10 Things I Loved About Your Wedding

I’m excited to kick off a new blog series with highlights of real weddings. I’ll pick my top 10 favorite aspects of the big day to share with my readers. I recently had the pleasure of attending the wedding of Amanda and Ben, now, Mr. and Mrs. Puff! It was a special family-oriented event with amazing food and drink, all on the backdrop of a beautiful castle from the 1800s.

Location: Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York
Theme: Shabby Chic
Color pallet: Light pink and gray
Photography: Luisa Wall at Luisa Matalucci Photography

Highlights

Venue The wedding took place on the grounds of the Lyndhurst Mansion which had sprawling green hills and a formal gothic-style castle. It was positioned right next to the Hudson river which added beautiful views, especially when the sun was setting.
Photographer While the photography was also a highlight, the actual photographer was a stand out! Luisa Wall is a personal friend of the bride and she was absolutely beaming. Any time you looked over at her, she had a big grin on her face. She was one of the first people there and the last to leave but you never saw her sweat. Her love and dedication put towards to capturing the special moments was really touching to see.
Flowers The flowers were all silk and fit in perfectly with the shabby chic theme. While I’m normally not a big fan of silk flowers, the bouquets and centerpieces were absolutely stunning. Each piece was hand crafted by the brides mom and really added to the special day. The flowers were a smart investment because they now double-up as home decor for the bridal party. (Don’t you love this photo?!)
Bride’s Incorporation of Diabetes Amanda lives with type 1 diabetes and manages her health with an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor. These are two separate devices that she wears all of the time, and she knew she had to wear them on her wedding day. When she searched for a dress, she found one with pockets that could hold her diabetes devices. (She even worked with her seamstress to make some alterations to the pockets so she could easily access what she needed.) Since diabetes is a big part of her life story, it was nice to see that it didn’t hold her back and she was able to find a way to incorporate it into her big day.
Bride’s Manicure Amanda always has a perfect manicure so her wedding day was no exception! She used a beautiful rose gold color on her ring finger and light pink nails on the rest of her hand. This made her ring finger stand out and tied together beautifully with her rose gold jewelry. All of her bridesmaids also incorporated rose gold into their manicures in different ways.
Bride’s Dancing Shoes Her Toms wedges were gorgeous for the ceremony and first dance, and then she put on her dancing shoes! I’ve seen Converse done before at weddings, but never with ribbon-shoe laces!
The Shabby Chic Theme The dainty yet rustic decor was tied throughout all of the details, both big and small. Their guestbook and gift table were great examples of that. The guestbook in particular was so smart because it also matches their home decor and will look really nice on a wall displaying their last initial and wedding wishes!
The Quote in the Toast The Maid of Honor gave a lovely toast at the reception and shared this Dr. Suess quote which was completely wedding-appropriate! “We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whos weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
The Gender Reveal While the couple were celebrating their life of newlyweds, they also celebrated another life chapter: becoming new parents. At their reception, the bride and groom opened up poppers with their bridal party that shared the gender reveal! They were able to announce to all of their guests that they would be having a baby girl this fall.
Dessert Parade All of the food from the cocktail hour through to the reception was amazing, but the dessert “took the cake.” After a traditional cake-cutting and serving, the servers came by each table one by one, each with a unique dessert in their hand. They called it a “dessert parade.” It was decadent, extravagant and absolutely delicious.