Our pro-gay photographer, Sarah Tew, sent over this wedding. I love the New York City Map with the word “Love” printed over it. Genius.
Without a doubt our favorite moment was beginning our walk down the aisle. We entered the ceremony space (the downstairs shipping museum) and expected to have a quiet, leisurely walk down the aisle to some benign guitar music in the background but as soon as we stepped in, our crowd completely erupted. Within a second all 100 guests were on their feet cheering, screaming, whistling, whooping, and hugging us. Our processional wound up being the sound of our friends’ and families’ sheer happiness. It was a solid wall of sound for two minutes and it was incredible. I don’t know who was more overwhelmed by the moment – them or us.
It turned out exactly the way we envisioned, in the budget we were comfortable with, without sacrificing anything. We were able to accommodate more guests in the not-large space because we opted for passed hors d’oeuvres, cocktail-party style, so we got great food and more people for less money. We were going for a swanky, stylish, funky wedding that didn’t trap people at tables but kept them mingling, dancing, partying, and raving about the food and drink. Speaking of drinks, we stocked the bar ourselves with a variety of top-shelf booze that was an instant hit. It was great seeing people seriously enjoy their cocktails. We were throwing this for our friends and families – we already had our own wedding and wanted to share the fun with our loved ones. We also had a terrific DJ, money very well spent, and couldn’t have topped the vibe she created if we had done our own playlists. It didn’t even matter that we chickened out of our first dance after blowing the lessons, because people had started dancing hours earlier than we expected. And having such a talented photographer who captured all the love and zaniness is priceless – the photos were unbelievable, as you can probably tell. Like many others, we opted for cupcakes over a big white cake, and they paired perfectly with passed food theme and allowed for a ton of variety, but we wanted to incorporate a family cake cutting tradition. We wound up buying a little cake just to cut with Maura’s grandfather’s Navy sword, but dessert was really about the cupcakes. The whole evening was a fun mix of tradition and our own style – we never felt like we HAD to do something, and just wanted our personalities to come through everything we did and make sure our guests had a total blast.
We were going for a nautical theme because we were legally married on Nantucket the year before we threw the celebration part. We were there for Maura’s cousin’s wedding, actually, so we thought we’d pick up a marriage license while in an equality state just to have around for possibly shooting up to Boston or Northampton sometime and doing a quick city hall wedding. We’d been together for 8 years at that point and wanted to be married for the paperwork but weren’t necessarily thinking about wedding planning. The ladies at the courthouse said that if we got a license in Nantucket we’d have to get married there, so we just looked at each other, laughed, and said that we’d go for it. We paid extra for a waiting period waiver and called the justice of the peace they recommended. The JP, Bette Spriggs, was slightly amused that we urgently needed her to marry us and told us to come to her place the next morning.
We grabbed Maura’s sister Beth early the next morning, snuck out of the hotel that was crawling with family there for the cousin’s wedding, and Bette married us on her front porch (photo attached). We didn’t expect anything and wound up being blown away by the the vows that Bette had put together – creative, whimsical, poetic, just really beautiful, with not a trace of the typical ‘to have and to hold’ spiel. We asked her for a copy but she guards them closely so we were kind of disappointed that we’d never hear them again. Then when we eventually decided that we were going to throw a celebration for everyone (we didn’t spread the word that we had gotten hitched until the next month or so to avoid any awkward wedding preemption), we knew that the only way we would have a ceremony is if Bette would come down from Nantucket and do it all over again. She agreed to renew our vows and that was our ceremony! We added the glass stomping but everything else was Bette’s creation. We’ll forever think of her as our fairy godmother.
We wanted to integrate a city vibe with a nautical vibe, so the Seamen’s Church Institute was the perfect space. We didn’t want to deal with decorating, flowering, or DIY’ing anything, yet we also didn’t have a huge budget. So we made the view and space its own design element. We pulled in little nautical touches to complement the obvious shipping theme, like the invitations, but mostly just let the view and the space speak for itself and everything else fell into place around it.
Advice: We’d probably have hair and makeup people come to us. We wanted to save money and aren’t really into frilly primping anyway, so we figured we’d just go to our regular stylist and then go the Mac store for simple makeovers. It was OK, just a lot of running around in the heat that we could have done without. And then we’d have had getting-ready photos. Also we would have been better prepared with speeches/toasts.
Our second favorite moment was probably when, at the end of the night, the same horde of screaming guests loudly demanded not one but two encores when the DJ made moves to close up for the night. Our friends are awesome. And our also-second favorite moment had to have been when Maura’s BFF Kelly and sister Beth surprised us during the toasts with the news that they had been scheming for months with all of our guests to put together a honeymoon in Vegas for us!! We had been planning to go to Vegas anyway but they put together this really sweet book filled with pictures of the details they had apparently been pumping us for without our realizing and presented us with a paypal account to take care of it all. Did we already say that our friends are awesome?
Catering: Real Food Yen’s food is wonderful – fresh and creative, and she really got what we were looking for – swanky cocktail food that people would remember. We happen to have the menu she put together so here you go if it’s at all helpful:
MENU:
Passed Hors D’oeuvres:
Coconut Crusted Shrimp with Mango Chili Sauce
Flank Steak Rolls with Asparagus
Lump Crab Salad, Basil and Rice Noodle Summer Rolls (some tofu rolls)
Peking Duck Mini Sandwiches, Scallion & Hoisin in Sesame Rice Buns
Summer Sweet Corn Soup with Cilantro Cream (serve in tall glass shooters)
Polenta Triangle with Wild Mushrooms & Silky Goat Cheese
Tuna Tartare on Cucumber Rounds with Marinated Ginger
Cheeseburger and Veggie Burger Sliders with the work
Fresh Figs, Manchego & Procustico Crostinies (some without Procustico)
Seared Sea Scallop, Edamame Puree, Potato Chips
Lemongrass Chicken Satays with Peanut Sauce
Petite Four Desserts (to be served with cupcakes provided by client):
Espresso Chocolate Tarts
Wedding Cookies, Ginger Macaroons
Ice Espresso Shots
Venue: Seamen’s Church Institute Breathtaking venue. We definitely wanted an outdoor space, and the dramatic views and indoor/outdoor scenes really made the night. It might be small for a sit-down dinner but it was perfect for our cocktail party.
DJ: Popshop! Our DJ, Cat, was so sweet and knew exactly how to deliver a raging dance party. People didn’t stop dancing all night.
Invites & favors: Exquisite Invitation
Chonte helped us put together some nautical paper goods, including the invitation sets, some table-top signs, and souvenir matchbooks. She was quick, creative, and the 3-dimensional rope invites were just perfect.
Wine: Moore Brothers
Liquor: Union Square Wines
Beer: Tons of assorted Brooklyns, which Yen ordered for us
Flowers: University Floral Designs
Cake: Baked
Cupcakes: Crumbs
Photographer: Sarah Tew
She is SO GOOD. We clicked the instant we met her and knew she was the one for us. She’s warm and easy-going, put us at ease and let us be our goofy selves, but then steered us gently into poses or to different backgrounds. She was genuinely excited about every single shot, and seemed to be having as much fun as we were. And there’s not a single bad or uninteresting shot in the whole set.
So beautiful! Congratulations!
i freaking love you guys so much. hands-down the most beautiful, most ridiculously fun wedding ever.
xo
The description of your guests’ reactions during the processional brought tears to my eyes. Wishing you lots of happiness.
Awesome site, love the photos. I really like the shot of the sword cutting the cake.
Positively exquisite! And what charming stories to go with the beautiful photos.
What a beautiful story! This is super helpful as my partner and I plan our own wedding.