Leaves dance down from the branches to the ground and the wedding party dances the night away after Dan and Michael say their “I Do’s” in a ceremony simply styled with bright sunflowers and beautiful gourds of all shapes and sizes. Touches of blues and greens on ties, pocket squares, and even socks complement the bold yellows and oranges of this fall wedding appropriately held at the Lakewood House Estate in New York. The subtle details from the lights hanging overhead to the twine-wrapped serving utensils and mason jar floral arrangements create a joyful, rustic feel that lets the season’s natural beauty shine right alongside a couple so full of love.
From the groom…”We met in the most 21st Century of ways…. online. We have our tagline, “Thank you, OKCupid!” Seriously, we should be the faces of their campaign.
Fast forward six years and we found ourselves at Lakewood House Estates in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. While planning the wedding, we discovered a photographer Michael worked with as a makeup artist, Laura Rose, was an accomplished wedding photographer as well. Naturally, we had to have someone we knew, and whose work we loved, capture our special day.
We really thought we’d planned the day so well. A group breakfast, massages for the grooms, then pictures and the ceremony. Little did we know how quickly the morning would pass. All of a sudden we got the word Laura and her assistant were there and ready to shoot. We hadn’t showered and the relaxation we felt after massages went right out the window. Saying we were nervous is an understatement. We should have been calm, but with each photo pose our shakes got worse, the sweat got worse.
All of those nerves got squashed when our grand finale came prematurely. We’d packed dozens of tiny boxes with grass seed to reseed the lawn of our venue. Rather than rice or birdseed, we were going to give back to our host and the earth by sprouting new grass where we’d trampled the area. One of our guests threw the seeds into the air as we were processing rather than recessing. If we needed an ice breaker, there it was. Green seeds rained down on us as we walked down the aisle. They flew into Michael’s hair and stuck to his forehead and neck. It was the perfect way to deflect any nerves we’d had. I burst into laughter as another guest ran to pick the seeds off my husband to be. Thank goodness Laura was there to capture the moment. Who needs a perfect wedding day? The mishaps make it memorable.
One thing we wanted to do to make our wedding unique was to have our guests choose a cultural wedding tradition for us to finish our ceremony with. We could have crushed a glass, jumped a broom, bound our hands together, or sawed a log in half. A ballot was given to each guest. We were letting them choose. I was sure we’d be sawing a log but, to our surprise, hand fasting was chosen. To be honest, it was what we wanted. Our officiant tied our hands together with braided ribbon, said the prayer, and it was the most moving part of our ceremony.
Afterwards, Laura stole us away to get pictures in the “right light.” While our guests mingled and ate all our hors d’oeuvres (damn, we wanted some of those), we are so grateful she did because our favorite shot came from that moment.
All in all, having our closest friends and family all together to be with us on our wedding day was the most incredible moment our both of our lives. The ups and the downs of the day, what went right and what went wrong, make it a day that not only moves us to tears but makes us laugh. And isn’t that what makes life worth living?”
