I have been sleeping on photos of Rachel and Noah’s wedding because for the last few months we’ve known that they were going to make their debut on the Bride’s Guide by Darcy Miller over at the Martha Stewart Website.  Anyway, now that they’ve officially been posted, I can share with you what was one of my FAVORITE weddings last year!  What did they do right?  Well, I think establish a really clear vision, find a venue that went with that vision and ROLL with it..  I should say that Rae and Noah (who recently opened Mile End in Brooklyn) both have very clear sense of style in their day to day life, which made translating that into wedding all the more simple.  Here are a couple of pics that weren’t included in the Martha Stewart piece, please visit their site for more.Thanks to Dave Robbins for these amazing photos.  The floral was done by Saipua, Rossi of The Raging Skillet handled the catering and the venue was the 2nd floor of the Metropolitan Building.

So, on Friday, Salome posted about one of our AAB:New Jersey weddings being featured in Bride’s New Jersey!  We were very excited about it, but I also realized that I never shared this stunning early autumn wedding with you!

So, what did they do right?  Well, first off, because of their extensive guest list, they realized that the best way for them to have the wedding that they wanted was to find a great location and a reasonable caterer.  Secondly, they picked a bold color scheme that really punched up the tent without them having to do a TON of stuff to the tent itself.  They also added a carpet to the tent, which made the entire thing A LOT more elegant (it’s actually a chocolate carpet, not sure if you can tell) and then softened it up with cotton lilac linens – a cost effective way to soften the space.

One other thing that they did, that I LOVED, is they really incorporated the bride’s Filipino culture into the day, as we worked to infuse traditional, “American” things like adorable wedding programs and custom wrapped tissue packs, with the important elements for the ceremony such as the coins and the rope.   Thanks to Heather Waraska for these great photos and to Bride’s for featuring them.  For more pics of this wedding and details about the location, you can check out their gallery on our website!

My very first professional event that I planned after college was in May of 2000. It was a black tie dinner/ afterparty for The Clio Awards and we held it at The Altman Building on W. 18th Street. I fell in love with the space and always wanted to do a wedding there… but somehow, the chance kept alluding us. So when Mary & Jason decided that they wanted to have their cocktail style wedding reception there, I was so excited!

Mary and Jason really wanted to have a big ol’ party.  Jason owns Bourbon Street, a bar uptown, so a good party was important. They knew from the beginning they wanted a cocktail party vs. a sit down dinner, with a great cover band and a DJ later on.  And that is exactly what they had- AFTER their beautiful church ceremony uptown.  The party was SO good in fact that 1) Mayra declared it “the best cake she’d ever had” 2)The DJing and Dancing evolved into Karaoke with dance routines 3) the Franciscan priest who married them was there dancing up a storm in his robes AND kept it moving to the after party.  And maybe some of us did too.. but I’m not naming names.

Mary was so much fun to work with! She used a navy palette to keep the wedding chic but sophisticated.  Verde created several composite pieces for each table as well as these stunning accent pieces made of gigantic balls of floral.  Guests mixed and mingled all night, and as these photos tell… danced. Their photographer, Robert Wagner once again did an OUTSTANDING job!

We loved Mary so much, she’s been working with us on weekends! She was so excited to start, her first wedding was the day after she got back from her honeymoon!  So congratulations to the happy couple and Welcome to the team Mary!

As I’ve written before, one of the greatest compliments is when a bride who is in the industry asks us to be a part of her wedding. It really feels like the ultimate compliment. I was thrilled to hear when Amanda became engaged to her longtime love Glenn, even more thrilled when I heard the wedding would be at the stunning Caramoor and finally, absolutely honored when she asked that Mayra and I come on board to help out with the logistics of her wedding. It was both exciting and, frankly scary, as I know her to be a fantastic professional (she manages a very busy venue)… talk about pressure!

Amanda had a very clear vision of the day, and worked closely with Jessy at Fleurs to help it come to life.  We had a great day with Amanda and Glenn late this summer when we got to amble around the venue.  They have known each other since high school and though their guest list was large, it was clear that their intimate group of friends and family made the day feel much more like a close knit celebration.

It was so much fun to be a part of this day! First of all, it felt like camp.  The day before the wedding we headed up to Katonah, where Caramoor is located,  to work with Great Performances catering on setting up the very large tent and checking in all of the rentals as well as sorting out the lighting and sound. It was a rainy and cold day and I was able to legitimately wear my galoshes, and not just for fashion purposes.  However, all fun aside,  we were so nervous about the weather, since the ceremony was meant to be outdoors. Yet somehow the skies stayed dry- at least as long as it took for the ceremony!! Heather Waraska took these amazing photos. 

I thought that Glenn had the BEST groom’s style!  After taking photos and signing the Ketubah came the ceremony in the sunken garden.  Fingers were crossed that the rain would hold out (it did!).  Totally worth it…. check out this location! 

After the ceremony, guests filed into the stunning Venetian Theater. During the summer months, Caramoor is a music venue and this ample tent is used for concerts.  This particular evening, Jessy and her team transformed it into a fantasy garden.  I just loved the details. Steal this idea:  We took two wine bottles and some twine and using small clothespins the bride found, we hung old pictures on the “clotheslines” around the cocktail hour and reception. It was adorable. I loved the framed board the bride made for the escort cards and Jessy simply outdid herself with the ginormous tree and bar covered in boxwood!

I was so excited when Shira Weinberger sent over the link to her blog of photos of Rachel & Glenn’s wedding, which Always a Bridesmaid coordinated last month.  Rachel & Glenn were referred to me by someone in the industry (which is always such a compliment to be recommended by fellow event professionals) and I was blown away by how a) lovely and b) low key they were about the whole wedding thing they were.  As I got to know them, I realized that it wasn’t so much that they were low key, as much as they simply had their priorities for the day extremely in order: this was about celebrating their love and faith in front of friends and family.  They could decide on the linens later, and white always appealed to the bride for flowers, but making sure that their guests were there for the ceremony,  well fed, comfortable and  having a great time- that was the thing!  My team just adored them and was so thrilled to be  a part of their day.

So, besides keeping people first, what else did they do right? Well, for one, they gave themselves plenty of time with Shira to take photos. They really took advantage of their weddings backdrop- the awesome city!  They hit up Grand Central and the South Street Seaport before heading to Angel Orensanz.  This venue can give people a bit of sticker shock when they first hear the price, but it’s actually possibly one of the greatest wedding deals in the city. Not only do you get this amazing gothic backdrop that is RICH and DEEP with history, but you get the phenomenal lighting that you will see below.

Additionally, Rachel and Glen worked with Melanie of MelaRosa to create floral pieces that were at once modern and yet still warm and fitting with the venue.  I think they did a fantastic job. Their wedding was rich with Jewish traditions, starting with a Tish and including Ketubah, Mothers breaking of the plate, Bedenkin, Ceremony, Yichud, Horah, and Mezuika.  I actually had only recently learned about the “breaking of the plate” by the mothers of the bride and the groom tradition from a Rabbi this past summer: it indicates that just as the broken plate is final and can’t be pieced together again, so is the marriage… similar to the tradition of breaking the glass.

Thanks again to Shira for sending me these- she did a spectacular job!  There are a lot more pics from this wedding on her blog.

And MANY many blessings to Rachel & Glenn!  Congratulations on your marriage!