins I made myself to the twine that attached the shipping tag name cards to the napkins; and from the hand spun lace runners to the muslin-wrapped candles. Wishing to neither procure in excess nor create waste, I tried to have as much of the things needed for the wedding harvested from what we already had, obtained as secondhand items, or reused once the day was done. Subsequently, I spent at least ten months gathering old candlesticks and limoges plates from yard sales and thrift stores to make the cake stands and tiered trays that served throughout the courses of our wedding — from cocktail hour appetizers to savory dinner tarts and finally macarons and cupcakes. In doing so, I learned how to drill through porcelain (surprisingly not all that difficult). As for other “something old”s — I found my earrings at a county antique store and stitched the ring pillow from a handkerchief that belonged to my grandmother (which my aunt had embroidered for our big day). The table number illustrations — scientific drawings of flowers — came from an old poster I found through an antique dealer. I bought my dress from a bridal atelier that gets couture gowns straight off the runway and donates 100% of sales to a children’s charity.

Despite an intensive planning process, I happily recognize that many of our wedding successes were due to sheer luck (or serendipity, depending on how you view those things). The flowers are a perfect case in point. Not wanting to spend a lot of money, and ambivalent overall about cut flowers, we were still without a flower solution three weeks from our wedding. During our final trip upstate to tie up loose ends, we took a side road we hadn’t previously taken, and that’s when we discovered “you pick flowers.” No one was present, but in their absence a sign read “please leave a check for what you take.” A week later, it occurred to me that we may have seen the field at its peak, and by the time of our wedding — at the summer’s end — there would be no flowers left. Nevertheless, I gave myself over to fate. When my husband and I arrived the day before our wedding, we found an even more bounteous offering. During my “bridesmaid luncheon,” my husband and his older brother went to work cutting all their sheers would allow. The ladies — instructed to only use their creativity and imagination as a guide — spent most of the afternoon the day before the wedding helping me arrange the flowers into gorgeous bouquets in mason jars. The flowers could not have been a more perfect, personal expression of us… or of how, for us at least, the act of not planning was rewarded handsomely, and how flowers CAN be done on the cheap.

Though it’s trite to say this, our wedding day was the best day of our lives. All of the nervous anticipation melted away once the activities were underway (and perhaps because there were so many details to tend to, we couldn’t be preoccupied with whether things would go “perfectly”). Seeing our guests before me during the ceremony filled me with so much joy, and throughout the entire reception there were endless touching moments. Many guests told me they cried seeing me dance with my father. I later noticed that my expression in the photos seems one of sentimental weeping — though, really, I was laughing uncontrollably throughout our dance, as my dad — never at a loss for jokes — was making me laugh throughout our “father daughter dance.” Though my husband and I did much of the heavy lifting in the months before the wedding, we would not have pulled off the wedding if not for all the help of our families, particularly in the final days leading up to the wedding. Their support and contributions made the entire weekend that much more special.

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Clermont State Historic Site / Wedding Photography: Weddings by Two / Band: Saturday Night Bluegrass / Event Design and Planning: Thistledown Creative / Favors: Crop to Cup Coffee Co. / Wedding Desserts: Kumquat Cupcakery and Macaron de Paris / Invitations: Sesame Letterpress / Bridesmaid dress: J.Crew / Groomsmen attire: Haspel / Groom’s suit: Mr. Ned Custom Tailor / Dress: Ulla-Maija Couture / Day-of-Coordinator: Sara Grady

It’s Monday! Which for you probably means another week of trying to work while you are really wanting to just read wedding blogs. But for us, means that we get to show you the most gorgeous affairs that have come across our desks, the most perfect details, the most lovely of lovely brides. Mondays are always really good days on SMP and we’re kicking it all off with this perfectly pretty affair that Turn Loose the Art sent our way. The flowers alone are going to make you cry, but add to that a KILLER dress, an off the charts adorable ring bearer and details that are beyond great..and it’s a recipe for perfection.

{click here to see the full wedding}

Jordyn and Dan planned a lovely little spring wedding overlooking the Hudson Valley in Garrison, NY. The Inn at the Garrison was a beautiful setting, surrounded by quaint stone arches and gazebos. Dan will tell you Jordyn did all the work, and Jordyn will say her mom did all the work, but her mom says it was all Jordyn’s vision.

The whole bridal party wore J Crew, with the guys in tan suits and yellow printed ties and the women wearing silver dresses and yellow heels. The yellow-silver-lavender color scheme suited the spring wedding perfectly, showing up in little touches like the escort tags and printed wine bottle labels by the Tie That Binds. Unique touches like table numbers of antique bells and mosaics mixed with different floral collections on each table tied together the reception.

