Oooh I am so excited about Nathan & Marianna’s diy-fabulous New York wedding (although this is doing nothing to quench my desire to sign 2 weeks off and jet off to NYC!)
The couple got married at St. Luke’s Church and then had their reception at Sea Cliff Yacht Club. “Both are in the small one square mile town (22 miles from NYC) where I grew up in Long Island, NY” Marianna told me. The couple only splurged on the things that really mattered to them – one of them being the band that played their reception “This was probably the best splurge (and only) of the wedding. I highly recommend getting a live band, we had a great fun dancing ALL night long” the bride explained. “I thought we were just going to go the ipod shuffle route, but was convinced that the band makes the party and to have one. It was great advice, and is probably (most definitely) true.”
Marianna also put huge effort info her outfit to make it perfect for her – second best was not an option. She found her perfect dress, knew it was the one and went for it! Everything she wore had meaning and thought behind it.
“I am not sure who made my dress, I never even looked at the tag. I had to buy a dress off the rack since I had a minor dress problem in June. Strut bridal is a plus sized bridal store, it was great and the owner is fabulous. If you live in Arizona (Phoenix) I highly recommend it. I had to have the whole thing completely tailored to fit since it was way too big. But I loved the dress upon first glance! I had all the train cut off, made it ankle length and added some serious sweet heart necklace. It was pretty much like making a custom dress. But really Strut bridal comes highly recommended from me, I felt comfortable Ann (the owner) was extremely helpful. Words of advice even if a wedding isn’t your cup of tea don’t settle on a dress early in the game, it will come back to haunt you-even if you are hard to fit and dreading the dress process. Also go with who ever you feel comfortable with, even it is the groom!”
She teamed the dress with two pairs of shoes -a pair of red patent leather Miu Miu sling back bow pumps, which she got on sale and a pair of jelly flip flops for when the pain of the beautiful shoes got too much! “My aunt ended up giving me the jelly flip flops as a shower present, they were brilliant since I gave up on the heels during the ceremony. Yep I walked barefoot out of the church!”
Finally, Marianna wore a necklace that was her something borrowed. “It was a vintage piece-Edwardian meets Art deco that had been in his family since probably the 1920s. It was something I had been drooling over for a long time, so the fact that his family let me borrow it was just amazing” she concluded.
The diy elements were really important to the couple to not only make something really unique but to save money. They told me all about it.
“So we had 165 people, and kept it all on a tight budget. With the help from some friends and family, we folded 1,000 red paper cranes and strung them throughout the reception venue. We made 165 mustaches on a stick from stiff felt, and glued them each to a stick. I designed and printed the invitation suite, the programs, the menus and seating cards. I made the table numbers by splatter painting vellum and stenciling on the numbers and painting a neutral wood frame red. The napkin rings were made from the same splatter painted vellum which was also the belly bands to the invitations. The table squares–blue and white gingham with red ribbon edges a family member sewed together, made from plain old fabric and ribbon. Planning and working from Arizona for a wedding in New York was slightly difficult and extremely overwhelming, and I don’t recommend it during your first year of graduate school. But it can be done, especially if you have a great group of friends and family to help. Don’t do it on your own.”
“I wanted to have a backyard picnic wedding, but my mom is legally blind and feared having the event in her backyard. So I tried to find a venue that would feel as close to home and bbq/picnic as a I could. I had found clippings form magazines from the 60s and 70s to help with the decor of a picnic, which is where the idea of the gingham table cloths came from. Red is my favorite color so I wanted to be surrounded by that, and thus the paper cranes and the red balls fit perfectly with my need for red lips and nails. The yacht club had navy everywhere, so I didn’t fight the color but rather worked it all together. Since I have a graphic design/fine arts training, I knew I wanted to do a lot of things myself, so I could add my own touch to the wedding, even if it quickly did turn into a larger than expected event. I would like to start designing more wedding related ephemera, hopefully soon I will start doing invitations etc! I loved branding the wedding, it was a great way to synthesize every little piece into one major thing.”
“Research and slight vendor, fashion and accessory stalking will get you deals. If you know what you want the internet can be your greatest resource in finding everything you are looking for. Also spring for a great musical source! The most expensive thing we did was to get a live band, BUT IT WAS EXTREMELY WORTH IT!”
Huge thanks to Nathan & Marianna for sharing their awesome day with us!
