Pendry Natirar Wedding : Jamie & Jordan : Peapack, NJ

Some ceremonies feel written for their setting, and this one was. As the sun dropped low over the Somerset County hills, mist settling into the valley below, Jamie and Jordan stood beneath a chuppah heavy with garden roses, hydrangea, and delphinium, the kind of arrangement that looked like it had grown there. Rabbi Ethan Prosnit officiated, guests in yarmulkes filling rows of white folding chairs on the terrace, the view behind them doing most of the talking. Before the ceremony, the two signed the ketubah with their families gathered close, laughing through the nerves. They walked back out as married to "For Once in My Life," a Stevie Wonder recessional that set the tone for the night that followed.

Cocktail hour brought smoked salmon canapés stacked on crisps and scattered with microgreens and edible flowers, and portraits on the property while the light held. Then it was into the ballroom, where greenery and string lights hung low over long tables dressed in blush and lavender, candlelight doing the rest of the work. Every detail in that room ran on schedule and without a hitch, courtesy of Carrie Gold. Troy Curtis Entertainment kept the room moving from the first dance on — "How Sweet It Is" for Jamie and Jordan, "Blue Sky" for the father-daughter dance, Tina Turner for mother and son. Toasts landed somewhere between funny and full of feeling, the kind that get quoted back at Thanksgiving for years.

The hora took over the floor not long after, guests circling and lifting chairs, and by the time the night wound down into the mezinka, flower crowns were making their way around the room — laughter, not tradition, driving most of it. A three-tier cake, simple and pearled, waited its turn at the edge of the dance floor. Signature drinks made their rounds all night: a dirty vodka martini for Jordan, a paloma for Jamie, both a fitting shorthand for two people who know exactly what they like.

By the end of the night, the ballroom had that particular kind of chaos that means a wedding went well — ties loosened, shoes off, everyone still on the floor. Somerset County obliged with a soft, pink sky to send them off.

Vendor Credits

Photography: Brian Hatton Photography

Videography: Frank Ahn Films

Venue: Pendry Natirar

Florist & Decor: David Mitchell Fine Events

Band: Troy Curtis Entertainment

Lighting & Planning: Carrie Gold Events

Hair: Brittany Roveda

Makeup: Cara Gardner

Photo Booth: BNEvent Group

Rentals: Broadway Party Rental

Stationery: Etched in Sloane

Brooklyn Winery Wedding : Jen & Nate : Brooklyn, NY

Jen and Nate started the day at Hunters Point South Park, out on the cantilevered pathway that seems to stretch straight across the East River, the Williamsburg Bridge towers rising up behind them and the skyline stacked in the distance — the kind of backdrop that makes a simple hand-in-hand walk look like something out of a film. From there the wedding party regrouped at Domino Park, fourteen of Jen and Nate's closest people gathered under a woven canopy with the bridge looming overhead, laughing so hard mid-photo that half of them didn't make it into frame with their eyes open.

Brooklyn Winery has a way of making a room feel lived-in before anything's even happened in it. Exposed brick, reclaimed wood, a wall of hanging greenery that climbs almost to the ceiling — it reads less like a rented-out event space and more like somewhere you'd stumble into on a Saturday afternoon and not want to leave. That's the room Jen and Nate got married in: warm, a little wild around the edges, string lights threaded through the plants overhead.

The ketubah signing happened at a long wood table under that same warm light, friends leaning in over Nate's shoulder as he signed, Jen watching with her hand already laced through his. Two grandmothers found each other before the ceremony and held hands like they'd been saving up all day for it. The ceremony itself ran right under the plant wall, Frank and Bailey Bolton — friends of the couple — officiating in place of clergy, the room hushed and green and glowing.

Cocktail hour moved easy for an hour before dinner: beef tartare passed on wooden boards, menus printed with the date and a green goddess salad to start. Dinner sat everyone at candlelit farm tables under the same living wall, the sweetheart table framed by cascading orange, pink, and yellow florals from Rosehip Social that spilled almost to the floor — the kind of arrangement that makes the whole room smell like a garden. Toasts ran the length of the table, wine glasses raised, the room laughing along before anyone even sat back down.

