Thursday, April 28, 2011

Gotham Hall Glamour {Nadya + Jordache}




 An unusually windy and intense rain shower was not going to stop Nadya and Jordache from making the most of their wedding day. After almost a year of planning and many missed connections over 22 years, Nadya and Jordache’s wedding day finally arrived. 



This couple has a really special love story.  Their parents went to dental school together and eventually shared an office and at about the age of 8, they ran into each other there. A few years later, they saw each other again at Nadya's Sweet 16 birthday party. It wasn't until the Summer of 2002, 5 years later, that they ran into each other again at (of all places) Best Buy in Rockville. At that meeting, he had to remind her who he was, because she nearly walked past him.  They eventually exchanged phone numbers and have been together ever since.


With the wedding taking place in New York City at Gotham Hall and the couple living there as well, a lot of the planning had to take place over the phone, over email and in short visits to the Big Apple.   Thanks goes to Cindy Altunis and Walter Figueroa at Gotham Hall.  Their team is a well-oiled machine that makes the wedding day (and the planning) a rather enjoyable experience!


The bride began her day at the Trump Hotel Central Park West, surrounded by her attentive bridesmaids and adorable flower girls.  Makeup artist, Stacey Richburg, and her assistant arrived bright and early to begin working on the girls.  After several hours of getting ready, the girls got dressed in their bright purple dresses with a pink flower added to the shoulder, a fun accessory added by the bride.   The colors of the wedding included iridescent purple, pink and blue.


Shira Weinberger, an extremely talented photographer, who is just as great to work with as she is talented, took the girls around NYC before the ceremony to get some really unique shots.  One of my favorites is the bride and bridesmaids in the middle of Grand Central Station.  Our videographers from Open Eye Media, worked alongside of Shira to capture the day’s events.  I can’t wait to share the video!








While the girls and guys were around NYC, there were many vendors hard at work at Gotham Hall.  Bill Enright of Edge Flowers along with Syzygy Events worked on building the larger than life ceremony structure.  Cherry blossom trees lined the aisle and over 400 votives lined the old teller walls.   The lighting for the ceremony, provided by Bentley Meeker, was a blue-ish purple. 





Cool Groove Music provided the ceremony music that included Josh Groban’s "You Raise Me Up" and "When I First Saw You" by Jamie Fox and Beyonce. 








 Following the emotional ceremony, the Harlem Gospel Choir surprised the guests by singing from the mezzanine for the recessional.   It was definitely quite a surprise to everyone! 



Guests made their way to the upstairs mezzanine for cocktails while the florist, lighting, audio visual and band worked to change the room from the ceremony to the reception.  Mirrored tables were mixed in with traditional rounds.  The cherry blossom trees that had lined the aisle were now 1 of the 2 different centerpieces.  Lighting changed from blue-ish purple to an iridescent pink to an iridescent purple as the night went on.  Photos of the couple’s grandparents were enlarged and placed in frames around the room. 



As guests made their way down from cocktails, they were greeted by a 7 foot tree where strand of crystals held each of their escort cards.  This escort tree later was changed into a candy buffet.  


Dinner tables were decorated with votives, boxes of rum cake decorated with the couple’s monogram and personally made by the bride’s aunt, round menu cards placed in the center of the chargers, table numbers that had corresponding pictures of the couple at the age of the table number, just to name a few details.  Stunning linens for the round tables, candy buffet and cake tables were brought in by DC Rental.





The cake was just as detailed as the rest of the wedding, thanks to Chef Benny at City Cakes NY.


Guests enjoyed delicious food provided by caterer Thomas Preti .  After the meal, guests danced the night away, on a seamless white dance floor, to the band The Rhythm Dogs.  DJ Oats, a friend of the couple, came in to turn the party up later in the night.  Those who weren’t dancing chose to get a caricature done by one of the two caricature artists we brought in.








Thank you to everyone who worked on making this event a truly memorable affair.  I could not have done this without all of you!

A special thanks to my assistants for the wedding, Alison and Elissa!  You guys rock!

And finally, congratulations Nadya and Jordache!  I hope you are having a great time in Thailand!

Christine