And yet, just when you think that it’s all about the style, all about the chic…there is that bit of handmade charm that EVERY wedding needs to feel complete!

all photos by Heather Waraksa and the gorgeous event was designed by Daughter of Design

As a quick little sidenote, Laura loved the details so much that she launched her own event design company specializing in the finishing touches that turn a pretty wedding into a spectacular one! Definitely check out her new adventure, Make Merry Event Design Services.

A Bit More From Laura…

We served three kinds of really fabulous cupcakes and THE best banana pudding I’ve ever had, period, all from Sugar Sweet Sunshine.  Our caterer Yen Ngo of Real Food Catering, added macaroons and meringues to round out the dessert table.

We gathered wedding photos of our family and friends, printed them in black & white, and hung them from champagne and cream colored ribbons accented by hanging votives (our tribute to them as inspirations for our marriage).

Oh also, we followed the DIY project you posted from Kathleen – the hot chocolate and marshmallow bags. And it was a total family effort: cards printed by me, bags and hot chocolate purchase and put together by my mother, sewn by my aunt, and molasses cookies (family special recipe) added by my mother-in-law. We left these at the hotel for our out-of-town guests and also brought some to the wedding to give away to the others.

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Post tags: Daughters by Design, Laura and Eric, Loft, New York City, New York Weddings, NYC
Post categories: The Blog

We did (almost) nothing that was traditional.  We served champagne before the ceremony because…well, who wouldn’t want that? We were married by a friend of ours that was ordained for the occasion.  With her help, we wrote the ceremony and our own vows, and although I’m biased, they were amazing and so completely ‘us’… many guests told us it was the highlight of their evening.

The songs played during the ceremony were rock songs, performed on an acoustic guitar and accompanied by a cello.  The same (amazing) guitarist performed with singer Juliana Riccardi during cocktail hour:  Jazz covers of rock, pop and rap songs.  There were no bridal party introductions, no cake to cut, and no bouquet thrown – we came down from cocktails and danced a foxtrot for our first dance (our only nod to tradition) to start the party, then had no further interruptions for the rest of the evening.

all photographs by Heather Waraksa

We asked our bridesmaids to pick out their own black and white cocktail dresses, and groomsmen to wear any dark suit they already owned or wanted to purchase. We loved the eclectic feel and, having been a bridesmaid on many occasions, I didn’t really want my girls to have yet another dress they’d never wear again.  To add some cohesiveness, we gave each groomsman a gray two-tone dotted tie (polka dots made appearances throughout the wedding), and gifted the bridesmaids with the pieces they wore in their hair. 

So much more to come! Oh and we’re hoping that Laura will gift us all the step-by-steps for her incredible hairpiece!

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Post tags: Daughter of Design, Heather Waraksa, Laura and Eric, Loft, New York City, New York Weddings, NYC
Post categories: Contemporary

the gorgeous photos are by Heather Waraksa

From the beautiful bride, Laura…

The ‘mood’ of our wedding was inspired by our venue: silver and crystal chandeliers in an otherwise plain white space.  We put together a vintage-meets-modern feel and decided the best way to decorate the loft on a relatively tight budget was not to fight it, but to complement it:  thus the colors were shades of white, black, silver, candlelight & champagne.  When Annie, of Daughter by Design, brought us down to see the space fully decorated, after cocktail hour, I immediately knew it was the best choice we could have made.

We went with very minimal flowers, mostly to save money but also because I wanted the candlelight to be the focus.  So we filled the tables with candlesticks (from CB2), floating candles in tall tapered glass vases, and tons of votives;  small arrangements of hydrangea and freesia were accents. I’m a designer, and I made all of the paper goods other than the invitations – menus, programs, escort cards, signs, etc.

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Post tags: Daughter by Design, Heather Waraksa, Laura and Eric, Loft, New York City, New York Weddings, NYC, White
Post categories: Contemporary

Today’s wedding, sent to us by the adorable bride and groom, was all about the chic. Sophisticated, elegant and yet fabulously New York chic. Plus, it was designed by one of our favorite Little Black Book members, Daughter of Design, which makes it even more special!

Before we get into all of the details though, I had to start off with these incredible shots of the bride’s bling. And by bling, I really mean, oh-my-gosh gorgeous, completely fabulous, all-the-good-words-in-the-dictionary beautiful bling…

photography by Heather Waraksa

SWOON. Aren’t you a little bit in love? And a little bit jealous? Well, the gorgeous bride who put all of this together is with us all day, sharing her perfect details and her totally down-to-earth perspective.

I guess you could technically call this a destination wedding. Eric and I live in Miami, but he was born and raised in Westport, Connecticut, and I have moved around so much in my life that I don’t really have a ‘hometown’.  We looked everywhere when we started our planning – here in Florida, out in Napa & Sonoma, in Connecticut – and finally decided that Manhattan would be perfect.  It’d be convenient for all his family and friends (he actually had quite a few that lived in the city), and we love Manhattan so much that we hope to buy a little a pied-a-terre there someday.

I wouldn’t say I’m the ‘typical’ bride in that I’ve dreamed of planning a wedding for my whole life.  Although I’m a big (obsessive) planner in general, and love design and entertaining, I’m extremely non-traditional and cringe at doing something that someone else has already done.  After having been to many weddings that were born out of the same mold, I wanted to make sure our wedding was a little different: not only reflective of us as a couple, but also fun, new and interesting for our guests.  We decided our goal would be a “fun, intimate party… that also happened to be a wedding”.  And every decision we made came from there.

So much more on the way!

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Post tags: Daughter of Design, Heather Waraksa, Jewelry, Laura and Eric, Loft, New York City, New York Weddings, NYC
Post categories: Contemporary, New York City Weddings, New York Weddings