Jake and Cindy’s wedding planned and designed by Milk Events is soft and romantic and totally dreamy. Set at Greystone Mansion with florals by City Flowers LA and two gorgeous gowns, the day is something to dream about and it’s all here in these stunning images by Kristina Adams Photography
From the bride: Our story began in beautiful sunny California when our paths crossed on that fateful day when Jake was on holiday. The moment we met, we knew there was something special. With Jake in the Big Apple and myself in the Golden State, the idea of a coast to coast relationship was a challenge we faced head on because we knew it will be worth it. The real possibility of happily ever after with Jake came along when my dream of becoming a NYU grad student because a reality and off I went to NYC! Five years later, we got to celebrate our forever love in the state we fell in love with the people we love most.
For our wedding, we wanted to celebrate our coast-to-coast love. What better way to celebrate than making a full circle by coming back to California with New York City style. Our “California meets New York” theme naturally came to light by combining elements from our beloved home states to create a feel for our guests that provided a “relaxed but timeless” vibe. We brought in classic New York elements of traditional elegance, chic, sophistication into a very laid back, outdoor, sunny, charming Californian venue all with hints of modern elements.
Photography: Kristina Adams Photography // Planning and Design: Milk Events // Floral Design: City Flowers LA // Stationery: Milk Events // Venue: Greystone Mansion // Videography: Emma Lynn Cinema // Ceremony Gown: Vera Wang // Reception Gown: Kitty Chen // Hair and makeup: Sherilyn Beauty // Rentals: MTB Event Rentals // Catering: Silver Services // Photo Booth: Pixster Photo Booth // Ring Box: The Mrs. Box
Kate and Grant dated long distance in college and when Kate visited WestPoint, she would stay at the Thayer Hotel, so it it was a natural choice for the location of their reception following their traditional ceremony at the breathtaking Cadet Chapel. The couple enlisted the help of planners Table 6 Productions to create their stunning day filled with sentimental details in blue and bold, brilliant florals by Faye and Renee, vibrant watercolors by Bohemian Mint and a Momofuku Milk Bar cake that was shipped directly to the reception!! Loving all the joie de vivre in Kate and Grant’s day and it’s all captured here by Rodeo and Co.
What made the wedding special and unique?
From the photographer: So many aspects! First of all, the cloche jar display wall for the escort cards is one of our favorites. But also the location was so unique! Getting married in the WestPoint Chapel is a super memorable setting because it’s a breathtaking chapel. The entire WestPoint grounds are gorgeous, and I think every guest appreciated just walking around and seeing the amazing views!
Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it!
Kate found her dress at Kleinfeld’s! She wanted something unique but that still had an elegance to it – just like her! I remember her sending us the picture of it, and we were BLOWN away. It is stunning and honestly no picture could do it justice! The beauty is in the details.
What were some touches added to make the wedding personal?
Definitely the WestPoint Military traditions added such a personal touch. They sabered champagne for their toast, did a saber arch after exiting the ceremony, had an ice sculpture of the academy’s logo, had a table for their fallen soldiers, and so many other small things! It definitely made it feel super personal for both of them. Also, the Momofuku cake was a must for Kate – we literally used Fed Ex to ship the cake to the Thayer Hotel!!! It HAD to be the original Momofuku, and if you taste it you’ll realize why it’s totally worth it.
What was the most memorable part of the day?
The band! They were AMAZING. We have used Hank Lane Music multiple times before, and we are continually impressed with the quality of their bands. Everyone was dancing ALL night and kept raving about them.
Photographer: Rodeo and Co // Planner: Table 6 Productions // Stationery: Bohemian Mint // Floral: Faye and Renee // Venue: WestPoint Military Academy and the Thayer Hotel // Videographer: Blue Moon Video // Dress: Isabelle Armstrong New York // Dress Store: Kleinfeld’s // Music: Hank Lane // Cake: Momofuku Milk Bar // Beauty: Beautini // Transportation: Peekskill Trolley Company // Live Painter: Peter Pluchino // Rentals: Durant Rentals // Velvet Ring Box: The Mrs. Box
We love stand-out details and the vibrant florals at Emily and Ben’s Newport, Rhode Island nuptials are unforgettable! The couple requested that florists Greenlion Design, create blooms that reflected their joy and laughter with each other and the bright displays of corals and pinks at Belle Mer: A Longwood Venue do just that. Invitations are by Minted, cake by I Dream of Jeanne Cakes and fabulous-as-always photography by Erin McGinn.
