* Jordan, Museum Educator & Meredith, Film & Media Scholar * Soundtrack for reading: “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany *
One sentence sum up of the wedding vibe: New York City Hall wedding, celebrated with the best pizza in the City and some serious dancing.
The Info—Venue: New York City Clerk’s Office & Roberta’s / Jordan’s Dress: Madewell / Rings: Catbird / Music: DJ Shakey / Cake: Sugar Sweet Sunshine
Other cool stuff we should know about: After being together for five years, we decided it was time to tie the knot. We knew we wanted something low key, and had only a few requirements: New York as the setting, an awesome dance party, and pizza as the main course. We planned everything in three months, and it all came together perfectly.
We got married at the Manhattan City Clerk’s Office, with only our two best friends as witnesses plus immediate family in attendance. The next night we threw a dinner and dance party for friends and family at Roberta’s in Brooklyn. Located in industrial Bushwick, Roberta’s transformed their back garden area into the perfect party setting. November (and just a few weeks after Hurricane Sandy) felt risky weather wise, but we totally lucked out. It was an unseasonably warm fall night, and guests enjoyed cocktails around the outdoor fire pits before dinner, which took place in a heated tent that was decked out with tons of candles and twinkly lights.
For decorations, we focused our DIY/crafty energies on a few select projects, and really turned to family and friends to help. Meredith’s best friend designed amazing (poster size!) invitations, which he had printed on newsprint. We cut down the leftovers to use as escort cards and table numbers. We recruited our moms, stepmom, and sister to help us assemble the flower arrangements—which were all purchased from the local bodega the day before. One of the most fun crafts we did was the wedding favors, which were handmade thaumatropes (19th century optical toys). Meredith’s scholarly work focuses on this time period, and Jordan teaches at a museum that features these gadgets, so they have a lot of meaning to us. Plus guests had something to play with while waiting for food to be served! Meredith did the original drawings (a picture of our dog Sprout, thinking about a slice of pizza) which we had made into rubber stamps. Later, we hand watered colored each one. It was a fun way to feature Sprout, without having to worry about bringing her to the wedding itself!
The main focus of the dinner was four kinds of Roberta’s amazing pizza. They feature lots of local, fresh ingredients (pumpkin seeds! kale! squash!) and we heard nothing but rave reviews about the food. Because we didn’t have a public ceremony, we wanted to have some more formal elements as part of the dinner. Jordan’s mom and dad provided a wonderful welcome and blessing at the start of the meal, and a handful of family and friends closed the dinner with some incredibly thoughtful (and hilarious) toasts. The rest of the night was all about the dancing. Our DJ was a gem. She kept everyone on the dance floor all night, with everything from Stevie Wonder to Talking Heads to Tiffany to Katy Perry—it was exactly the dance party we dreamed of.
We were beyond thrilled with how everything came together. We gave ourselves the freedom to pick and choose what traditions we wanted to include and what we wanted to do in our unique way, and are so glad we did. Some elements took a little extra explaining to family and friends (for example: there won’t be a ceremony, but there will be pizza!) but in the end, our celebration reflected our selves and our relationship perfectly.
Favorite thing about the wedding: New York City! Being able to get legally married in the amazing city where we met and fell in love, and celebrating in true NYC style with great friends, great music, and great pizza.