Alaska residents Megan and Daniel took their engagement session to the next level with a greenhouse shoot at Mann Leiser Memorial Greenhouse! We can’t get enough of this engagement’s botanical vibes, cool fashion, and lively, genuine moments. This fun-loving couple played a game of Uno on their first date, so they brought Uno cards to their engagement session for an impromptu game! The photographer of That Feeling captured every sweet moment of this session, including Megan’s playful ukulele serenade to Daniel.
Mae and Bryna’s apple orchard wedding was based on a dream Mae once had, so it’s no wonder their wedding’s autumnal vibes feel so inspired! The couple’s wedding fell on the first day of the apple-picking season at Clark’s Cove Farm and Inn, and we love how they transformed the space into the rustic wedding venue of their dreams with DIY wooden signs, florals in warm tones, and tons of festive gourds. Alisha Siegel Photography captured the newlyweds’ day beautifully, including every inch of their sophisticated autumn reception décor!
We wanted to create a big party where everyone we cared about could feel welcome and warm without focusing too much on the theatrics and ceremony of it all. We knew that a lot of people would be traveling from far, far away– so it was important that everyone could roll in and feel comfortable eating, drinking, playing and feeling like they were still at home.
Mae‘s suit was made by Bindle & Keep of Brooklyn, NY and specifically suited by Bryna‘s sister, Sheah. B&K work hard to make incredible suits for female bodies with male cuts– they have luscious fabrics, a fantastic team, and make sure that you feel good about what you’re wearing.
Trying not to cry during the first look and sauntering off into the woods is definitely at the top of both of our lists of most memorable moments.
Mae had a dream that we got married in an apple orchard in Maine. She’d picked apples there but didn’t know it was actually a wedding venue. We got married underneath a bunch of cute apple trees the day that the picking season started. The skies literally parted as our processional began. So.. fate?
We heard stories about the exceptionally pizazz-filled performance of our flower girl (Mae‘s cousin Alma), who was tossing flower petals like it was the last day on earth.
Our wedding planning advice: Re: sanity — Spend time with your partner before the wedding doing stuff NOT ABOUT THE WEDDING. Remember that it is your day, and that you should make it what YOU BOTH want, not what you think people want or expect. Re: wedding planning — Plan to not stick to whatever budget you created. Actually become comfortable with the fact that it might rain. Don’t choose any vendors who you couldn’t spend an hour over coffee (or martinis) with, because they are the people who make you feel comfortable when a thousand variables are in play that you don’t actually control. Document the day carefully, and find somebody who you trust to record it in the spirit you’ve imbued the event with. Hire Alisha Siegel Photography. Tell everyone who helps you, paid or not, that you appreciate them and love them. Oh, and breathe!
I hate to admit it but Pinterest was a HUGE asset for DIY inspiration. I had boards in abundance! My favorite project was our signs. Mae‘s Uncle Steven had collected old palates, boards, and sticks from his property and other parts of town. We sanded them, cut them, oiled them up and made cutesy rustic signs out of them. They lined the aisle down the orchard “This way!” “Keep Going!” “Almost there!” “You made it!” and the classic “Don’t pick a side pick a seat we’re all family here.” I spent a day or two with my best friend Rachel in Mae‘s mom’s garage with paint markers and shellack.
Our photographer Alisha was truly, madly, deeply a dream. She was the person kicking us into gear when time started to speed up and everything really started happening, but she tracked things that were outside her purview too – when to have speeches, when to bring the cake out, when to get the sparklers. I’m honestly not sure if she has a twin sis who was covertly calling the shots and keeping track of things while she shot. She was so positive, lovely, and totally present throughout.
