Well… it’s hard to believe by my one year anniversary is coming up this Sunday. We were married last December 8, 2012 here in Brooklyn. Given that it’s been almost a year I figured it was time to share a few pictures from our wedding! Going through the whole wedding process really helped me to better understand where my bridal clients are coming from. It also made me realize just how fast the entire night goes by. I mean, everyone tells you this but until you experience it yourself, you secretly don’t believe it.
We were married at Rebar in the Brooklyn neighborhood of DUMBO. A few months back I shared our wedding invites that really illustrate the neighborhood and the overall theme we were going for. We really just wanted to have one big, blowout party. I kept saying the phrase “One Night Only” because I really loved the idea of saving it all up for this one night. My goal wasn’t to have a December wedding but when we saw Rebar, we fell in love and knew that was the place. In fact, it was the only venue we saw! In the end, I love that we had our wedding in December. It feels like our own special time.
Since our wedding started at 7:00pm, we met before for photos. December isn’t really known for it’s copious sunshine and long days so it was really a race against the clock to get some great outdoor shots. We got there just in time to catch the last bits of light. Anyone who knows me, knows that the first love of my life is pizza. I could literally eat pizza all day long. After our photo session down by the water, we took a detour into the local pizza shop to get some slices. Yes, I ate a slice of greasy Brooklyn pizza in my wedding dress, sue me.
Once we got to the venue, we met up with our friends and family and celebrated with some champagne. This is when it really started to feel real. The lovely Ara of Rock Paper Scissors helped style our wedding so it was all smooth sailing from that point!
Paul and I are big music people. We met at a concert in the most romantic way- in line for the porta potty. I walked down the aisle to Al Green’s version of “I want to hold your hand”. If you don’t know it, listen to it now and thank me later. It is fantastic! Everyone started clapping when we walked out and I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing, it is one of my favorite memories of that night. I walked down the aisle with both my Mom and Dad because, hell, they both raised me! The wildly talented Elizabeth London did all our flowers. That girl is an artist! I was blown away with all the details she worked in.
Our first dance was to Otis Redding’s “That’s how strong my love is”. Of course, I cried like an infant. I also think we said all kinds of very sweet things to one another but I honestly don’t remember a single thing. Romantic, I know.
Now, onto the details! I created an assortment of tent cards with song quotes from different Motown songs we love and had them scattered throughout the venue.
I have an odd obsession with buttons and decided to make some fun ones for everyone to jazz up their attire with. I had ones for the BRIDE’s side, the GROOM’s side and then Switzerland if you wanted to play neutral. Everyone ended up looking like they worked at a fancy TGI Fridays and I have to say, I loved it.
Our wedding was very informal and we didn’t have programs. Instead, I created a Welcome Poster to give everyone a run-down of the evening.
Like any proper Brooklyn wedding, we had a photo booth. We used “We Love Photobooths” and they killed it. Everyone had a blast and they give you this great little book afterwards with all the pictures.
The favor. This is always a hot topic with couples getting married. Most people chalk it up to a waste of time and money. But me? I love a fun favor! Along with all my other quirky habits, I collect mugs. I buy one every time I go on vacation to help remember the trip. I thought it would be fun to have custom mugs for our favor so when people used it, they would remember our wedding. A bit of advice, 140 mugs turns out to be about 12 HUGE boxes so if storage is tight- this is NOT the way to go for you.
I had this moment about a month before the wedding where I realized- we NEEDED custom tattoos. It became the only thing I could think about. I used the design from our envelope liner and created some awesome rub on tattoos. One of my favorite stories from that night was my sister applying a tattoo on my Uncle with champagne instead of water, very classy. I have to admit, the tattoos were the sleeper success of the night! Everyone wanted one. People went nuts for them and more than a dozen people were walking around with face tattoos. It was amazing.
Every cocktail needs a little love so we made fun swizzle sticks and paired them up with some classic paper straws. We also had custom cocktail napkins made {not photographed} which really helped add some personality to the bar.
When you have a wedding, people are coming to the event from all walks of your lives. Given that fact, we decided to create a fun poster that told our story and helped to fill in some of the blanks anyone might have had.
Everyone calls Paul “PVL” so we made fun pins with our initials on them for more flair. Yes, I did just refer to the buttons as flair.
It was truly a fantastic night filled with great music, lots of laughs and so many memories. I actually even managed to break my foot from dancing so much {true story!} No matter what the critics say, a wedding is one of the best experiences you can have as a couple. It brings you closer together and the best part is that it’s just the beginning of everything.
