2012 as an amazing year for Eclectic Unions! Here’s to 2013!
(Click to check it out full size on Flickr!)
Courtney and Eric were engaged on the Brooklyn Bridge – a place that holds a special significance to Courtney, and now holds a special meaning for both of them. Their ceremony was held on the stunning Pebble Beach within Brooklyn Bridge Park, behind the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. We included a handfasting, and they said there, “I do’s” while they were bound together.
Their personal vows were heartfelt and lovely, and the whole celebration seemed to capture them well – it was thoughtful, personal, meaningful, and unique. Their reception was held at reBar, in DUMBO, and the couple lead a parade of their guests through Brooklyn, to make their way to the celebration. Courtney wrote a really eloquent post on her blog about it, too (she has her first novel coming out soon!).
Thanks to Courtney for sharing these stunning photos with me. Just look at the bride and groom’s faces! They really say it all, right?
LOVE this breaking of the glass shot!
I as so excited when Erica, a bride I married in March, contacted me to let me know her beautiful wedding was going to be featured in Sites & Services magazine. If you’re in New Jersey, you can pick up your copy now – it is the Summer/Fall 2012 issue.
Erica and Christian contacted me a couple of weeks before their wedding – they had most of their ceremony written, and were planning to have a friend officiate, but he was called to duty and was no longer able to be at the wedding. They had their ceremony and reception at the Waterside in North Bergen, which has a stunning view of the NYC skyline. Their ceremony included one of my favorite books of all time, The Giving Tree, and their personal vows were funny and heartfelt.
I loved working with them – they were such a quirky, fun, and upbeat couple! – and their ceremony and whole wedding celebration really reflected that, too.
Click to see larger!
Lauren and Hasan were married at reBar in Brooklyn in early May. For their ceremony, they chose one of my favorite rituals, The Circle of Love, and their friends and family were encouraged to place a tealight at the front, under their chuppah, to form a circle of love and support the couple would be married in. It went perfectly with their amazing chuppah and decor of the venue. It’s hard to believe, but these are LED tealights! They flickered and everything, and, even though I had suggested to the couple to go with LED tealights instead of real candles, for safety issues, I totally thought they were real when I walked in!
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house (Hasan included!) as the bride and groom exchanged their heartfelt and personal vows. Their ceremony was personal, lighthearted, and romantic. Lauren and Hasan met during college, and have been through a lot in their time together, and there were a lot of fun anecdotes to share that really captured their relationship. We also got a few mentions of their labradoodle Zooey in there too!
They were married under a chuppah, the Jewish marriage canopy, that represents the home that the couple is creating together. The sides are left open, to invite in their family and friends love. And Hasan broke a glass at the end, another Jewish tradition.
Photos courtesy of Nyla Gray Photography.
Lauren said: “Patient, professional, and comforting. Jessie did an incredible job with our ceremony. From our initial meeting, we knew we were in the perfect hands. She is extremely organized and really knows her craft. She responds to any questions or concerns extremely fast. Everyone at the wedding commented that our ceremony was beautiful and touching. Jessie helped make that happen!”
Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, and the unofficial start of wedding season! I had four weddings, each unique and different, and I get a lot of questions, from my couples and my colleagues, about what a multiple wedding weekend is like on my end, so I thought I’d take some shots and share my days!
My weekend started with a low-key Saturday morning and afternoon, where I caught up on some ceremony writing (finishing a wedding for July and a baby blessing for June!), and then got ready for my evening wedding! It was a backyard wedding, and a very simple ceremony – which was good, because it wouldn’t stop drizzling! We pushed through anyway, and just as the bride made her way to the front, the rain cleared up for the few minutes we needed for the ceremony.
Reading over the ceremony before hand.
Sunday was a two wedding day! I headed into the city to celebrate with Lesley and Perry, who were married at 91 Horatio Street. The space was so beautiful, awash in draped fabric and vintage-styled peach flowers. I met Lesley at the Lovesick Expo in January, and was so happy I could be a part of her wedding – her smile and gregarious attitude are just so inviting!
There was NO traffic on the way into the city, so I took a little walk along the High Line before heading to the venue.
The couple were married in a Humanist-styled, Jewish-centric ceremony, under a chuppah made from the bride’s great grandma’s tablecloth.
We signed a ketubah, the Jewish marriage certificate, before the ceremony – we had the moms sign the Ketubah, and the dads sign the legal marriage license.
I headed home after the wedding, and snuck in some time for lunch, a short nap, and an outfit change!
And some kitty snuggling, of course!
Connie and Don, my second couple for the day, requested that I wear all black, so I swapped my grey blazer out for a soft black draped cardigan, and touched up my make-up before heading to Red Bank. They were getting married at the Molly Pitcher Inn, overlooking the water, and I was keeping my fingers crossed that the rain would stay away!
Their beautiful ceremony arrangements!
The marina
We were lucky, and we got a beautiful, not too hot day on the water. I didn’t get a photo, but the bride’s bouquet was studded with grape hyacinths, my favorite flower!
Connie and Don’s ceremony was light-hearted and fun, with two great readings (Sandol Stoddard Warburg’s I Like You and Dr. Seuss’ Oh! The Places You Will Go!), and had a fun little shout out to their dog, Zooey, too! Their ceremony included two rituals: the wine ceremony, and the wine box ceremony.
Ceremony props, all ready to go!
On the Monday of Memorial Day weekend, we started off by having a very nice lunch with my parents, before heading down the Hamilton for my evening wedding at one of the most amazing venues I’ve ever worked at, the Grounds for Sculpture. I asked my husband to tag along, as he had never been, and I thought he would love the sculpture and art exhibits that are there.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have an opportunity to take any photos! There was a small emergency situation before the ceremony, with a missing marriage license (don’t worry! it has been located!), and it was 95 degrees outside! The ceremony took place at the Nine Muses, this beautiful sculpture surrounded by a moat, and it was a beautiful ceremony. The couple had reconnected, twenty-eight years after they had originally met, via Facebook, so we thanked not only the mutual friend who introduced them, but also Mark Zuckerberg (also a newlywed himself!). I hopefully will have a full blog post coming on this wedding, because it was really that awesome, as soon as I can wrangle some photos!
Lessons learned: bring a lot of water, band-aids, and double check the marriage license has made it to the venue.
