New York Weddings

We are giving you a double whammy today with two totally different, but equally gorgeous weddings. This next one is all about the pretty. Shot by Patricia Kantzos, Aimee and Steven were married this past April at The Waverly Inn & Garden, Greenwich Village NYC with a handful of close friends and family…

From Patricia…

Aimee met Steven through a friend – by chance. She was living up in Woodstock, NY running her bed & breakfast – The Villa at Saugerties. She is a former editor of Time Out NY and he is the co-founder of Main Street Restaurant Group (Rain, Calle, Ocho, Django & BLT Prime etc.). Her favorite color is pink. Her wedding shoes are a favorite of hers. She wore her grandmothers brouche on her wrist attached to a pink ribbon. The ceremony was held at Steven’s mother’s apartment in the West Village out on her terrace. Steven’s mother also arranged all the flowers. As to the reception – Steven’s family has been celebrating at The Waverly Inn for generations – his parents and I believe grandparents – so it was an easy choice for location. We took photographs at the bar – again, generations of family photos at the bar at The Waverly Inn. It was small and intimate.

Our next featured wedding for the day (yep…we are doing TWO!), is the total opposite of our earlier affair. It’s light and Springy, sweet and colorful. Sent to us by Patricia Kantzoz, this wedding just makes me happy.

Lots more details and photographs on the way!

Thank you SO very much to Barbara at Hatch Creative Studio for sending us today’s real wedding. If you aren’t already familiar with Barbara’s work, you are in for SUCH a treat. Her designs are the perfect combination of chic, fabulousness and laid back elegance…with touches of humor and whimsy thrown in to make you smile.

And of course, thank you SO much to Tara and Dan for letting us share their joy!

all of the beautiful photographs by Heather Waraksa

A few more details from the bride…

Music was another part of the wedding that was very important to us.  We used the amazing band, Cracked Ice, all of whom are studio musicians for acts such as James Brown and the Rolling Stones.  As a special touch we had my sister-in-law who has stared in several shows on Broadway, sing two songs which was a great hit.  We also decided to forgoe the traditional wedding march and walked in together to “first day of my life” by bright eyes and out to “oh yoko” by John Lennon.

One of the biggest hits of the night was that around midnight we told everyone to go downstairs.  Outside there was a full size yellow school bus waiting to take us to the after party at the Black Door.  The 6-block ride was one of the highlights for me and was certainly the rowdiest bus ride any of us have ever taken.  We sang the whole time shifting between 99 bottles of beer on the wall and the soccer cheer Ole Ole ole.

It’s rare that I do this, but for this particular wedding, I had to show you the absolutely gorgeous presentation of food that the couple had. Simple, modern, totally stunning.

all photographs by Heather Waraksa

From Tara, the bride…

We are both passionate about food and we didn’t want to settle for the standard wedding food.  We did several tastings and were blown away by Marcy Brownstein Catering.  They let us choose from a huge selection of amazing dishes and were open to adding small touches such as our passed deserts (mini pumpkin pies, creme brules and pot du creme).  Their presentation was also amazing with long lines of waiters setting down the plates in unison.

We are loving today’s modern, loft inspired affair. It’s gorgeous in its simplicity and tailored, elegant style. The sophistication of the black and white palette, paired with the little pops of whimsy in the graphic table runners and purple florals is complete perfection.

Hatch Creative Studios, along with the super stylish bride and groom, pulled this incredible affair together for us to fall in love with. And it worked!

all photos by Heather Waraksa

From Tara, the lovely bride…

We named the tables after classic NYC landmarks- the Brooklyn Bridge, the empire state building, etc.  Our friend and artist Mike Shankman drew amazing pictures for us that we then used as the table numbers as well as the seating cards.  Our good friend, calligrapher and owner of Paperfinger, Bryn Chernoff, put a personal touch on all of our paper goods with modern calligraphy.

As favors we decided on black and white cookies, which are a NYC staple as well as Dan’s favorite cookie.  For the packaging, we had our friend and creative director, Andrew Egan, take a photo of us that we then turned into a silhouette.  It was a photo of me curtsying and Dan bowing, printed on brown paper labels with “Thanks!” written
below.

More to come!