Kristin and Courtney’s wedding at The McKittrick Hotel was everything we love about stylish New York weddings and so much more. The couple had one goal in mind: “Above all, we wanted our wedding to feel like a love letter to New York City and to the incredible humans in our lives.” They chose one of their favorite places in the city, which offered a cozy rooftop ceremony and an intimate dinner-party style reception. The bride, who is an art therapist and self-proclaimed calligraphy enthusiast, and her groom created nearly every detail – from the hand-painted, personalized invitations to the signs and programs to the memory wall that included a photo of every guest. It was quite an artistic feat, and we’re so grateful Alyssa McElheny Photography was there to capture every special detail!
As a southern boy and a west coast girl who met abroad and moved to the Big Apple on a leap of faith, we hold our city close to our hearts not only for its vibrant culture, but as the place we fell in love and began our lives together. As so many of our closest friends and family had yet to visit NYC, we knew that we wanted to give them a glimpse into “our New York” by sharing with them the favorite local hangs and secrets spots that make this concrete jungle so very special to us.
This thought process guided our entire wedding weekend, from the rehearsal dinner at Freemans Restaurant, an old-world tavern hidden at the end of a graffiti-covered alley, to our “Meet and Greet” at the Brooklyn Art Library, home of the traveling Sketchbook Project (a unique crowd-funded sketchbook museum to which I had contributed shortly after meeting Courtney many years ago). There, out-of-town guests received a welcome bag full of NYC staples, including black & white cookies, mini-pretzels, subway-themed tokens, and guides to the city.
The ceremony turned out to be the most memorable part of the day! After spending most of our planning focused on making the experience special for our guests, I hadn’t expected that moment to be quite so meaningful. But standing on that rooftop surrounded by our favorite people, listening to our officiant surprise us with words of love and encouragement from family and friends, hearing Court’s beautiful (and hilarious) vows, sharing a champagne toast before walking back down the aisle, and watching the clouds part as the sun finally hit our faces for the first time that day… turns out, it was pretty darn magical.
While we wanted as many of our loved ones present, it was also important that the day maintain the intimate feel of a smaller wedding. Therefore, as an art therapist and calligraphy aficionado, I immediately gravitated towards DIY projects that would allow our guests to feel more connected to us and to the day. PHEW – This was truly a labor of love. Along with hand-making the signs, ceremony programs, menus and table numbers, we hand-painted EACH and every wedding invitation, to gift all of our loved ones with a little piece of art; we also hand-dyed and lettered the escort cards with brass stamped table numbers and iron skeleton keys as a tie-in to the “hotel” theme.
Our desire to connect our favorite people to our favorite places made the wedding venue an obvious choice. Built in the spirit of an abandoned 1930s hotel, the McKittrick is home to multiple restaurants, bars, and, most famously, to the interactive play Sleep No More. Best described as Macbeth-meets-Hitchcock, this immersive theater was our first truly unique New York experience. Since, we have returned time and again for cocktails at Gallow Green, their lush rooftop, dinner at the Heath, their prohibition-era restaurant, and dancing with the Heathens, their mind-blowing house band. When we discovered that they had begun offering wedding packages, we were ALL in (literally).
The décor was largely dictated by the vintage aesthetic of the venue with some bohemian touches woven through, like the Mission Fiber Art macramé ceremony backdrop created by a close friend. To offset the cost of the space, we organized much of the decorations ourselves by collecting amber bottles, brass candlesticks, cigar boxes, antique glass cases, and vintage postcards at flea markets and yard sales. Luckily, The McKittrick Hotel is hardly a blank canvas, and is abound with eclectic odds and ends of its own!
We included “anti-small talk” question cards written by one of our favorite authors, Chuck Klosterman, in the cigar boxes at each of the tables as quirky conversation starters. These were the same question cards that Court brought to our first date!
We created a “Memory Wall,” which included a Polaroid picture of a moment shared with each of our guests, along with a description of that memory. We asked that our friends and family “trade in a new memory for the old one” and provided Polaroid cameras and props at our DIY photo booth station. Although scouring through social media for photos took some time, it allowed us to truly reflect on the significance of their presence in our lives.
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