USA | You May French Kiss The Bride

Oct 2014

Rachel + Rafael

Indoor Wedding at reBar in Brooklyn, NYC

When I was planning our wedding in 2011, I remember I eventually noticed something that I think not all future brides and groom always have in mind: the beauty of a wedding isn’t directly linked to the amount of details and DIYs you put. A beautiful outdoor venue with lots of natural flowers, or with a view over the see don’t necessarily need additional decoration. Worse, sometimes adding personal touches to something that’s already beautiful alone (namely, by adding some details that don’t match with the decor already in place) may even ruin everything. What’s true for outdoor weddings is also true for indoor weddings and I think you can find quite a a few perfect examples on this blog (for instance here or here). Rachel and Rafael had their wedding at reBar (a restaurant in Brooklyn, NY), and it was the bride’s will to find a place that would allow her to only have to care about putting on her dress and finding a photographer… I think more brides should be like Rachel! Photography by Monika Photo Art.

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The wedding took place in New-York City last year. From the bride:

Throughout the year planning our wedding, I often thought about how I would feel at my wedding. I didn’t care much about the stuff. We specifically chose a restaurant that was beautiful on its own and wouldn’t need much decorating, and they had their own in-house DJ, florist, and baker, so we wouldn’t have to deal with a ton of outside vendors and decisions. After the most important things to us were purchased or booked, I was left with a lot of time to think and dream about how our wedding day would feel. To me, the most important parts of the wedding day couldn’t possibly be planned or even anticipated.
I woke up feeling super calm, happy, and excited. I spent the day in a hotel room with my bridesmaids getting ready, eating and chatting. I got dressed in the hotel room closet, with no light, and was barged in on by my adorably excited four-year-old ring-bearer. I took a taxi to the venue with my friends, and the first time my mother saw me as a bride she was sitting double-parked in my dad’s truck while the venue staff unloaded the arbor for our ceremony. We waved at each other. We navigated around the set of the new Spiderman movie that was being shot all around the vicinity of our venue for my bridal party street photos.
I slowed my dad down as he walked me down the long aisle, taking it all in. I saw my soon-to-be husband standing there, waiting patiently. We listened to our lovely readings in a mixture of English and Spanish, we said our vows, exchanged rings, and had a few laughs throughout. I did not cry. In our brief moment alone before joining the party, I stuffed the appetizers that were thoughtfully left for us into my face like I had never seen food before. I told my Maid of Honor to tell the DJ that I didn’t want to waste any more time, so forget the grand entrance announcement, just play our first dance—our guests will catch on that we have entered. I was too excited to eat. I danced, I danced all night. We missed dessert completely because we never left the dance floor. I don’t remember how we got back to the hotel, but I remember walking into the beautiful suite my Maid of Honor got us as a gift and the view of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge took my breath away. We were hungry and tired, so very tired. We were happy. And married.

Name one thing you regret…

I crafted some decor to add our own personal touches and planned to take care of mostly everything myself. I didn’t want to bother or burden anyone, even though I had a bridal party and family perfectly willing to help me out. This is what I would have done differently. I don’t know how I ever thought I would have time on my wedding day in the two hour window I had access to my venue (one hour of which would be used taking photos) to place my personal touches around the room, write the wedding program on the large chalkboard provided by the venue, and help put together some bouquets for the bridal party. By the time I got back from our photo shoot, the staff and my loved ones had taken care of everything for me. The chalkboard program never did get done, but that hardly mattered. I was getting married in twenty minutes and I probably shouldn’t have been handling chalk in my wedding attire anyway! I clearly should have come to that conclusion beforehand, and if I had just given my draft to the staff, they would have taken care of it for me. What I learned was that asking for help and doling out responsibility ahead of time wouldn’t have been a burden to any of them. They were all happy to help and pitch in any way they could to make my day better, and take some stress off of me. It was a feeling of gratitude, love and support I will never forget.

… And one thing you’re happy you did.

While planning for our wedding, I knew I wanted to have to worry about as little as possible. I wanted everything to be rather simple for ourselves as well as our guests. When I found a venue that was beautiful and interesting on its own and totally our style I was very excited. When I found out that the restaurant handled everything in-house, including the DJ, flowers for the decor, and all food and alcohol, I was sold. Their line was, “just get a dress and photographer and show up!” Of course it’s not that simple, but I really worried about as little as possible.

Oct 2014

Patricia + Michael

NYC Bookstore Wedding

There are so many things to say about this wedding, the first one being: this couple GOT MARRIED IN A BOOKSTORE! And usually, I wouldn’t add anything else because this personally already would make me wanna check the whole thing out. But the thing is, there is more. First, the bookstore they got married at isn’t just any bookstore, it’s a “non-profit bookstore that donates all their proceeds to fighting AIDS and homelessness” (New-Yorkers, you know where you’ll go next weekend). Second, this couple is so cool that getting married in a bookstore wasn’t enough; they had pizza for lunch after their first look, in other words, all “brided up” and “groomed up”! And finally—on a more personal achievement point of view—they found their photographers via this blog which means I have both the best readers ever and the best photographers, YAY!! Photography & Videography by Amanda & Nate aka the Howards, the couple behind The Shalom Imaginative, that just moved to Los Angeles, California.