Perhaps the most beautiful thing about today’s featured affair is the couple…SO chic, so classic. The bride, with her amazing dress and her vintage birdcage veil is the epitome of style. So, here are a few more photographs, shot by Heather Waraksa, of the lovely couple…

I am totally in love with the picture of Tara holding her little flower girl. It’s perfection. And I have to admit, I might be a little in love with her handsome groom, standing outside in the rain with his umbrella. So GQ.

More to come from Tara and Dan’s beautiful reception on the way!

It’s hard not to love today’s featured wedding. The event design was done by the lovely and talented Barbara Salzman of Hatch Creative Studio and the bride/groom used their own chic sense of style to bring the wedding to life.

For those of you that are dying to know what the venue is, it’s Sun West Studio, an 8,000 square foot loft with a balcony and views ofthe Empire State Building as well the classic New Yorker sign. Yep, pretty great. And the gorgeous photography, the fabulous Heather Waraksa is to thank!

The power has been out at our house for the last 4 hours so I haven’t been able to keep the posts coming. But, we are back in full effect, so let’s get right to it! Here are a few more bits of eye candy and details from today’s gorgeous couple…

all images from Heather Waraksa, event design by Hatch Creative Studio

From the bride…

Dan is a professional photographer and started a company with another photographer called StudioBooth.  It is similar to a old fashioned photobooth but can accommodate large groups of people.  It uses real fashion style lighting and once the photo is taken it is projected on a big screen for everyone to see.  Dan set it up at our wedding and it was a huge hit. Everyone loved the idea and we love the photos!

I think that the reason I love this wedding so much is that the style is so crisp, the colors vibrant and yet still muted. The entire look just screams elegance and style, while still being approachable. Which is just how I think of Hatch Creative Studio.

Hatch is such a fun, playful company that approaches design with a really laid back but incredibly thoughtful sense of style. Although you can always see their design stamp within their events, it seems that each wedding is incredibly original and unique to the bride and groom.

From the bride…

One of the most unique parts of our wedding was our “colors”. I wanted a black and white wedding with a loose “classic new york” theme.  So while we had pops of colors in the flowers, everything else was black and white.  We found great black and white table runners with an abstract print on them from CB2.

I promised that we would feature more indoor weddings on SMP and today’s wedding is not only held in one of the coolest lofts, it has a chic style that you guys are going to love. Plus, the fabulousness that is Barbara of Hatch Creative Studio, designed the affair making me love it that much more!

We have so much more to come from this wedding…details from the bride and groom, pictures by Heather Waraksa that are going to make you swoon and inspiration in the tiniest of details.

A bit from Tara, the lovely bride…

We wanted a wedding that really suited us as people.  We are very visual people,  Dan is a photographer and I own my own branding and marketing firm and the look of the wedding was very important to us.  We wanted a wedding that was modern, clean, fun and different.  Barb of Hatch Creative Studio  really helped us pull that together.

Back in a bit!

The oh-so-amazing Karen Wise sent us more absolutely exquisite portraits from Irene and Marty’s January wedding! There’s something to be said for an icy cold New York day  …

If you haven’t seen the lovely photos from their wedding, you simply must! The rich reds and deep purples filled the space with a glow that belied the temperatures outdoors.

In addition to being the beautiful bride, Irene is also a fantastic graphic designer.

from Irene …

“As a graphic designer, I wanted to personalize our event through our stationery. The invitation was written in English and Russian. Russian textile work and the baseball diamond, reflecting my husband’s passion for baseball, inspired the design of our invitation suite. This design was then incorporated throughout the wedding, including the menus, coasters, and the calendar favors.”

Irene has now started designing for weddings and events. We’re really anxious to see more of her fabulous work! When her new website, Rinka and Ink, launches, we’ll see if she will send us some more of her creations. In the meantime, we’re pretty sure she’d love to hear from you!

And as always, a huge thank-you to Karen Wise for sharing her fabulous photos. For more from Irene & Marty’s wedding, here is the LINK to Karen’s blog post with ALL the details!

We originally featured Irene and Marty’s stunning wedding photos from Karen Wise a week or so ago. Since then, we’ve added some more, and so we thought we’d show all of them to you, one more time …

They were married in Manhattan on a freeeeezing New York afternoon in January.

Irene, the beautiful bride was born and raised in Russia and wanted to find ways to intermingle her heritage and it’s rich traditions into her very New York-chic wedding celebration at Bridgewaters.

from the bride  … “I was born in Ukraine and raised in a Russian household, in a small community. We wanted to have as many personal touches as possible, including incorporating wedding traditions from my background, to make the day unique to us. During the ceremony, one of my bridesmaids read a love poem in Russian, which was then translated by my brother into English.

