Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Chandelier Event: NYC Nightclub Nuptials at Hudson Terrace (Sally & Andy, Part Duex)

All Images Reserved: Max Flatow Photography


Last week, I promised I would fill you in on Part II of Sally & Andy's wedding weekend. As you learned in our North Fork Nuptials post, the ceremony and intimate feast took place out east at Jedediah Hawkins Inn in a bucolic country setting. Part wine-country, part bride's backyard, Friday night's festivities were warm, elegant and understated. Here are the details, along with more photos from Max Flatow.

But the fun did not stop there! On Saturday night, Sally and Andy headed back into their other home, Manhattan, where they hosted over 130 of their closest friends at a raucous cocktail party to celebrate their new status as Mr. & Mrs. Hudson Terrace proved the perfect venue to watch the sun set over the Hudson River (and Intrepid!) with wrap-around views of the NYC skyline, as guests wined, dined and danced the night away.

The evening had it's very own invitation. Together, we customized in deep red velvet to match the venues dramatic hue (Village Invites) and added a touch of black and white to the multi-layered paper to take the otherwise traditional format to a sexier place. Speaking of sexy, we wanted to pour a little hot sauce on the wedding decor. So I sought out the gorgeous floral stylings of my friend Grayson Handy at Prudence Designs who helped us pull together a reception featuring deep lipstick shades in red mercury glass, as well as a showstopper white orchid arrangement that was all the talk of the rooftop cocktail hour that started off the evening just as the sun set. Tables of flickering gold linens and red hot florals were an optional seating place, as Sally and Andy encouraged their guests to hit the dance floor all night long.

And, the piece de resistance was the downright scrumptious cake featured three flavors on different layers (red velvet, dark chocolate and carrot cake) covered in fondant featuring hand-painted red poppies. Of course, at Chandelier, we knew that cake (the only real "wedding" element of the night) needed more than just any cake stand! So, I sought out this lucite blinged-out cake stand through the totally talented and innovative custom crystal designer Tiers of Joy (love Etsy!!!!)--notice how we had to match the venue's chandeliers. We wouldn't have had it any other way!


Monday, June 13, 2011

Chandelier Event: Sally & Andy's North Fork Nuptials



All Images Reserved: Max Flatow Photography

Summer love has officially set in here at Chandelier Events. That's why we're totally swooning over Max Flatow's images of a recent North Fork wedding we planned this Spring. The Hamptons gorgeous sister, Long Island's North Fork proved a perfect backdrop for our couple Sally & Andy's April wedding. Not only was the evening a total culinary experience, with a five course meal prepared by Keith Luce and his team at Luce + Hawkins at Jamesport's Jedediah Hawkins Inn, but it was an elegant nod to the upscale, yet low-key atmosphere of Long Island's wine country that Sally and Andy (and we!) love so much.

Sally and Andy came to me about six months prior to the wedding date with a special wedding weekend in mind. They wanted an intimate ceremony and feast out East on Friday night, followed by a raucous cocktail reception in Manhattan (which we hosted at Hudson Terrace--we'll post those photos in Part II next week!) They had specific criteria for Friday evening's wedding: they wanted it to be special, delicious, picturesque, but in no way stuffy, formal or stodgy. Finding just the right venue became our biggest challenge and when we found Jedediah Hawkins Inn--an Inn that combined the best of old world Victorian Charm with the most modern luxuries and sensibilities (can you say woven leather ceilings!) -- we knew we had our venue.

The rest fell into place: ceremony in the gazebo out near the Inn's historic barn, cocktails in the original Speakeasy where they have Long Island Reisling on TAP!, and a five-course sit-down feast in the dining room complete withgorgeous mantel prepared just to their liking by Keith and his team. The florals were provided by Landscape Adventure in Riverhead (a family friend of the bride) and incorporated colors inspired by the Inn, the season (daffodils!), and lots of interesting containers indigineous to the environment from mason jars to milk jugs.

Guests dined on individual plates of duck wing confit ragu with cucumber raita, artisinal cheese and charcuterie and crudite served family style, fish, steak and smouldering pots of macked out mac 'n cheese--with wines handpicked by the couple. After dessert which included chocolate pudding with Peconic sea salt, homemade donuts, and a special strawberry shortcake, the entire family of 25 descended back downstairs to party the night away at the Speakeasy.

Next week, we'll post Part II of this special wedding weekend -- when our North Fork event moved into NYC Nightclub!