It’s wedding day!! Just like it was last year, it’s a beautiful day in New York City and the perfect day for a Christmastime wedding. I’ve shared our rehearsal dinner, getting ready with the bride + groom, our first look and we finally made our way to the ceremony!
Our ceremony was one of my favorite parts of the day. So often, I see brides focus most on the reception, what it will look like, what it will feel like, who will make a speech, etc. and I really wanted to put the same level of attention to detail into our ceremony as the party itself. While I did not want a long ceremony, I did have a lot to accomplish throughout so it took a lot of planning and organization to achieve my vision.
Our guests arrived between 7-7:30 pm, only 30 minutes after the library closed to the public. 😱 Guests were greeted with soft melodies from our harpist, warm apple cider, and mineral water. When they walked to take their seats, they were prompted to take lace handkerchiefs for their happy tears, embroidered with our names + wedding date.
Unlike most weddings, I wanted our whole extended family to be a part of our processional, not just our bridal party. We are as close to our grandparents, aunts, and uncles as we are to some of the people in our bridal party, so it just made sense for them to have a moment walking down the aisle. The processional started with our officiant then followed by Tom, his best man, our grandparents, our aunts & uncles on all sides, Tom’s parents, our bridesmaids & groomsmen, my maid of honor, and then finally, I walked down the aisle with my mom & dad at my side. It was a PRODUCTION but all-in-all I’m happy we included everyone.
With such a long processional, the music really mattered. People were waiting in their seats for ~10 minutes just watching people walk down the aisle so I wanted to make sure it was something they could jam to. Tom through his parents walked down to an instrumental version of Sky Full Of Stars by Coldplay, our bridal party walked down to an instrumental medley of Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams & Love Story, and I walked down to an instrumental version of Can’t Help Falling In Love. Our recessional song was New York, New York by Frank Sinatra, which segued into a classic NYC jazz performance during our cocktail hour.
Walking down the aisle was absolutely surreal. Firstly, the steps were TREACHEROUS. I was so nervous I was going to fall and I think I did trip on my dress a bit when I turned to the 300+ people looking at me but once I met my parents at the bottom of the stairs, I felt at ease. I was so happy we all walked down together and I was able to hug and kiss them before joining Tom under the chuppah.
We worked very closely with our officiant, Gerald, on every piece of our ceremony script. He was so patient with us and really took the time to get to know us and what our priorities were. Even though Tom & I were both raised Catholic, weddings in the Jewish faith are monumental, and really wanted to honor that for my Dad. We wanted both Jewish and Catholic traditions weaved in but when you get married at the NYPL you need to have a largely nondenominational ceremony since it is a public institution. So much so that we had to call our chuppah a canopy. That being said, the biggest religious traditions we incorporated were the lighting of the unity candle, which we invited our moms up to help with us, and the stomping of the glass. The rest of the ceremony was filled with poems that we love. Specifically, one called Love Is Like Owning A Dog, to honor our little golden doodle, Duncan, who did not participate in wedding festivities.
The full ceremony was no more than 30 minutes. With such a late start (7:30 PM), we wanted to get RIGHT to the party. Check back tomorrow for more details on our reception.
