New Jersey Wedding with Angel and Gary

On their first date, Gary was over an hour late!  But that didn't stop these two from becoming inseparable- thank goodness!  I had met these two while planning with Gary his proposal to Angel months before.  (You can see some of those pictures here)  It was so awesome working with this couple, Angel was really chill and fun to be around. The love between these two was palpable throughout the entire day. It was really, really sweet to see how much these two cared for each other- from their silly looks they gave each other to the obvious comfort of holding each other- it made it easy to capture some fun moments.  Also really great that the weather ended up being perfect for out outdoor photos and an emotional outdoor ceremony. I felt so blessed to have witnessed this marriage :) . Gary lives in New York City but Angel is from New Jersey- so they had their wedding in New Jersey starting at Angel’s childhood home. It was a gorgeous day, and we did all their photos at the Rutgers Gardens- which was beautiful!! Here are some of my favorite shots of the day:

Wedding at the Metropolitan Building in Long Island City, New York City

Lin & Joey had their wedding at the Metropolitan Building in Long Island City. I absolutely LOVE this space and one of my favorite wedding venues in New York City! They film a lot of movies, fashion shoots, editorials and commercials in here! They have a ton of odd props and items all over. Not only did they have really cool props, the building itself had so much character to it. Lots of beautiful walls, odd windows that lead to nowhere, tons of mirrors, frames, chairs and antiques!! - it was really a photographer’s dream! I also loved that Lin and Joey allowed me to really enjoy the space and have a feast getting some really amazing shots everywhere I could! Not only did the space itself have a ton to offer, but Lin herself put in a LOT of DIY on decorations, wedding favors and center pieces! It was an amazing day, full of tears, laughter and crazy friends gettin DOWN. But definitely a DAY WELL SPENT!

Vendors:

Photographer: Cynthia Chung Weddings
Venue: The Metropolitan Building
Catering: Nova Catering
Videography: WeCinemas
DJ, MC & Photo Booth: Red Wedding
Hair and Makeup: Titiana Li Makeup and Hair Artistry
Dress: Essence of Australia
Flowers (Centerpieces and Bouquets): Melissa's Creations
Random Flower Hoops: Handmade by the bride with blood, sweats, and lots of tears
Shoes: Sam Edelman
His Suit: Suit Supply
His Shoes: somewhere from his closet, Probably J Crew
Guy's Suits: Groomsmen's Suits
Girl's Dresses: Everywhere! Some are borrowed from other people, some from Forever 21, some from random sites.

A Sweet Wedding at The Highlands Country Club in Garrison, New York

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

A Greenwich Connecticut Multi Cultural Wedding with Nitya & Terrence

How amazing was this wedding?! It was 2 days full of celebration with friends and family. A TON of dancing and even a talent show performed by the family to strut their stuff for the bride and groom! And yes, a surprise Bhangra-team appearance to tip off the reception- and YES the bride's father RAPS,.. oh and uh, not to mention, the bride and groom gets a SIGNED blessing from the Pope himself. I think this wedding was jam-packed with a ton of good stuff. I had a ton of fun, and it seemed like everyone did as well. Nitya and Terrence are both from New York City but did not have a New York City Wedding since they wanted to have it where they are both from.

Check out some of my highlights for both days:

Day 1:

Day 2:

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