What made the wedding special and unique?
We originally wanted to go away and have a small destination wedding but decided to have our wedding on the water in Newport so it would be a destination for others and then to go to have a tropical getaway in a hut on the water in the Maldives for our honeymoon. The island house seems like the perfect mix of casual, beachy chic that fits our relationship – we like to have fun together and laugh. I wanted the flowers to represent us as well, so we’re having Greenlion have a bright display of pinks and corals to make the space pop and as Kim said – make it look like a celebration!
Ben wooed me with Champagne when we first started dating, so we had a bubbles bar to celebrate the next journey of our bubbly love as a married couple! Ben’s parents are big fans of the arts, so they commissioned a local German artist to create a “story of our love” painting, which shows the start as two houses (mine is a calculator since I work in finance ha!!) and Ben’s is a depiction of his childhood home that he grew up in (and his parents still live in) in Recklinghausen, Germany. The top of the painting shows the merging of our love in a hot air balloon with German/American flags. There are many small personal details throughout the painting, including the Newport Pell Bridge, which was visible from our wedding venue. We had small versions of the painting made to include with our thank you notes so that each guest had their own signed copy to commemorate our special day.
We incorporated some of Emily’s Irish heritage in the wedding by having a traditional Celtic handfasting ceremony. It was a special moment where we symbolically bound together our lives, hopes and dreams in front of our closest family and friends.
Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it!
After trying on many gowns, my wedding dress stylist at Madeline’s Daughter Bridal in Portsmouth, NH pulled out a “wild card.” Looking at it on the hanger, it was everything that I said that I didn’t want – strapless and fitted, but I figured it can’t hurt to just try it on. Once, I put on the Watters Taylor dress, I knew it was the one – soft and romantic, with unique Coquille lace and a fit-and-flare shape that fit my personality to a T! The best part is that it was very comfortable and easy to dance in!
What were some touches added to make the wedding personal?
Ben’s cuff links were handmade by his grandfather and Emily’s bouquet had her grandmother’s handkerchief wrapped around the base of the flowers to remember our loved ones that couldn’t be with us that day. Emily’s father made personalized cornhole boards for the outdoor cocktail hour. We also had a bubbles bar and a bourbon bar, which are our favorite drinks!
What was the most memorable part of the day?
It was a beautiful, special day and we wanted the wedding to be a big, fun party full of laughs and dancing. Our band, Men in Black, made sure the dance floor was full the entire night!
Tell us how you met and became engaged.
Ben is a dentist and Emily’s childhood friend who worked for him as a dental hygienist introduced them. He wrote Emily the cutest email entitled, “Two Gingers” and it was smooth sailing from that first day. We got engaged on a weekend getaway in Boston 15 months later.
Photography: Erin McGinn // Floral Design: Greenlion Design // Invitations: Minted // Wedding Venue: Belle Mer: A Longwood Venue // Wedding Dress: Madeline’s Daughter // Wedding Dress: Watters // Hair and Makeup: Jennie Kay beauty // Cake: I Dream of Jeanne Cakes // Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Jenny Yoo // Ring Box: The Mrs. Box // Shoes: Jimmy Choo // Band: Men In Black // Rentals: Peak Event Services
Inspired by Claude Monet’s dreamy, impressionist paintings of his flowers and gardens, this painterly editorial designed by East Made Co channeled the delicacy of a changing season and the joy behind a thoughtfully designed wedding day. The style direction features floaty, ethereal gowns by Marchesa, pastel-hued blooms by Nava Floral, and a cake by Trouvaille Bakery depicting Monet’s famed water lilies with the dreamy Southern background of The Estate at Cherokee Dock along the Cumberland River. Take inspiration from Impressionist masterpieces with light and airy colors and fluid details from nature in these gorgeous images captured by the amazing Olivia Carson.
