Amy, a travel agent, and Brad, a mortgage analyst, got engaged in July 2020, during the height of the pandemic. When lockdown finally came to an end, they were ready to party – roaring ‘20s style. Hence the timely theme they chose for their Pennsylvania Jewish wedding: The Great Gatsby!
Their big day was full of fun touches nodding to an era of frivolity and decadence – like the bride’s fabulous Demetrios gown, and tons of feathers mixed in with the florals! We’re also obsessed with the couple’s wonderful Tree of Life Ketubah designed by the amazing Nava Shoham, founder of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor 1-800-ketubah. Amy and Brad loved working with Nava – in their words, she was “so amazing and friendly and flexible” – and obviously they were thrilled with the finished results! Don’t miss it in the wonderful photos by Brittany Boote.
There’s so much more to say about this delightful wedding – like the touching ways the bride chose to honor her late parents – but we’ll leave it to Amy to fill you in on the rest…
How We Met
Amy, the bride: The first time we met was a very brief interaction at an event in April of 2014. Amy was riding on a jazzy after recent knee surgery and “bumped” into Brad, but life happens, and it was meant to just be a hi / bye interaction. Fast forward 3 years and we reconnected by modern day daters’ way of doing it… online.
After some witty conversation and Brad promising to do the “Bend and Snap”, we went to Full Pint Brewery for a good IPA to start off our first date on September 15, 2017. A 7 hour date and some Nicky Thai’s Kitchen for some sustenance along the way and we both knew a second date would follow not too long after. The night of our second date, 5 years prior, is now our wedding anniversary
A Hometown Wedding
When we started talking about where we wanted to get married, we knew that we wanted it to be in my hometown on Wilkes-Barre. My childhood friend Kim (Drank) Granko and her husband Jamie were partners with another local couple in this new wedding venue that was new in 2020 located on the river front which created the most gorgeous landscape for our ceremony and reception.
The Banks Waterfront made the planning process as simple and streamlined as possible. They handled most details in house which made wedding planning so much easier.
Great Gatsby Vibes
Being that Amy spent many years in the event planning space putting on social engagements, galas, and large-scale volunteer days of service, she took the reins to bring her skills of event planning to bring her vision to life. We decided that we wanted to do something different by throwing a Great Gatsby wedding. We got engaged in July of 2020 during the height of the pandemic, so months of lockdown and restrictions on social life have given way to dreams of a new era of frivolity and decadence. For us, it felt like party time.
Invitation
They were designed on Minted. Ended up being the most perfect Art Deco wedding invitation that fit the theme.
Hair + Makeup
Keeping it on the trend with my only using friends for vendors, I went to a dear friend, Tatum, who had owns Thallo Beauty in the hotel we were staying at for the wedding. Not only was she a friend, but her staff is the best in town. When I told her that there’d be about 20 of us she said, no problem we will make it happen.
It was a flawless morning filled with lots of laughter, mimosas, and not an ounce of stress because of Tatum and her team. Makeup was also done at the same location by Erin Piazza and her team. They all did a flawless job and it really was the make up dream team for my gals.
A Demetrios Dress
Being that we were having a Great Gatsby themed wedding, I knew that I needed a dress to match. I looked all over and after a period, all wedding gowns start to look exactly alike. I then went to Luxe Redux Bridal; they specialize in designer sample wedding dresses for Pittsburgh brides. I was shopping for off-the-rack dresses and was able to take my dress home that same day. I had gone with 2 of my sorority sisters to try on a dress and I walked into the store and immediately saw what ended up being my gown.
It was this stunning Demetrios gown. The dress has the right amount of lace and unique detail, but the feathers throughout the bottom of the gown made me swoon. I fell in love immediately, but of course I needed to make it my own. Being that I am 5’2 and this was a very big ballgown of a dress, I knew that I wanted to have it taken down to an A-line gown.
I took it to a highly recommended seamstress, Kati, who owns Topaz Thimble and she made my vision a reality. One beautiful thing Kati did to make my dress even more special was she cut a piece out of my mom’s wedding dress in the shape of a heart and sewed it in over my heart.
Accessories
I was very fortunate to have been given beautiful diamond earrings from my husband to be to wear on our wedding day. My dad passed away when I was 3 and not having him there on my special day was very hard for me, so I decided to wear a gold bracelet that was his. I also chose to wear a Tiffany bracelet that I had given to my mom for her 60th birthday and she wore every day till she passed in 2019 so I have worn it everyday since then in her honor.
As for a veil, I continued down the unconventional path and wore a 1920’s inspired headpiece.
