Chic New York City Wedding – 5th Ave Digital

Take a gorgeous bride dressed in a Marchesa gown, a dapper groom, and the stunning backdrop on New York City and what you get is a super chic and stylish wedding that is simply unforgettable. See the day beautifully captured by 5th Ave Digital.
Why did you select your wedding venue? We fell in love with the Bowery as soon as we saw it! We wanted our wedding to be an experience for our guests, with each part of it (ceremony, cocktails, dinner, dessert and dancing) to be reveal and keep everyone guessing what is next? The Bowery has several sections/rooms that can be closed off, changed over and “revealed” which was the perfect setting for what we were envisioning. Also, Rich’s grandfather was a taxidermist so as soon as we saw the 2 deer heads on the wall, we knew it was meant to be!

Did you do a “First Look”, where and why? We did our first look at the Soho Mondrian where I got ready for the big day and we stayed on our wedding night. Though we do like the tradition of seeing each other for the first time walking down the aisle, there were several factors that led us to the decision of a first look prior to the ceremony: 1. We didn’t want to miss a second of our cocktail hour for photographs 2. Our Rabbi performed a beautiful intimate ceremony prior to our wedding for the ketubah signing for just our parents, MOH, and Best Man. 3. We loved the green archway in front of the Soho Mondrian among the urban setting for our photographs and looked forward to seeing each other there privately.

Did you hire a wedding planner, and why? I am an event planner therefore, no. I started my career planning weddings so when the time came for mine, it was certainly the ultimate project for me! Rich also works in events so we had a vision and we decided, go big or go home! I did hire a day-of-coordinator which I highly recommend so you can enjoy every second of the day and not worry about the details.

What was the wedding planning process like? Rich and I are very decisive people so it was smooth and a lot of fun. We were able to take parts of other events we have planned/worked/attended and bring them all together in one place for ours which was really exciting and very rewarding.

What was the role of tradition in your wedding? Old traditions? New traditions? Rich is Jewish and I was raised Buddhist so we incorporated both traditions into our wedding ceremony. A – Bu-Jew collaboration. We had our wonderful interfaith Rabbi Jill Hausman marry us with the traditional Jewish elements underneath an amazing Chuppah, and we also included a traditional Buddhist/Japanese sake ceremony. We signed a Ketubah which was designed with a “Japanese” artful feel to it to merge both of our backgrounds and went up in the chairs during our reception which I think everyone should do! It’s so much fun and really gets the crowd going.

What advice would you give other brides planning their wedding? Though it will be hard at times, enjoy every second! In the end, your wedding is only a few hours in one day that goes by way too fast so make sure to relish each and every moment. The most important thing is to remember what the day is all about – you and your significant other’s lifetime commitment to one another. Keep that in mind and like me, you won’t stop smiling all day. Favors – Mini ginger syrups with custom labels from Morris Kitchen: Rich and I love entertaining and he is known to make delicious drinks so we put the ingredients for a Moscow Mule on the side for our guests to take home with them. We also had a roasted nut cart at the end of the night for a late night snack and oder to NYC, our home and where we met.

Jell-O shots at the end of the night by Elise Kanda, private Chef: Rich and I met at a party on the 4th of July. He was bartending and serving Jello shots at that party so as a nod to our first time meeting, we served them at the end of the night at our wedding. Our dear friend Elise made strawberry margarita ones served in strawberries and lime flavored in lime wedges.

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