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The wedding took place on May 23rd at 7:00 p.m at the Housing Works Bookstore in NYC. From the couple:

The locations that were captured in the photos all have a special meaning to us. Washington Square Park is a place we often visit in the summer to relax, people watch and read. East Village was the first neighborhood we lived in when we moved to New York. The stoop were we sat and had coffee is at our first apartment. Pho/Bun is a favorite dish of ours. Once when we were celebrating my (Patricia’s) birthday at bar in Greenwich with friends, Mike was so kind to leave the party and grab Joe’s Pizza for everyone. It hit the spot, the party continued to the late night and Joe’s has been one of our favorites every since. And of course the Brooklyn Bridge, not only is it iconic but it also symbolizes a transformation – to leave behind the familiar and start a new journey together.

Name one thing you regret…

Why didn’t we get married sooner! :D

… And one thing that makes you proud.

The days leading up to the wedding and right after were such a whirlwind. We are so happy Nate and Amanda (The Shalom Imaginative) were with us to capture all the moments of the weekend. From events like casually roaming the city and enjoying tea with the family to the first look and wedding ceremony, they were there documenting our story. Now that some time has passed, we often look back at the photos and film and we feel the love, energy and excitement of our wedding day all over again.

Not only were we able to spend time with our family and close friends during this special day but we were also able to support Housing Works Bookstore’s mission. They are a non-profit bookstore that donates all their proceeds to fighting AIDS and homelessness.

And to prolong the dream, you can have a look at the video of the day below, or at the photographers’ blog post here.

May 2014

Brianna + Nathan

DIY Backyard Wedding with a Framed Letter Ceremony Backdrop

Nathan and Brianna had a beautiful backyard wedding. Brianna took care of the decorations almost on her own, and tried to incorporate many personal references to their own story (as the frozen banana stand she built as a reminder of the TV show Arrested Development the couple used to watch together at the beginning of their story!). I personally think that those framed letters and messages make the perfect ceremony backdrop, and what to say about the fact that this wedding gathered lamas, ponys and chickens? Photography by Aubrey & Phillip for Yes, Dear. Studio, out of San Diego, USA.

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The wedding took place on June 22, 2013 in Olympia, WA, USA, at The Albee’s. From the bride:

One of the first times Nathan and I hung out just the two of us, I had crafted (and by this, I definitely mean spent at least half an hour writing and editing) a well-worded text inviting him to watch a movie with me. We ended up watching Arrested Development and talking until about three in the morning and many of the jokes from the show became things we said to each other throughout our friendship and then, the time we dated. We thought it would be fun to incorporate this into our wedding and originally, had only planned on serving chocolate covered bananas until one of the groomsmen, Austin, suggested we actually have a banana stand at the wedding. The month before the wedding, I spent a good ten hours (at least) planning and building what became the Dupper’s Original Frozen Banana Stand. Our friend Shirlee served as Mr. Manager and it was one of my favorite parts of our wedding.

I had never been one of those girls with their wedding planned out in their head and when it came time to actually think about my own, the only thing I had strong feelings about was wanting a vintage dress. I have always had an appreciation for vintage fashion and knew that when it came to my wedding dress, I wanted vintage, particularly 50’s or 60’s. After searching online for nearly two months and searching a random assortment of LA and Seattle thrift stores, I had kind of given up hope of finding something. I had read online about this shop called Shareen’s, which is girl’s only (because there are no fitting rooms-girls just change wherever there is room) and is a warehouse full of vintage dresses from every era. Faith, one of my bridesmaids, and I decided to check it out early one morning and after getting lost in the middle of Chinatown twice, we found this hole in the wall store filled to the brim with vintage dresses galore. The sales girl had me try on at 20 or so dresses, all from different time periods, but nothing was working. As the disappointment set in, she ran to the back to find one more and minutes later came out with the perfect-fitting, Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, 50’s gown that ended up coming home with me. I left with dress in hand and glad that this adventure was finally over.

Regarding the wedding, one thing you regret…

I really liked the bridesmaids dresses, but I think if I could change anything, I would have them pick their own. Other than that, I think I’m pretty happy about how things turned out.

Oh! Not eating more of the Wedding pie we had. I had a slice and it was delicious and I wish I could have had more. Does that count?

… And one thing you’re really happy about/ proud of.

The look and feel of our wedding turned out to fit our personalities, which was what we were going for. We wanted something simple and fun because we felt like our wedding should be a relaxed time to celebrate the commitment we made with the people we care about. A lot of thought and care went into the decorations, music, food and well, everything else. I think it all came together and that we had exactly the day we wanted. If I had to say one thing I’m proud of, it would probably be decorations. I spent so much time, especially with the hand-lettered signs and banana stand, and was glad to see everything fit together nicely once it was all done.