Shoes are such a challenging thing for me. I am typically known for wearing my Birkenstocks no matter the weather, but I decided since it was such a fun day to get shoes that fit the theme. I ordered vintage inspired gold peep toe shoes. I wore them for my first look and then I just couldn’t wear them. I asked my Maid of Honor, Juli, to go and grab my trusty gold Birkenstocks because they are me, no matter how fancy my gown was.
Bridesmaids
HAHA, I always giggle when anyone asks me if I had bridesmaids. The short answer is yes, absolutely, and then I tell them that there were 16 of the most fabulous women I could ever ask for that stood by on my wedding day. 12 of them were bridesmaids, 2 were honor attendants who walked down the aisle to honor my parents, and 1 was my 36-year-old cousin who was my ring bearer and was stunning in a female low-cut tux and my of course very adorable niece Hannah who instead of the typical white flower girl dress wore black and rocked a bubble blowing camera while walking down the aisle.
I had been a bridesmaid 14 times prior to becoming a bride myself. Yes, 14 times and the movie 27 dresses could have been my life, but without the drunk evening singing “Benny and the Jets” or being in love with my sister’s fiancé. I couldn’t imagine all of my favorite gal pals not being by my side and sharing in a special day. They all looked stunning wearing a black off the shoulder gown from Anthropologie.
Ceremony & Chuppah
We had a very heimish ceremony that took place by the riverfront at the Banks Waterfront. Amy’s cousin Steven got ordained to marry us which made it feel very personal. He incorporated who we were as a couple, but also added touches of his Larry David esque humor to bring welcomed humor to the day. Brad walked down the aisle to the Superman theme song which led to lots of smiles. Amy’s parents had passed away and them not being there for such a special day was definitely met with some tears. Amy made the decision to walk herself down the aisle as they were the only people who she would have wanted to have that honor.
Her 2 cousins walked down before her carrying 2 lanterns that led the light of both of them down the aisle and were placed on the first 2 seats in honor of the bride’s parents. During our ceremony, Steven mentioned those that had passed and during that moment a huge gust of wind came through and our ketubah fell over, they certainly wanted us to know they were there for the celebration.
We wrote our own vows and felt the love surrounding us. Our chuppah was Brad’s tallis from his bar mitzvah and had gold leaves that were spray painted and hanging orchards to keep things simple and elegant that was curated by Petals Fleurs.
Ketubah
Our ketubah designer was the amazing Nava Shoham, artist and founder of 1-800-ketubah. The vibrant Tree of Life marriage contract celebrates Jewish tradition with its symbols of rebirth and growth. The tree’s intertwining roots showcase a couple’s strong base, while the blossoming branches represent a couple’s blooming love for one another.
Celebrating the myriad milestones of marriage and the shared journey of life, the deep roots, solid foundation and building blocks of friendship gracefully flow into bountiful blessings. Nava was so amazing and friendly and flexible. Highly recommend her to anyone.
Our music choice
We used DJ Tim Hughes – we went with a DJ to party the night away. Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest ended up being the song that we walked in to as we were being announced at our reception. We had our first dance to Into the Mystic by Van Morrison.
Flowers
We had the help of Chippy White Table in creating the most amazing table scape. They specialize in niche rentals for those who are looking for memorable events. We went for elegant brass, gold & black colors to tie in with the Gatsby theme. Lots of candle light and art deco decor with gold napkins set the mood. Our wedding was not very traditional in many ways and that also applied to how we did our flowers.
All of our bouquets and arrangements were artificial flowers and ostrich feathers for fans for the bridesmaid bouquets. I sadly have terrible allergies to flowers and it was already an emotional day so I wanted to make sure my teary eyes came from happy tears rather than my allergies. Brad’s cousin Tonya in Florida is a florist by trade and I sent her photos to be able to create my dream florals. My bouquet was filled with gold peacock tail feathers and artificial calla lilies throughout. My gals carried ostrich feathered fans and the dapper gentlemen wore artificial calla lilies on their lapels.
Photographer and videographer
We decided to go with Brittany Boote because we were interested in having our photographer curate a meaningful, immersive wedding experience. She prides herself on the art of storytelling, accompanied by honest moments to achieve an iconic retelling of our wedding day experience.
Our videographer was the same as our DJ, Tim Hughes. We love our Tim because he was able to edit footage from our ceremony and then by the time reception had started, our friends and family were able to relive what had happened!
Food and cake
Amy has spent many years working in the hospitality industry putting on weddings, baby showers and every life event in between. She knew that typical wedding food was not what she was looking for. Thankfully, The Banks Waterfront was flexible and allowed us to have food trucks at our black-tie optional wedding.