Photography: Turn Loose the Art / Cinematography: Jeff Zorilla / Flowers: Lee Vazquez Floral Design / Venue: The Garrison / Invitations, Stationery: Tie That Binds / Dress: Jim Hjelm / Makeup: Lo & Co / Music: The DJ Solution

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!!

On the Little Black Book Blog, we strive to bring you more of the stellar work of our LBB members … the event planners, the photographers, the cinematographers … the cake designers, the floral designers … We show you their work, not because we think they’re terrific, but because we know they’re terrific!

Carla Ten Eyck is just that … amazing …

When you hire a photographer for your wedding, you’re not just hiring a picture-taker. You’re gaining a friend. You’re hiring someone who will be by your side on one of THE most important days of your life. That person will bring out the sheer beauty, the raw emotion … the awe in you. That’s what you get with Carla Ten Eyck.

Carla Ten Eyck captured Samar and Shane’s exquisite multi-cultural wedding that spanned three glorious days.  There is no way that we can do this incredible celebration justice. We simply want to show you, brag to you, how great Carla and her incredible team are.

Samar and Shane’s wedding weekend …

The wedding took place in Hudson, NY. It was a three day Pakistani and Irish wedding celebration. Friday night the family held a Mehndi ceremony in the beautiful barn at Oak Hill Estate in the Hudson River Valley. These celebrations are traditionally women only, but Shane and Samar invited the men to participate as well. During the ceremony they sat together in a swing while guests came up to offer them blessings. After the blessings there were traditional dances upstairs in the barn. Saturday was the formal wedding ceremony. Samar’s father officiated the ceremony, and the bridesmaids carried wooden bowls full of rose petals instead of bouquets. Floral decor was by Little Black Book member, Linda Baldwin Flowers.

Shane and Samar’s incredible celebration proves without a doubt that if you are lucky enough to have Carla and her team ~ Mike Romano, Katie Slater and Graham Scobey ~ you will have memories … and a friend who will last a lifetime!

Congratulations Samar & Shane on an absolutely phenomenal wedding! And Carla, well as we’ve said before … sheer beauty!!

For the rest of Samar & Shane’s story, take a trip to Carla Ten Eyck’s blog site. It … she … is totally awesome.

Ulysses Photography is listed in Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book in the NY Hudson Valley area. However, if you take a trip to their website and blog … you’ll see they don’t just hang around there! As is the case with most of our LBB photographers, they love to travel and have lots of wonderful examples of their weddings for you to peruse. In this case, a visit to Ulysses and Jenni’s blog will take you all the way back to August 2005 weddings! Now that’s impressive!! It’s SO fascinating to see how much has changed in the wedding world … and just how much will never change!

Ulysses and Jenni ARE Ulysses Photography. They describe themselves as crazy in love. How great is that? They go on to say that there is no popular catch phrase to describe their style. I like that, too, because I think that all photographic artists have so many many styles, depending upon so many many factors that it would be doing them a grave disservice to assign a style label. Suffice it to say that they are terrific!

Today’s featured wedding is from last July and took place at Catlin Gardens NY.

Kristina wore a Nicole Miller gown … the bridesmaids dresses were by After 6.

Many of the special touches seen throughout the day were made by Kristina, her mom … and even her dad!

This pretty cake was from The Pastry Garden.

from Kristina …

My Mom and I (and my Dad, too!) spent a lot of quality time making many of the small things the guests found at their tables, such as the menu cards, place cards, and the wedding cake cookie favors. The cookies came out great but were A LOT of work. By the end of it, I didn’t want to see another cookie for the rest of my life (unfortunately, that didn’t last long!) I think we all had a great time working together to come up with creative ideas that would make our guests feel special. I especially loved the air fresheners, with the poem attached, that were left by the valets in our guests’ cars. Hopefully, it was a pleasant reminder of the fun they had at the wedding and how much we all appreciate that they were there to share that day with us.

The staff at Catlin Gardens made sure everything ran so smoothly. It was great to know that everything was taken care of so that my family and I could just enjoy ourselves! Sometimes, when I’m really craving something sweet, I think of the wedding cake from The Pastry Garden and regret that I only had one bite of that delicious cake. Brides: enjoy the cake on your wedding day and maybe even have two pieces!

I recommend going to Nicole Miller as a stop on your hunt for the perfect dress. They were so friendly, helpful, and gave me their honest opinions. They also have a great selection of beautiful dresses that are perfect for the beach, garden, or big white wedding of your dreams. My dress was exactly what I wanted. It was so comfortable and not too fussy but made me feel beautiful all night.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather or better vendors. We love to show off our wedding album to anyone who stops over at our home, and without fail, people are totally blown away. The pictures are really beautiful!

Congrats to Kristina & Cory … fantastic wedding!

And a HUGE thank you to Ulysses and Jennie for sharing their fabulous photos with us!!