Then the smaller room lit up — a disco ball overhead, the crowd packed in tight, everyone still in their toasting clothes and dancing like it. Nate had his bow tie half undone by midnight. Jen was mid-spin, laughing at someone off-camera. It's the kind of energy that doesn't happen unless the room lets it — and Brooklyn Winery, brick and green and candlelit, gave them exactly that.

Congratulations, Jen and Nate.

🥂 Photography — Brian Hatton

🏛️ Venue — Brooklyn Winery

📋 Planning — Event Joy

💐 Florals — Rosehip Social

💄 Hair & Makeup — Bisou Beauty Team

🎧 DJ — Non Traditional Wedding DJs

🎥 Videography — James Liu Films

🤵 Groom's Attire — Black Lapel

💡 Lighting — Universal Light and Sound

Sleepy Hollow Country Club Wedding : Lauren & Jack : Briarcliff Manor, NY

Lauren wanted the day to feel timeless, romantic, and elevated with a refined evening feel — and Sleepy Hollow Country Club gave her exactly that kind of range without ever having to leave the property. The 1911 mansion in Briarcliff Manor sits high above the Hudson, its Italian Renaissance facade framed by old trees and a golf course that rolls straight down toward the water, and by the time the light started to go gold over the Palisades, it felt like the house had been waiting all day for that exact hour.

Lauren got ready upstairs in a Danielle Frankel gown, architectural through the bodice and soft everywhere else, paired with Christian Dior heels she'd have on her feet well past midnight. Her father's first look happened on the staircase in front of the Tiffany windows, that particular slant of colored light landing across the hallway right as he turned the corner and saw her — the kind of moment that doesn't need staging, just someone in the right spot with a camera already raised. Jack had his own version of it fifteen minutes later, in the private courtyard behind the club, the two of them alone for a few minutes before either family pulled them back into the day.

Ceremony ran 5:30 to 6:00 on the front lawn, rows of white folding chairs facing the mansion with the river and the hills behind it, gold urns at the aisle's edge holding loose, garden-cut arrangements of peach and blush from Forever in Bloom that didn't look overworked so much as gathered. A live painter had arrived earlier that afternoon and worked off to the side through the vows, building the scene in real time the way the guests were living it. Sunset landed at 8:07, right in the middle of dinner, and the terrace cocktail hour that preceded it ran long enough to catch the first shift in the light — string lights coming on gradually against a sky that kept changing color while people found their seats and caught up.

Inside the tent, the room went from soft daylight to candlelight almost without anyone noticing, tall pastel arrangements anchoring each table under two crystal chandeliers, the kind of lighting that makes a big room feel close. Lauren and Jack were announced into their first dance a little after seven, and her father stepped in on violin right after — not a detail you get to write very often. The father-daughter dance rolled straight into a mother-son dance before the room broke for the first course.

From there the night moved through its usual rhythm and then some: guests locking arms in a circle, someone's uncle getting hoisted overhead mid-song, light-up wands passed through the crowd later as the band leaned into its last stretch. Cake cutting came around 9:30 — Ron Ben-Israel's tiers pulled just off to the side of the dance floor for a quick photo rather than a full room moment, then back to dancing.

And at the end of the night, Lauren's father brought the car around for the classic photo exit — Jack and Lauren pulling off into the dark in a vintage Porsche while the whole party spilled out to watch, headlights cutting across the driveway before the two of them looped back to change and head off in a town car for the after-party.

Brian Hatton Photography - brianhattonweddings.com
Danielle Frankel — daniellefrankelstudio.com
Forever in Bloom — foreverinbloomonline.com
Ron Ben-Israel Cakes — weddingcakes.com
Hank Lane Music / Kevin Osborne Band — hanklane.com
First Day Films — firstdayfilms.com
Bridal by Alexandria — bridalbyalexandria.com
Katie Schlichting, Day-Of Wedding Coordinator
Sleepy Hollow Country Club — sleepyhollowcc.org

NY Historical Society Wedding : Liz & Evan : New York, NY

Elizabeth and Evan got married on a Saturday evening in April at the New York Historical Society, tucked into the Upper West Side just across from Central Park — the kind of New York wedding that feels effortless because every detail was so clearly considered.