We ended up having 2 ways 1 passion which was Mexican cuisine (we have traveled to Mexico twice as a couple), Ali’s Middle Eastern Food (we both have been to Israel) and Fiamma Rossa Catering Company with Woodfire Pizza (Italy will be where we are going on our honeymoon). We decided against having a cake and decided to go with food truck All Belgium which was a Belgium Ice Cream Waffle Food Truck with our favorite flavors of ice cream and toppings.
The made-to-order dinners were a hit. Often our friends and family split up and shared tapas with the other guests at their tables. Each of the food trucks gave out our delicious food on special monogramed A / B on butcher paper.
Roaring ’20s
Being that it was a Great Gatsby wedding, we encouraged our guests to come dressed in their Roaring 20’s finest. There was lots of glitz and glamour, and our friends and family certainly did not disappoint. We decided to put family pictures throughout the venue that sat atop mini vintage bar carts. Brad’s best man, Brad gave such a sincere speech and my Maid of Honor Juli gave such a heartwarming speech and slideshow touching on our over 4 decades of friendship.
To top the night off, we gave all of our guests chocolate covered popcorn from Sugar Plum, which just happens to be owned by Neil Edley, a childhood friend of Amy’s.
Having been to and in so many weddings, I often know that people get board when waiting for the bridal party to come down the aisle. So, as a fun activity a Wedding Day Post of fun facts, crossword puzzles about the couple and interesting infographics sat on everyone’s seats from Etsy.
We had also ordered personalized “Thank you” cocktail napkins from Shutterfly for cocktail hour and then “Don’t take my Drink, I’m Dancing” for the reception.
On the dance floor we had a fantastic light up sign that said “Better Together” and a sign that read “Roses are Red, True Love is Rare, BOOTY, BOOTY, BOOTY ROCKING EVERYWHERE” to keep the crowd dancing.
We each had a personalized cocktail – Brad’s was named the Backyard Banjo and Amy’s was the Clementine (for our beloved dog).
A surprise we kept from our guests till the night of the wedding was indoor fireworks when we did our first dance.
Many of our guests enjoyed the selfie station and the mirrored photo booth to capture moments throughout the night.
Brad and Amy are lovers of live music, and Kim and Jaime had the biggest surprise of the night: a drums/bongos player, Arnaldo Fajardo. He was so fantastic, brought the energy and helped keep the party going.
Honeymoon
We will be heading to Italy for our 1 year anniversary / honeymoon. We didn’t want to feel rushed after planning the wedding and wanted to wait a bit. We will be traveling to different cities all over the country. We did however take mini honeymoon to Vegas for a few weeks after the wedding. Spending time by the pool and seeing lots of good shows allowed us to relax.
The beauty of marrying a travel agent is that I never need to search for a good one! If anyone is looking for a good travel agent they should email me at amy@olsen-oleary.com and I would be happy to plan their adventure of a lifetime.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
1. Don’t forget who you are. Being married to someone doesn’t mean you should discard your personal beliefs, interests, or anything that makes you, you. Stay true to yourself and remember, authenticity is a treasure.
2. You won’t be perfect, so don’t expect to be. The pressure of being the “perfect” wife is a heavy (and unrealistic) burden to bear. Your partner loves you the way you are, so don’t feel like you have to uphold any standard of perfection. And the same goes for your spouse! Plus, we’re all human anyway. We’re constantly evolving and that’s what makes us beautiful.
3. Remember your friends and family. Hubby may be a big part of your new life now, but remember those who were there for you before he was! Prioritizing time together as a couple is definitely important, but so is spending time with others. It’s healthy (and necessary) to maintain different relationships with people and can even help your marriage in the long run.
4. Your marriage won’t look like someone else’s. That doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. No two marriages “work” the same. As long as you and your partner are in love and happily supporting each other, that’s all that matters.
AMY & BRAD’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Brittany Boote
Ketubah – 1-800-ketubah {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Videography & DJ – DJ Tim Hughes
Venue – The Banks Waterfront
Bride’s dress – Demetrios found at Luxe Redux Bridal
Dress alterations – Topaz Thimble
Bridesmaids – Anthropologie
Hair + Makeup – Thallo Beauty, Erin Piazza
Flowers – Petals Fleurs
Catering – 2 ways 1 passion, Ali’s Middle Eastern Food, Fiamma Rossa Catering Company
Stationery/Invitation – Minted
Popcorn – Sugar Plum
Rentals & styling – Chippy White Table
Napkins – Shutterfly
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
