Marie and Matt are New Yorkers that wanted a space a little bit outside of NYC to get married! They chose The Highlands Country Club in Garrison, New York because it felt right, wasn’t overly stuffy and had a great back up plan in case of rain (which we ended up utilizing!). They also wanted a venue that was just outside of NYC so their friends from all over the Tri-State and New England could easily make it. It is a gorgeous space with wonderful staff! The day started out a little cloudy with some unexpected raindrops, but it was no problem at all! Marie and Matt were really amazing and really enjoyed their day to the fullest! Check out some highlights from their day:
From the Bride:
LITTLE BLURB: We had the greatest wedding day! Throughout the entire planning process, we wanted to our day to feel personal and special to us, of course - so we decided specifically to include our family and friends in whatever way we could. That meant that everything from our ceremony... which we scripted to include our entire wedding party, a moment reflective of Marie's Korean heritage and mom, as well as an opportunity for our guests to participate too... to our accessory choices that were family pieces or past gifts to one another... to our vendors who were using or inclusive of friends, family and/or their recommendations as much as possible... to our games which were all homemade by the groom and his mom... We wanted the entire weekend to feel like a big bear hug to everyone that came out to celebrate us - and we knew that those special touches would make the day even more memorable and precious to the two of us.
VENUE DEETS: The venue was one of the hardest things to decide. We knew we wanted to have the ceremony and/or cocktails outside, with outdoor games, etc - an elegant, but non-stuffy vibe, and somewhere that our family and friends who were primarily in the Tri-State and New England area could get to. We probably visited upwards of a dozen places all over the northeast and found so many gorgeous options - some were cost-prohibitive, some just didn't feel like "us," and some were inconveniently located. But one thing that we found over and over again was that we'd fall in love with a venue and a setting, and then we'd ask about the rain plan, and there wasn't much of one. We knew that if we didn't like the rain plan as much as we liked the sunny 75-degree plan, then we'd be stress cases watching the weather leading into the big day, so we made the rain plan a key decision-maker. When we found Highlands Country Club, we fell in love with their Solarium space - it was the rain plan location for the ceremony - but also usable for cocktail tables/lounge seating if the weather was perfect too. That, coupled with a beautiful ballroom, convenient location off the Metro North, and a lovely team, we knew we found our spot. And we're very glad we kept that rain plan top of mind, because sure enough, it rained on our wedding day!
VENDOR DEETS: When it came down to our vendors, we knew we wanted to feature/include our friends and family as much as possible - both for personal and financial reasons. Matthew's aunt also owns a stationery shop, so we worked with her on all of the stationery! A friend of mine has her own flower design company, Florescent (check her out, she's incredible!), so we wanted to feature her work and support her however we could so she did the reception flowers on both the tables and mantelpieces -- but also, the mom of one of my best friends used to work in flowers and has an incredible eye so wanted to involve her as well so she did all of the bouquets/boutonnieres! Between the two of them, all of our flowers were gorgeous but also felt so personal and special to us! Even our videographers were recommended by friends!
DIY DEETS: All of the games were built by hand by Matthew and his mom, Shelly. Shelly is an insanely talented professional painter, and both the groom and his mom are big DIYers, very handy, and happened to love games and competition - so it only made sense that they'd make them by hand! We had cornhole, bartop plinko, jenga, and a ring toss game. Shelly also handpainted them to have consistent color schemes to our wedding and with a fun "M & M" monogram throughout! They were such a hit and so much fun. Matthew also handpainted the gold "monogram" on our ring box and our respective vows notebooks - we have them all as keepsakes now!
DRESS/ACCESSORY DEETS: Picking the dress was a fun process! I kept finding dresses that were very pretty, but most of the time it felt like I was just playing dress-up - when I finally found the dress, it actually felt like me! I didn't do too many accessories, I'm not a big accessory person in general, but I knew I needed a few essentials (i.e. earrings, shoes, maybe a bracelet) - and of course, I knew that I'd wear two rings that I wear daily: my engagement ring which features the diamond from the engagement ring that belonged to Matthew's grandmother (who I was lucky enough to know before she passed); as well as a gold ring that was a gift from/used to belong to my own grandmother in Korea. I ended up finding shoes and earrings that I thought were pretty and fun (and very me) rather last-minute, and as fate would have it, Matthew gave me a bracelet that once belonged to the same grandmother as my wedding gift!
Attire & Accessories
Her Dress: Wyatt Gown by Lovers Society
Her Accessories: Virginia Drop Earrings, BHLDN; Bride's Maternal Grandmother's ring; Groom's Maternal Grandmother's Charm Bracelet (Groom's wedding gift to Bride) -- (and Bride's engagement ring - duh - which includes the diamond from the Groom's Maternal Grandmother's engagement ring)
Her Shoes: Aldo Silver Metallic Filettino Pumps
His Suit: Havana Double-breasted Navy Suit by Suit Supply
His Accessories: Bowtie, White shirt from Tie Bar; Buffalo Nickel Coin Cufflinks from Brooks Brothers (Marie's college grad gift to him)
His Shoes: Johnston & Murphy Brown Capstone
Bridesmaids: Azazie, Dusty Blue - various designs, each 'maid picked their own
Groomsmen: Napoli Navy Suits by Suit Supply
Vendors:
Photography: Cynthia Chung Weddings
Venue: The Highlands Country Club, Garrison, NY (both ceremony and reception)
Band: Silver Arrow Band
Stationery: Gilbert's Written Word (Groom's Aunt)
Flowers:
-- Reception Tables & Fireplace Mantel Garlands: Florescent (friend of bride)
-- Wedding Party Flowers (all bouquets/boutonnieres) + Cocktail Table Arrangements: Patti S - Mother of one of the Bridesmaids
Videography: Mint Wedding Cinematography
Hair & Make-Up: Salon 52 Poughkeepsie
Games: Homemade
