Southern Weddings

Besides the bride and groom, of course, the florals really had pride of place at Jenn + Jie’s wedding, don’t you think?  The amazing arrangements of dahlias and other bright, happy blooms were the mastermind of the lovely bride herseld, while the too-cute cake was from Cake Man Raven.  And the stunning photos?  Those are all thanks to Angelica Glass.  See more on her blog here!

Tell us about finding your wedding dress:  I’m very self conscious about revealing too much skin. I had spent lunchtime of a weekday afternoon browsing dresses in a big-name store in Midtown, and was feeling pretty bummed about the bad customer service I received at such a large outfit. There were only four months to plan the wedding and I was told that all dresses need six months to order (which, is far from true, as I later found out). Needless to say, I was having a freak-out. After work I trekked to the nearest David’s bridal in Woodside, Queens. A saleslady welcomed me warmly and patiently helped my try on dresses of all shapes and sizes. By the end of the evening, three, maybe closer to four hours later, I had my dress. Off it went to be tailored. My mother and aunt then put the finishing touches on my wedding dress over Labor Day weekend:  matching ivory Alencon lace cover the keyhole back, a simple bustle to help me move around. Wonderful, helpful people saved me from my wedding dress dilemma.
Describe your wedding flowers: My wedding flowers were early fall blooms that Jie and I picked up from a downtown flower stall at a deli and the weekend farmer’s market only a couple days before the wedding. With about fifty pounds of flowers, we cabbed it back to Queens and proceeded to put each bouquet in water with a pinch of plant food. Buckets, pots, vases, jam jars, were all used. My bridesmaids slept over our apartment the night before the wedding. Before going to sleep, we each created our own bouquets that we’d be carrying down the aisle the next day and put them in water. The morning of, we scrambled to make boutonnieres and wedding centerpieces. The wedding party carted away the flowers to the restaurant and my aunt helped me clean up the floral tornado of discarded leaves and stems.
Describe your wedding cake: Cake Man Raven red velvet cake that my husband and most of my friends love. Sugary cream cheese frosting and three vibrant, red layers.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding?
Were there any wedding traditions or new ideas you included in the wedding?   We included the “gift to the parents” section of the wedding where we gave handmade flower bouquets to both sets of parents during the ceremony to symbolize a giving-back to those who gave us the most.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? The most memorable moment was right after the ceremony when it just us together alone in the back courtyard of the restaurant.  We were able to get away from the craziness for the first time on that day and felt really relieved.
Did you write your own vows?  If so, what was your favorite phrase, verse or line?  Our vows were tweaked from template selections that our officiant provided for us. We personalized them so that they were more meaningful and representative of us as a couple.
What’s next for you as a couple?  What are you looking forward to in the future?  We are waiting for our new condo to finally be completed so that we can move in. We have a name picked out for our future dog, “Berky” short for Berkshire as in Berkshire pork. We just have to find Berky. He’s waiting for us.