Photography: Olivia Carson // Host: Sophie Kaye Photography // Creative Direction & Styling: East Made Co // Florist: Nava Floral // Calligraphy: Shotgunning for Love // Venue: The Estate at Cherokee Dock // Gowns: Marchesa // Hair & Makeup: Caitlyn Meyer // Cake: Trouvaille Bakery // Shoes: Bella Belle Shoes // Rings: Victor Barbone // Styling Surfaces: Locust Collection // Styling Props: Curated Behavior // Rentals: Liberty Party Rental // Linens: La Tavola Linen // Models: Amax Talent
When we first laid eyes on Jocelyne and Thomas’s wedding, it was hard to pull away from the show-stopping ruby-red, pink, blush and white florals—they are STUNNING. But, it’s the groom’s description of their vision—how they got to Blossom & Vine‘s florals, and all the details of their day—that has us smitten. The day at Patapsco Female Institute, or as Thomas refers to it “the Greek revival style ruins of a Civil-War-era-girls’-finishing-school-turned-Gilded-Age-summer-hotel-turned-World-War-I-veteran’s-hospital that felt a little like a forgotten wing of Hogwarts tucked away on a wooded hilltop in central Maryland” was planned by Blue Canary Events and introduced with gorgeous invitations by Shore Calligraphy. Read as Thomas explains how the couple created a special day that was truly “them,” with rain, and love and cheer and beautiful images by Alice Che Photography.
From the groom: We initially talked about having a vintage, organic, outdoor, springtime wedding. And I suppose if you wanted, you could probably find pieces of each of those descriptors reflected in various elements of our actual wedding. (I say “probably” because if I were being totally honest, I’d admit that I still don’t know quite what all those words mean–and certainly not strung together like that.) But the truth is, as we wound our way through our sixteen-month-long engagement, the wedding-planning-by-checklist-of-abstract-adjectives approach gradually gave way to a simpler directive: the wedding–every detail of it–should feel like us.
And there could not have been more appropriate way for us to plan our wedding. One of the most important lessons Jocelyne and I have taught each other is that, when you’ve found your person, preconceived notions of what a relationship should look like go out the window. Even if you had long thought that your ideal partner would be an NPR-listening, hybrid-pickup-driving vegetarian, you may just discover that your soulmate checks none of those boxes (being, instead, a political moderate who enjoys munching mediocre chicken fingers while taking in a Nats game)–and that the life the two of you will build together is something new for both of you. So that’s what we did. From the venue–the Greek revival style ruins of a Civil-War-era-girls’-finishing-school-turned-Gilded-Age-summer-hotel-turned-World-War-I-veteran’s-hospital that felt a little like a forgotten wing of Hogwarts tucked away on a wooded hilltop in central Maryland; to the favors–a hundred of our favorite books, from all stages of our lives; to the officiant–Thomas’s boss and good friend from the best job (and, perhaps, year) of his life; every aspect was uniquely, weirdly us. Jocelyne’s lifelong obsession with dinosaurs meant that, of course, she’d process to the Jurassic Park Theme Song. (And our collective obsession–that none of our family seemed to share–with an odd, internet mashup of Shut Up And Dance With Me and Video Killed The Radio Star meant that a string quartet arrangement of the former 2 would serve as our recessional.)
Thomas’s love of fruit led to a smattering of fresh, ruby-red strawberries amongst the otherwise white and blush and candy-apple red floral arrangements (as well as a tier of white cake with blackberry buttercream and passion fruit curd in a cake that was otherwise designed to, as Jocelyne said, “be as chocolatey as possible without literally being brown”). And songs that our parents introduced us to as young children turned into the backing tracks for our mother-son (Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay) and father-daughter (Doo-Wah-Diddy) dances. (The unbridled enthusiasm of the latter–which Jocelyne’s dad had been choreographing for months–can’t be adequately described here. Suffice it to say, whatever you’re imagining, it was better.) Even Jocelyne’s dress had our fingerprints on it, as she rejected the idea of an off-the-rack purchase, and instead opted for a custom-made combination of halves of two different dresses by Eve of Milady.
And now, that’s really the defining thing that has stuck with us: that whatever it was that we built, it really felt like us. One of my favorite pictures from the wedding (of the literally thousand-plus pictures that our amazing friend-slash-photographer Alice sent us) is of the two of us standing just outside one of the venue’s stone window frames, looking in at our friends and family on the dance floor, warmly lit by the light of about a thousand candles. There are precious few opportunities on your wedding day to pause and reflect, but (thanks to Alice’s foresight) we were lucky enough to have the chance to step back and take in the full view of that enchanted evening that we had created together.
Photography: Alice Che Photography // Planner: Blue Canary Events // Second Photographer: Inloveness Photography // Florals: Blossom & Vine// Calligraphy: Shore Calligraphy // Venue: Patapsco Female Institute // Dress Designer: Eve of Milady // Wedding Dress Boutique: Elegance by Roya // Hair: Ashley Taylor // Makeup: Tymia Yvette // Cake: Fluffy Thoughts Bakery
// Catering: Main Event Caterers // Rentals: Something Vintage Rentals // Band: The Finns by Sam Hill Entertainment