No one does a wedding like New York City — just look at this Manhattan affair. With a gorgeous Lihi Hod dress from Gabriella New York, a navy velvet Chanel clutch, lush florals from the talents at Putnam And Putnam, and a Momofuku Milk Bar, this day was as chic and iconic as the city itself. And it was captured to perfection thanks to Trent Bailey Studio. Head to The Vault to fall in love with it all!
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From The Bride…Shay proposed during a ski trip to Utah. We were with a group of friends – all of whom were experienced skiers or snowboarders. For me – it was my first time skiing ever. On the first day we went out, I spent most of the time on the bunny hill and really enjoyed it, and bragged to Shay that I wasn’t falling at all and was ready for the real mountain. Shay obliged, but said “if you’re not falling, you’re not trying!”. I was sure that I was just a freakishly good at skiing, and went confidently down the mountain and of course found myself falling non-stop, until the last fall when I felt something happen to my knee. I was sick from it, and all our friends and Shay convinced me that my knee was probably just “bruised” and that we should slowly go down and then we could go home. After finally making it down and some hot chocolate, we drove back through the valley and stopped at a pretty snow covered campsite. I was certainly not in the mood to get out of the car, but didn’t want to be the party pooper and joined the group. Shay and I went off to a beautiful tree and snow canopied clearing, and it was there that he got down on one knee and proposed. Needless to say, it was the last thing I expected after falling down the mountain, but immediately cried tears of joy and said yes! I forgot about the knee until the next day when it ballooned to the size of a cantaloupe. That week I found out that I completely tore my ACL, and needed surgery. Long story short – I tore my ACL and then Shay proposed an hour later. It was definitely one of the best days of my life.
We wanted our wedding to feel unique, personal, and we wanted everyone to have a good time. We started looking the NY area and the Bowery Hotel was the third and final place we looked. It was a no brainer – the space felt really special, beautiful, and timeless. And it was six blocks from our apartment, and there was something really awesome about the fact that our wedding was in our neighborhood. That made it feel distinctly personal.
The design at the Bowery is already amazing, and so we did not need to do much more to dress it up beyond flowers. Putnam & Putnam was our first choice among the florists we looked at, and their prior work was inspiration in itself. Their aesthetic and vision is exactly in line with our taste, and so it was easy to really let them take have at it. Everything was stunning, particularly the candlelit backdrop where we said our vows.
A lot of the inspiration for other details were driven by our shared history. Our wedding DJ was DJ Baby Blu – he DJs at Brooklyneer on Friday and Saturday nights and we always have a blast dancing there. Long before we were engaged we both said to each other that he should play at our wedding. Our wedding cake was Momofuku Birthday Cake – the same cake that I got for Shay for his 30th birthday and we both said then that it would be the cake at our wedding (and it provided inspiration for our friends’ wedding too!). The recessional that the musicians played was from Hans’ Zimmer’s “You’re So Cool (part of the soundtrack of one of our favorite movies – True Romance). Our photographer worked at a friend’s wedding and produced amazing, dreamlike photos for them. My hair and make-up was done by Mala – the same woman who has done my hair (and my sister’s) for the last ten years. Our favors were photos from the photobooth Mashbooth – this was such an easy decision since we can never resist a photobooth.
What also made the wedding really special was our ceremony. Our friend Laura Goode officiated. She is a writer, poet, and filmmaker, and she worked with us and our parents for months to put together a really thoughtful and personal ceremony. She translated our relationship beautifully, and our guests couldn’t stop talking about it. We are so lucky she agreed to help us out.
We are not the most DIY of people – although we did a lot of planning ourselves and Amanda at the Bowery did the rest of the heavy lifting (and she did an amazing job, as did the rest of the staff there!). The most tangible DIY element was the wedding programs – our friend Lucy sent us a template and I played around with it to make it our own, and printed them at Paper Presentation on 17th street. The morning of the wedding I was still threading the programs with the ribbon and had to enlist my mom, sister, and friends to help finish them!
For me, walking through the doors and down the aisle with my father was so surreal. It was absolutely stunning to see our closest family and friends in one room, and to have Shay at the end the aisle. Holding hands and saying our vows was the best part of all. And funnily enough, another favorite moment was when we accidentally forgot to exchange rings so we did so right after the ceremony with our parents and siblings circled around us.
The party was a blast and to this day we keep hearing stories from our friends about their versions of the night. And to top it off, we had our friends drinking a special cocktail named “if you’re not falling, you’re not trying”. Many of them were trying very hard that night.
Advice:
– Try to keep it personal! And it doesn’t need to involve a lot of DIY to be personal if that’s not your jam.
– There’s inspiration beyond pinterest! I actually found Putnam & Putnam and my dress designer (Lihi Hod) on instagram.
– Something will go wrong but you probably won’t know, so don’t worry. It’s beyond your control.
– Have fun with it! It’s only one day and the most important thing is the marriage. Planning is a good chance to figure out how you navigate through some difficult situations together.
Photography: Trent Bailey Studio | Floral Design: Putnam And Putnam | Wedding Dress: Lihi Hod | Cake: Momofuku Milk Bar | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Jenny Packham | DJ: DJ Blu | Groom's Attire: Sebastian Grey | Venue: The Bowery Hotel | Bridal Boutique: Gabriella New York Bridal Salon
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