Lavender Thoughts: Manhattan Wedding Under $1000 Part Deux

Saturday, June 3rd, 2010

You have probably seen the sneak preview of this magical wedding and read the background of the couples relationship in the story Finding Love in Africa. It is now time for me to unveil the images from the day! These images have not been retouched so they aren’t yet in their true state of glory nonetheless you can still feel the love pouring out of each one.

The entire prep for this wedding was done in a few weeks upon the couples return from Africa. They had actually been stateside since May but it had taken a while to pick a convenient date and location that would accommodate the type of wedding they wanted to have. The couple had had a traditional African ceremony in Tanzania for the groom’s family and the bride’s parents. More photo’s of that wedding at a later date.

They choose to have an intimate wedding in the US since they had invited the entire village to their previous ceremony. I had persuaded the bride to let me be responsible for the look, flow, wardrobe and theme of the day. Things clicked when I spotted a gorgeous ivory Ralph Lauren dress; unfortunately it was four sizes too big for the petite bride. I went back a few weeks later, saw the same dress and decided to see how much it was as it was on a sale rack. The dress was $45 and change. I decided to buy it even though the bride had ordered a few dresses from J Crew. I figured if it didn’t work I would return it. When she put it on she knew it was the one. As in most cases we ended up spending more on alterations than the actual dress. It was altered to perfection by Remziye Perkin at Pinpoint Bridal on the Upper East Side.

Now that the dress was checked off our list it was time for shoes and accessories, which the bride borrowed from my closet. The groom’s outfit was put together by Kyle DeFord a stylist for Banana Republic. Outfits were done and we moved onto the food, which my husband and I prepared for the couple. We also opened up our one bedroom apartment and turned it into an intimate space that had a dining area for a formal sit down dinner and a lounge area for dancing and dessert. Our other brother had put together a playlist for the evening that incorporated the couple’s favorite tunes. The remaining wedding vendors were primarily in-kind. You can find the in-kind vendors that made the day such a success below.

The wedding was held on a holiday weekend and thus the Chelsea flower shops weren’t going to be open and so I had to get to the district bright and early the day before to make my purchase. I wish I had taken a picture of what our apartment looked like with the boxes and buckets of flowers scattered all over, but you can imagine. Unfortunately, the base of my tablescape was supposed to be pink and white hydrangea however all but four bunches had wilted. I guess it was a risk knowing how temperamental hydrangea can be. I think the flowers still looked ok, not as fruitful as I had imagined but they were quite nice and of course there was lavender incorporated in the tablescape, bouquet and boutonniere. I tried making lavender ice cubes to compliment the couple’s signature drink but they didn’t work out too well. C'est la vie.

Going from a complete disaster zone only 30min before the ceremony to the final product was such a tremendous experience. I think I enjoyed prepping this wedding more than my own because I could see first hand what was happening and how far we had come. I would like to thank my amazing husband for all of his hard work and dedication in the kitchen and for putting up with my loads of flowers and complete upheaval of the apartment. I knew that it would be a gift that they would remember for the rest of their lives. So thank you for allowing me to do so. And everyone thanks you for the amazing lamb stew!

I also wanted to thank all of the in-kind participants. First of all a huge thank you to Natasha Jahangir Photography who that captured the day and the couple’s emotions so gracefully. I want to thank Shawn the fiercest makeup artist there is and little did I know he was a force to reckon with in the kitchen. If it wasn’t for him helping with last min prep Aleks and I would have never been able to feed anyone. I also want to thank Kyle DeFord for taking Marissa and William under his fabulously stylish wing to ensure that William looked as amazing as he felt on the big day. Thanks as well to Nerissa Holder Hall from Clever Hive for passing along the recipe for the amazing signature drink and assisting these two lovebirds in the search for their first apartment as man and wife in Brooklyn, NY. The last thank you goes to Jordan Tanksley a true friend, former roommate, travel partner and confidant. It was only fitting that she present them to the world as husband and wife. And a special thanks to the friends and family who joined to make this an incredibly memorable day. ENJOY!