Meredith & Dylan

* 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 *

New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding New York City Brunch Wedding Manhattan Brunch Wedding

The Info—Ceremony VenueChurch of the Holy TrinityReception Restaurant: OrsayDress: 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 BakeryPhotography: Hart & Sol Photo

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!

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