After getting ready, the day started blocks away in the park. Triplets Bridge, the Ladies Pavilion at the water's edge, the stone arch at West 77th — spring canopy just coming in, that first fresh green against grey stone and yellow cabs. Guests filtered into the Smith Lobby for cocktails, then moved into the PDK Library for the ceremony: rows of chairs, a hydrangea-lined aisle, a floral arch framed against the room's original stained glass. Officiant Alex Hance led the ceremony to Hans Zimmer's Interstellar theme, Elizabeth walked in to a string quartet version of "Can't Help Falling in Love," and the room emptied out to Avicii's "Levels" — phones down the entire time, which changes the way a room watches a wedding. You could feel it.

Cocktails moved through the Skylight Gallery and past the museum's Tiffany lamp collection — not staged, just there, glowing behind the guests the whole time. Dinner was in Dexter Hall, under a two-story Picasso, with floral print linens, gold tapers, and low hydrangea centerpieces echoing the ceremony flowers. Melarosa built the whole palette in blues, whites, and greens — quiet, garden-toned, nothing overworked.

Then the library transformed. Black and white checkerboard floor down, GYE took the stage, and the first dance to Kygo's "Firestone" opened a night that didn't let up — father-daughter to Celine Dion, mother-son sliding from "Stand By Me" into "I Want You Back," and at 11pm, Evan and Elizabeth stepped behind the decks themselves for a surprise DJ set that the room will be talking about for years. Cake cutting came late, to Benson Boone, a four-tier white cake from One the Cake standing at the center of it all. Brunch the next morning at Park Loggia closed things out slow, the way the best weekends do.

Photography: Brian Hatton

Planning: EAP Weddings

Venue: New York Historical Society

Catering: Great Performances

Florals: Melarosa

Video: First Day Films

Band: GYE / Soundtrack Central

Beauty: VickyC5

Cake: One The Cake

Dance Floor: Dance Floor Kings

Lighting: L&M

Photo Booth: 321 Photo Booth NYC

Crystal Plaza Wedding : Marnie & Brandon : Livingston, NJ

Marnie & Brandon were married in April at Crystal Plaza: a converted turn-of-the-century mansion in Livingston, NJ — over thirty crystal chandeliers, a gold-detailed ceiling, a round marble dance floor. For a Jewish wedding with big families and a full evening of dancing, it's nearly impossible to beat.

The day started the evening before, at Orange Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange for the rehearsal dinner. By the time wedding morning arrives, the families already know each other a little better, the nerves have been burned off, and everything runs warmer.

Planner Carrie Gold of Carrie Gold Events has been with Marnie's family for twenty-five years — she planned Marnie's bat mitzvah, and here she was again for the wedding. That kind of history is rare, and you feel it in how a day like this runs. Carrie brought me on board, and the day reflected her in every detail.

The morning began with Marnie's father David seeing her before anyone else. He came through the door and just stopped. Marnie reached out to steady him and he laughed, which made it worse, which made it better. Her mother was around the corner wiping her eyes before it was even over.

Ceremony was in The Atrium — Crystal Plaza's glass-skylighted upper space. Pedestals built a chuppah that ran wall to wall: hot pink, magenta, purple, coral — roses, orchids, ranunculus, cherry blossom. The aisle matched it all the way to the front. Steve Rimland performed live, Marnie processed in to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" on violin, and Rabbi Amar officiated. The ketubah signing was warm and surrounded — both families crowded close, hands held.

Portraits moved between the atrium and The Vault downstairs — low ceilings, dark paneling, a wall of wine bottles — which photographs completely differently than the ballroom and gives the set a nice range.

Pedestals scaled everything up for the reception: towering centerpieces, taper candles, rose petals, hot pink and deep red against all that gold and crystal. Unique Musique had the floor moving from the first song. Brandon dipped Marnie at the end of their first dance and the room erupted — flower girls front row, completely losing it. The hora ran long. David ended up in the air, arm raised, fully committed. After party until 1:30am.

The cake cutting: Marnie smashed it into Brandon's face with full conviction. His reaction said he probably had it coming.

Congratulations, Marnie and Brandon!