An Ethereal, Modern Spring Wedding at 501 Union

Although I proudly say I work with the coolest couples, this particular one was a little extra unique. I’ve known Emily since elementary school and Stanley since high school. So when they asked me to plan their wedding, I was absolutely stoked. We all grew up in South Florida, but they visit New York City often and knew they wanted a destination wedding. These two lovebirds met back in high school in marching band. They were friends for 2 years before they started dating. They were dating for another 7 years before they got engaged! Safe to say, this epic 501 Union wedding was a long time coming.

In another life, Emily worked as a wedding photographer post high school. By the time it was her turn to get married, she had a LOT of insight on how the day should go. We had the best time designing and crafting every single detail of the day. There was so much intention behind every decision they made. The design evolved a bit from when they first got engaged. Ultimately, we landed on something fresh, ethereal, and artistic.

They loved the flow and the natural light that pours into 501 Union, so we used the space to influence a lot of design decisions.

For starters, Emily’s photography knowledge led to us setting up their ceremony in front of the garage doors for a very cool, backlit moment. We brought in a lot of white to help lighten up the space and contrast against the primarily black interiors. And that gorgeous skylight in the main space just begs to be dressed up. So, we worked with Janice of Joi Blooms to design these beautiful floral clouds that hung above the dance floor.

We started the day over at the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge to get ready. Stanley worked with Janice to surprise Emily with a gorgeous bouquet of white roses while she got ready. Truly such goals. The Willowhouse team made Emily and the girls look absolutely stunning. Then, Emily headed off to her first look with Stanley. She told me that she had been feeling nervous all morning, but the second she saw him, every anxiety went away. From the hotel, they hopped into one of FilmCars’ infamous vintage yellow cabs and headed to the waterfront to take some portraits around Dumbo. Despite it being an overcast day, the two of them were absolutely glowing at every turn.

For the ceremony, they opted to have one of their longtime friends from middle school officiate the ceremony. It was so sweet to hear him talk about the two of them having seen their progression from friends to life partners. During the ceremony, they incorporated a time capsule box. Everything they used, such as vow books, the ring box, and polaroid photos were placed inside for them to open up on their five year anniversary. After “I do”, they cheered down the aisle before joining cocktail hour with guests.

Emily and I spent so much time together designing the reception space.

I loved just how intentional every decision was. From the feel of the linen tablecloths to the fabric of the cushions on the chairs, Emily and Stanley really wanted the day to feel luxurious and inviting to their guests that had traveled from all over the country to celebrate. Emily has a love for pottery and ceramics, so we sourced the perfect plates from Squiggle as a nod. When we were designing the day of paper with Lea from Ma Plume, we made sure to size the menu just right so that the art still showed underneath. She even managed to put a small easter egg on the menu itself of the art from the plate.

When Emily told me she wanted the design to feel artistic and almost museum like, I knew Janice would be the perfect florist. She really dove in to colors, textures, and vessels to craft floral designs that felt both whimsical and sculptural. And as I mentioned before, Janice crafted the most gorgeous flower clouds that lived above the dance floor to bring your eye up to the skylight. On a similar note, no one does artistic and museum like quite like Amy from Yip Studio. Their 5 tier strawberry wedding cake was truly a work of art.

Naturally, two musicians getting married means we needed to incorporate live music.

Once dinner was done and dancing got started, we worked with 4AM to heat things up. We brought in a saxophonist and guitar player to play alongside the DJ on the dance floor. They were a huge hit and really pumped up the energy! To cap the night, we ordered in classic New York pizza to fuel everyone for the last push of dancing.

It was the biggest honor to help plan a wedding that was quite literally a decade in the making. And when you couple that with clients who are also friends? It just doesn’t get better than that. Congratulations Emily and Stanley on a love story for the ages!