* Meredith (public school librarian, future PhD student in forensic clinical psychology) & Dylan (psychiatrist) * Photographer: Hart & Sol Photo * Soundtrack for reading: Scissor Sisters, Might Tell You Tonight *
The Info—Ceremony Venue: Church of the Holy Trinity / Reception Restaurant: Orsay / Dress: Jenny Yoo—they do a line of bridesmaid’s dresses (short, with pockets!) repurposed just for brides in ivory and white / Headpiece: Brenda Waites Bolling Millinery Boutique (cost more than our entire civil ceremony. But so worth having that ostrich on my head, for serious) / Suit: I dunno and neither does he! / Beauty: Lisa Fiorentino of the Grooming Room (Raves!) Flowers: Ariston Florists / Cupcakes: Two Little Red Hens Bakery / Photography: Hart & Sol Photo (APW Sponsor)
What the pictures don’t show: We were civilly married, effectively on a whim, in July 2010, after attending a wedding of a dear friend whose mother and sister pretty much summed up what I did not want in any wedding I might ever have. On the drive back to Manhattan, we shrugged our shoulders and decided to do it our way—right away. We got our license at the marriage bureau, and, telling no one but our witnesses, were civilly married at the New York County courthouse in front of my friend Sarah and her husband RJ two days later. We took Sarah and RJ for a celebratory meal of soup dumplings in Chinatown—our favorite dim sum place is right around the corner from the court complex—and I called my mother. When she picked up, the first words I blurted were, “Guess what I did!” She was very relieved when I assured there would be a “real” wedding (in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, really a “blessing of the vows” after a civil marriage), with a reception and all… well, some of the trimmings. Turns out, I’m not a trimmings kind of girl, and my best beloved isn’t really sure what a trimming entails… We kept what was beautiful and important to us, trimmings be damned! After all, it wasn’t like they could arbitrarily un-marry us by that point!
Other cool stuff: We had no wedding attendants. Drama-free was the name of the game, and the fewer people to wrangle, the better. We had our blessing in our neighborhood’s parish church, where we’re congregants, and it’s part of an Episcopal Mass to start with a reading from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. My best friend is Jewish, and she read the same passage from the Song of Solomon that had been part of her own wedding. My husband’s father is a Methodist minister, so Dylan had his brother read from the Book of Matthew. It was a huge honor to actually have those closest to us actually be an integral part of the Mass as lay readers—it meant way more to me than seven girls lined up in matching satin gowns ever could have!
One sentence sum-up of the wedding vibe: An elegant but relaxed brunch, with cupcakes to die for, and a vague Provencal theme but that big-city Manhattan vibe we never quite seem to be able to shake.
Favorite thing about the wedding: The delicious afternoon nap we immediately dropped into when we got back to our hotel suite… which turned out to extend until about 2 AM! A post-reception nap AND you’ve still got hours of your “wedding night” left? Can’t do that if you don’t have a morning wedding and reception!
Such a simple and beautiful wedding, Meredith! Hart + Sol photographed my wedding, too, and so in stalking their blog all summer I oohed and ahhed over the pictures from yours many, many times. It’s a real pleasure to hear some of the story behind the photos!
Best wishes to you and your husband! And I hope you get a chance (or create the chance?) to wear that headpiece again — because it is INCREDIBLE.
August 11, 2011 4:38 am
Report this comment
|
What gorgeous photos! You all look so happy. I love your attitude about everything :)
Congrats! (and yes, the headpiece looks so worth it!)
August 11, 2011 5:02 am
Report this comment
|
Trimmings be damned, indeed! *Two snaps up in z formation* So straightforward and lovely. Thanks for sharing!
August 11, 2011 5:24 am
Report this comment
|
so much PRETTY. Ahhhh.
August 11, 2011 5:42 am
Report this comment
|
These photos are beautiful and tell the story of a lovely, meaningful day. Congratulations to you both! And man, I want a cupcake now.
August 11, 2011 5:43 am
Report this comment
|
I love all the pictures of you two holding hands! It looks like you had so much solidarity in your wedding. I hope that your marriage is filled with hand-holding too. :)
August 11, 2011 5:50 am
Report this comment
|
drooling! love it. fun song for the soundtrack too. and that feathery fascinator.. killing me!
also wedding day naps should be built into every day-of schedule. dang.
August 11, 2011 6:41 am
Report this comment
|
i finally have started listening to them with the soundtrack…I was missing so much before!!
August 11, 2011 7:47 am
Report this comment
|
Can we talk about Dylan’s sideburns? Awesome! They caught my eye right off! Love everything in this post. Nap = perfect day. So much right with this.
