We’re so delighted to be sharing the Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Nicki, a life sciences consultant, and Ricky, an options trader! Last year we featured the couple’s fabulous micro wedding – planned in just two weeks! – and it’s such a treat to share their bigger celebration with you now.
By the time the big day rolled around, Nicki and Ricky had already been married for ten months. So they decided to change things up, making this wedding more a celebration of their love than a traditional wedding. Rather than repeating the Jewish ceremony, this time around they had prayers celebrating their love.
Nicki is lucky enough to be the daughter of mega-talented wedding planner and Smashing The Glass Recommended VendorSusie of Pink House Productions, and naturally her mom took charge bringing the day together. Among other things, we’re in love with what Susie did with the table designs, all in the couple’s wedding colors of pink and gold – don’t miss them in the gorgeous photos by Mark S. Kornbluth!
In Nicki’s words, “We were so beyond happy to finally be able to celebrate with our friends and family even if it was a little smaller, ten months later, and in a different place than originally intended.”
Now over to the bride, who looked ever so elegant in Caroline Castigliano…
How we Met
Nicki, the bride and Ricky, the groom: We were set up by mutual friends in July 2016. Ricky was living in Philly and Nicki was living in NYC and our first date happened when we were both out in the Hamptons for a weekend.
An Outdoor Wedding
Alpine Country Club. Ricky’s parents are members here, and we are members here. Our wedding was originally supposed to be at the Metropolitan Club in NYC (which we love!) but when COVID hit and we were unsure of indoor/outdoor requirements, we moved it to Alpine just in case (and we also love it there!).
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
Brides Club was definitey helpful for our first little mini wedding which was planned in two weeks (and also featured on STG previously!). We got our ketubah for the original wedding ceremony from Ketubah.com, and they were terrific to work with and super fast and accommodating!
When the MOB Is a Wedding Planner
My mom is a wedding planner (and STG vendor!) Pink House Productions and so I was lucky enough to have a planner who knew my style inside and out. She tailored everything to us perfectly. Our color scheme was pink and gold.
Invitations / stationery
Bella Figura / Pink House Productions
Lots of special touches including the painted light pink edge, collection of vintage stamps on the envelope, and white on white wax seal without monogram which was carried throughout the wedding.
Hair + Make-up
I wanted to go for a relaxed natural feel since this wedding was more of a “celebration” of our marriage than a full on wedding (we did the full Jewish ceremony last August in an intimate wedding with our immediate family). Stacey from Once Upon a Bride did my hair and Laura from By Laura Ann did my makeup. Both were amazing!
A Caroline Castigliano Dress
Dress was from Plumed Serpent Bridal in Westport, CT (town where I grew up) and was designed by Caroline Castigliano. It was very simple and very me. I cried when I tried it on. I loved it so much and wish I could wear it again! Plus having a British dress designer reminded me of Parent Trap.
Plumed Serpent Bridal was also great to work with and it felt great giving a local store our business.
Accessories
My veil was from Marionat Bridal and I loved it! Since my dress was so simple, I opted for a veil with 3D flowers appliqued on it and some embellishments. I actually wore the veil at both the small ceremony with my short dress and at this wedding celebration with the dress it was originally intended for!
Shoes
Started with a pair of Badgley Mischka and then quickly changed into a pair of custom sneakers Bedazzled by my sister Katie!
The handsome groom
A tux with a navy bow tie to match his blue eyes. He also changed into Nike Jordan 1’s (black and gold) later on in the evening.
Bridesmaids
My sisters were my maids of honor and my sisters-in-law were my bridesmaids. My sisters wore custom gold dresses made by Jennifer Butler in Fairfield, CT and my sisters-in-law wore gold/champagne.
Ceremony
Since we had already had the Jewish ceremony last August, we wanted to make this ceremony feel more like a celebration of our love and marriage. We didn’t have a chuppah since we were already married and instead had prayers celebrating our love and us as a couple. We also each wrote letters to each other last August at our wedding, and so at this wedding we wrote new letters reflecting on our last 10 months of marriage.
At our first ceremony, we had my family rabbi. At this one, we had a family member who is a rabbi and was super funny about doing a “non” wedding ceremony. It was really warm.
Ketubah
Ketubah.com and has been hanging on our wall since we were married last August!
Chuppah
No chuppah for the second time around, but we had a beautiful square arch with florals as a backdrop during the ceremony.
Our Music Choice
Our band was The Collective from On The Move and they were incredible. Our processional matched what we used for our first small wedding, which was Home by Philip Philips. Our recessional was ‘This Will Be!’ by Natalie Cole as I am a HUGE parent trap fan! Our first dance was ‘Your Song’ by Elton John.
Flowers
Danae from Stefan Event Decor did the flowers and they were incredible. Fresh seasonal flowers in shades of pink lit up the room. I prefer low flowers with lots of candles. My personal favorite was the single variety vases we did on the long tables. We also had beautiful centrepieces in antique gold vases on the round tables.
Special shoutout to Susie (my mom) for the incredible table designs – everything from the tablecloth to the charger to the chairs to the pink cushion was perfection and not a detail was missed! We were so lucky to be able to have lots of peonies, which have a very limited time span. The entire placecard table was peonies as was my Bouquet.
Photographer and videographer
Photographer was Mark S. Kornbluth (with Heather Erny) and videographer was Eddie Frente, both of whom work with my mom, so they really went the extra yard for us. We have over 1400 photos and can’t wait to see the video.
Food and Cake
Alpine Country Club and the food was incredible! Cake was from La Promenade in Tenafly NJ.
Entertainment
The Collective from On The Move – incredible.
Favors
Custom hand sanitzers were dispersed throughout the bathroom, custom trucker hats on the dance floor, and at the end of the night a killer breakfast bar! Breakfast is my favorite food and I am obsessed with cereal, so we had a huge cereal bar including my personal favorite, Special K Red Berries, homemade pop tarts and a custom doughnut wall.
Extra details
Every detail was planned to perfection by Susie. I didn’t have to lift a finger during this process and the wedding was the most beautiful, thoughtful event. We were so beyond happy to finally be able to celebrate with our friends and family even if it was a little smaller, ten months later, and in a different place than originally intended.
Honeymoon
We went in April to Hawaii and it was amazing! We used Sharon Wesson from Come Wander Travels and she was great.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Getting married in a small wedding last August was the best decision we could have made as a couple. It took so much stress and pressure off of our planning and we were so happy to be married. For this wedding, since we were already married, we really just wanted it to be a celebration of our love and it definitely had that vibe. Also, I was the luckiest bride in the world to have a mom who is such a talented wedding planner. I can’t recommend her enough to every single bride out there!
NICKI & RICKY’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Mark S. Kornbluth with Heather Erny
Wedding planner – Pink House Productions
Ketubah – Ketubah.com {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Stationery/Invitation – Bella Figura
Videographer – Eddie Frente
Venue – Alpine Country Club
Bride’s dress – Caroline Castigliano found at Plumed Serpent Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Badgley Mischka
Bride’s accessories – Marionat Bridal
Hair + Makeup – Once Upon a Bride AND By Laura Ann
Flowers – Stefan Event Decor
Band – The Collective On The Move
Catering – Alpine Country Club
Cake – La Promenade
Rabbi – Howard Shapiro
Travel Agent- Come Wander Travels