As my husband and I entered the reception, my parents presented us with traditional wedding welcome bread, the Karavay, on a decorated handmade towel called a Rushnik, welcoming us to the family. We had hired a Russian vocalist to perform during part of the reception and for the father-daughter dance.

One of the highlights at the reception was when the maid of honor and my brother surprised everyone by stealing the bride’s shoe. … a game played at Russian weddings when the groom then needs to “pay ransom”, in the form of performing a task, to win back the shoe for his bride. My husband had a great sense of humor about the whole thing and happily performed the Slavic folk dance “prisiadka” with much encouragement from his American friends and family. Although we were celebrating in America, my husband and I felt that my Russian heritage was a big part of our day.

We have a few more beautiful shots from Irene and Marty’s wedding day coming right up as well as photos of the wedding invitations that Irene designed!

Also, be sure and check out Karen’s blog for even more.

Our Little Black Book guys and gals are the absolute best! We take our vendor recommendations very seriously at Style Me Pretty … so when we say great, we mean really really really great talent + personality + experience + peer applause. Some of the LBB vendors are the top names in the business. Many, though, are relative newcomers and have been specifically recommended to us by their brides & grooms, as well as their peers who are already members of the LBB … and these … are the true up-and-comers in the wedding industry.

Here are a few beautiful wedding dress photos from our Little Black Book Files, past + present + future.

The bride sitting on the floor between all her lovely maids (above) was featured here in a fabulous wedding sent to us by LBB members Lyndsey Hamilton and Christian Oth.

And of course this bride (last photo above) was from featured photographer Kate Triano this week on Style Me Pretty.

The wedding in the second row (above) wasn’t featured on Style Me Pretty … but is a totally beautiful wedding shot at The Foundry in Long Island City NY. You can see more of Diana and Osman’s wedding on LBB photographer, Karen Wise’s blog.

The images of the bride in the first row above (right) and the last row was sent to us by our great friends and LBB members, Bill and Anne of Holland Photo Arts. Tessie & Matt’s wedding had so many special details! To see it, take a look at Abby’s FACEBOOK page, Bill & Anne’s blog … or a really good slideshow from their wedding. Tessie and Matt own a blacksmithing shop in Charleston, West Virginia ~ Wallace Metal Works. They designed and hand-made many items that they used in their own wedding. How cool is that! Here’s a link to their website: Wallace Metal Works. It might just be that perfect design/inspiration springboard that you need!

Photo / LBB Credits (top to bottom; left to right)

Row 1: Corbin Gurkin Photography

Row 2: Lyndsey Hamilton Events, Christian Oth Studio/Jake McBride

Row 3: Melissa Dunstan Photography,  Justin Marantz Photography

Row 4: Kate Triano Photography

Row 5: Jenne Hohn Events, Card Girl, Michelle Walker Photography

Row 6: Genevieve Nisly Photography

Row 7: Kate Triano Photography

Row 8: AK Event Design, Andrea Polito Photography

Row 9: Karen Wise Photography

Row 10: AK Event Design, Andrea Polito Photography

Row 11: Holland Photo Arts

Row 12: Sweet Pea Events

Row 13: Holland Photo Arts

Thank you so very much to Kate Webber, the photographer who sent us today’s gorgeous wedding. Kate’s  is one of those photographers that I simply adore…her work is so unbelievably elegant, so rich in emotion, in texture, in color. If you haven’t already, spend some time on her website which is filled with eye candy and inspiration.

And, a HUGE thank you to Erin and Ted for sharing their absolutely lovely celebration with us!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Have a great weekend!

If you thought that today’s featured wedding was gorgeous, feast your eyes on the reception…

From the ridiculously talented Kate Webber…

A palette of dark blue with yellow and white accents was chosen to contrast with the deep green of the lawn and to reflect the blues of the ocean and the crisp September sky in Sagaponack. Local seasonal flowers, such as daisies, sunflowers, Queen Anne’s lace and chamomile, were used throughout the ceremony and cocktail hour to create an elegant country atmosphere.

After cocktails on the front lawn, guests made their way through a path of candlelit lanterns to a wooden fence where escort cards were pinned to the center of hundreds of sunflowers specially grown for the event by a local farmer.