August 11, 2011 6:54 am
Report this comment
|
I love that headpiece. It’s freaking awesome. Also? I applaud your appropriation of the bridesmaid dress. Lovely, lovely.
It sounds like you and your sweetie really found a way to make this YOURS. (As Katieprue said earlier, trimmings be damned!)
August 11, 2011 7:03 am
Report this comment
|
WOW. That headpiece rocks.
August 11, 2011 7:06 am
Report this comment
|
I. Love. This. Wedding.
This stood out to me the most: It was a huge honor to actually have those closest to us actually be an integral part of the Mass as lay readers—it meant way more to me than seven girls lined up in matching satin gowns ever could have!
I love that. Priorities. This wedding caused all sorts of happy sighs. PLUS – you two looked incredible, your head piece was awesome & I love that you two walked down together. So sweet.
August 11, 2011 7:10 am
Report this comment
|
Yes. Amen to all this. YES!
August 11, 2011 7:16 am
Report this comment
|
That headpiece = perfection!
August 11, 2011 7:57 am
Report this comment
|
So glad to see another couple civilly married who also had a ceremony + reception. This is my favorite part of APW — seeing all the different ways people “do” weddings. Posts like yours are a big help when my mom freaks out about our similar path of elopement + wedding at a later date.
August 11, 2011 8:08 am
Report this comment
|
We did it too! Probably THE best thing we ever did for our wedding.
August 11, 2011 8:47 am
Report this comment
|
We did as well, courthouse in May, and then ceremony + reception in September :)
August 11, 2011 10:28 am
Report this comment
|
This wedding is so lovely. Something about the lack of the “trimming” as you say makes everything seem so delicate and deliberate. I love it.
August 11, 2011 8:17 am
Report this comment
|
[...] sister pretty much summed up what I did not want in any wedding I … Here is the original post: Wordless Wedding: Meredith & Dylan « A Practical Wedding: Ideas … Yubali | Blog | Popular Four Styles of Wedding Dress Tags: after-attending, boutique, [...]
August 11, 2011 8:41 am
Report this comment
|
*Le sigh* Sweet and perfect. And damn, are you two adorable or what!? Congrats and many blessings! XO
p.s. Oh, and your headpiece is just WOW ~ to-die-for glamorous!!!
August 11, 2011 8:42 am
Report this comment
|
LOVE the shot of you guys walking up the aisle together – really simple and stunning.
August 11, 2011 10:15 am
Report this comment
|
Did y’all walk each other down the aisle? I love it!*
August 11, 2011 10:25 am
Report this comment
|
Congratulations ! You looked super beautiful and super happy. Simple, brunch with cupcakes sounds great ! We had a plan of getting married like that (just us, + 2 witnesses) on a random Monday morning. Except when we told our parents, they were like uhm, we are of course coming. All in all we were 16 people and after that we went for cake to our favorite cafe , and it was great. But so much for wanting to be by ourselves (the boy is quite shy) -
Months after we did have a smallish reception, which was also a brunch/high tea thing with macarons and ice cream after the religious ceremony.
PS like that song
August 11, 2011 10:27 am
Report this comment
|
A post-reception nap AND you’ve still got hours of your “wedding night” left? Can’t do that if you don’t have a morning wedding and reception!
**LOVE THIS!**
August 11, 2011 11:22 am
Report this comment
|
Great dress. I love Jenny Yoo but once I was really looking she had figured out that people were using her dresses as wedding dresses she jacked up the prices for white and ivory. I fell in love with one dress (sloane) and here was the price difference:
In a color: $375
In white or ivory: $1200
Same dress, same material. I was a bit disgusted and refused to pay the x3 premium.
August 11, 2011 11:50 am
Report this comment
|
Simple, heart felt, cupcakes + NYC yellow cab = perfection. Congrats!
August 11, 2011 1:44 pm
Report this comment
|
I love that you had a nap!!
August 11, 2011 3:10 pm
Report this comment
|
I love that the pictures show you walking in together and walking away together, which is what you did. and your hair thing is to-die-for!
August 11, 2011 5:49 pm
Report this comment
|
The flower girl is adorable!
August 11, 2011 9:09 pm
Report this comment
|
Meredith,
What a privilege it’s been to know you and your writing this week. You are as beautiful in person as you are in these pictures. Thank you for sharing your awesome wedding and self. Write on sista!
Wendy
August 11, 2011 10:23 pm
Report this comment
|
This wedding is sweet and perfect. And I LOVE your wisdom about the wedding night. ;) Making sure to have time to be together after the madness instead of collapsing to bed exhausted sounds amazing to me. (And I anticipate that we’ll be the latter.)
August 12, 2011 8:51 am
Report this comment
|