Inside the tent, classic navy table cloths and centerpieces of white Phalaenopsis orchids potted in silver urns provided a more formal setting for dinner and dancing. Silver lanterns suspended from above created a romantic glow. Erin and Ted paid homage to their respective hometowns by naming the tables after favorite beaches, bays and ponds in Alaska and Sagaponack.

We have one last look coming up so don’t sign off just yet!

There is something about that Hampton style that just makes me happy. It all seems so effortlessly beautiful, so picture perfect and yet totally laid back and approachable…

photographs by Kate Webber

Didn’t I tell you that cake was gorgeous? It was crafted by Have Your Cake Ltd, and was displayed on Erin’s great-grandmother’s cake stand surrounded by wedding portraits of the couple’s parents, grandparents and siblings. Next up is the reception!

LOVING today’s real wedding sent to us by Kate Webber. It’s beachy, without being cliche. It’s romantic, it’s personal and best of all, it’s incredibly beautiful!

Wait until you see the wedding cake…maybe the prettiest detail of the entire wedding. Actually, it’s a toss-up between that fabulous dress, the woven baskets and the ridiculously gorgeous tablesettings. Coming up soon!

This is probably my favorite batch of photos from today’s real wedding. When you look at each of the details up close, you see just how thoughtful every element was. It’s so great to see a bride infuse her style with touches that speak to her own life, her own loves…

As mentioned earlier, Kate Webber is the photographer behind this gorgeous affair. A few other vendors helped to design the wedding as well and I wanted to quickly mention them…The florist was Karen Lenahan Designs out of Bridgehampton, NY. The day of coordination was done by Tailored Productions. Hair and Makeup was done by Vincent de Silva of Gil Ferrer Salon also in Bridgehampton. The band was Mamalee, Rose & Friends, and DJing was done by Sonimax Sound and Style. Catering was done by Food for Forks.

Such a great job by everyone who helped make this wedding a reality!

When I first saw today’s wedding that the fabulous Kate Webber photographed, it reminded me a lot of yesterday’s featured affair. It’s forever fascinating to me to see how different brides translate similar color palettes and wedding styles.

Both weddings being beach inspired, elegant takes on blue hued palettes…and yet you can really see how distinct their personalities are through the details, the perfect extras that made each wedding totally unique.

Kate Webber, the photographer behind these gorgeous images has been sweet enough to stop by and share a few more of the details…

Erin and Ted wanted an intimate wedding with a hometown vibe that celebrated the natural beauty of the town where both sides of Erin’s family have lived for several generations. The couple chose September, knowing that the summer crowds would be gone and guests would be able to enjoy the beauty of the Hamptons as it is known to locals.

They decided that September 13, 2008 – three years and three days after Erin and Ted met – was the perfect date.  The couple chose a reception site with deep personal meaning- Erin’s parents’ home in Sagaponack, where her mother’s family has lived for over 100 years.

The couple also wanted to pay homage to Ted’s Alaskan roots and welcome guests making the trip from Alaska to the “Lower 48.”  Flown in from Alaska…the wedding ceremony incorporated the couple’s personal and family traditions- Rev. Norman H.V. Elliott, a close family friend of the groom traveled all the way from Alaska to officiate at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, where Erin’s parents were wed 37 years earlier.

So much more to come!

Today we are featuring the most gorgeous real wedding that the forever talented Kate Webber sent us. I am so drawn to great photography, probably in large part thanks to running Style Me Pretty. Learning to take beautiful photographs was actually my New Year’s resolution. So, when a photographer is willing to let me into her creative mind just a bit, I get really excited.

Before I get into that though, let me show you a bit more of Kate’s work from today’s real wedding…

From Kate…

My main aim when shooting comes from my editorial and studio art backgrounds- I try to tell the stories as fully, as beautifully and kindly as possible. My style is a good blend of classic beauty with a bit of an edge…any bit of “funk” I can capture is great– (this wedding was more traditional)!  I never thought I would end up shooting weddings but they drew me in for the love, the creativity present from all the vendors and visions.  There is so much eye candy and so much emotion and I am always excited to capture each.  AND, most importantly, it is truly fulfilling to do something that I love and do well and to give it to people for their families on one of the most important days in their lives thus far.  Its like spreading ongoing smiles to couples and their families each time they look at their wedding images.

I love that. Love Kate. So much more to come from today’s wedding, so many more gorgeous details on the way!