Because we could all use some extra Jewish joy today, we’re bringing you the truly fabulous NYC Jewish wedding of Emily and Max at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers! The New York couple loves their home city, and their venue’s perfect mix of city vibe with gorgeous views, plenty of space, and full-service facilities ticked all their boxes.
Featuring a color palette of warm, summery sunset colors, a stunner of a floral chuppah, and a gorgeous laser-cut ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com, this wedding was really something special. Photographer Joseph Lin portrayed the day in his signature easygoing, natural style, and Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Kiss The Bride Films captured all the joy and magic of this wonderful wedding on video.
We also love all the personal details Emily and Max worked in to make their day one-of-a-kind – from luggage tag escort cards embossed with the New York City skyline and the couple’s names and wedding date to fun welcome bags stuffed with some of the duo’s local favorites.
We’ll let Emily, who looked so glam in her Sareh Nouri gown, take it from here…
How We Met
Emily, the bride: I met Max on Bumble in the summer of 2020 during a brief Covid lull!
Here is our full story from our wedding website:
Emily and Max met on Bumble in the summer of 2020, a match made in pandemic heaven. Their connection was instant, despite the limitations of virtual dating. They spent hours texting, getting to know each other like old friends.
Their first date was a spontaneous adventure in Fort Greene Park, where Max showed up with a bag of beer and Emily arrived in workout clothes after crossing the Williamsburg Bridge. Despite being woefully unprepared for a first date, they hit it off immediately, chatting late into the night like they’d known each other for years.
As the pandemic intensified, they became each other’s “pod,” inseparable quarantine companions. Max quickly realized Emily had seen every episode of Law and Order (and could recite it all), and Emily shockingly found herself slowly becoming a Yankees fan.
Emily’s remote teaching gig led Max to offer his parents’ NYC apartment as her home office, a gesture that cemented their bond. They were practically living together, albeit in different boroughs, and their love grew stronger with each passing day.
Once restrictions were lifted, they embarked on international adventures, traveling to Greece and St. Lucia, renewing their shared love for exploration. They attended weddings and got to know each other’s families, their relationship blossoming in the face of new experiences.
In 2022, they took the plunge, moving into Max’s apartment together. They settled into a rhythm – Emily cooking, Max cleaning dishes, Emily baking, Max cleaning the Kitchen-aid (the pattern is clear, right?). Between hosting Halloween parties and birthday festivities for friends and family, they began to make Max’s house their home.
And then in June of 2023, amidst a summer of travel, Max popped the question in the middle of Vanderbilt’s campus in Nashville. For the first time ever, Emily was without words (but not without tears) as she joyfully accepted Max’s beautiful proposal.
They celebrated with champagne, more happy tears (mostly from Emily) and full hearts as the thrill of spending their lives together set in. While the last few months of being fiancées have flown by, Max and Emily cannot wait to celebrate their love with their closest friends and family in NYC.
A NYC Wedding
We got married at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers. We knew we wanted to get married in New York City and The Lighthouse was the perfect mix of city vibe with gorgeous views, plenty of space, and full-service facilities. We toured about 15 venues but immediately knew that The Lighthouse was the one.
Theme
We did not have a specific theme but chose a color palette of warm, summery sunset colors for everything from bridesmaid dresses to florals and invitations. We wanted our wedding to feel elegant and formal without being stuffy or overly stiff. Our planner, Dominique Bell, helped us bring our vision to life.
Invitation
All of our wedding stationery, from save-the-dates to invitations and table numbers, and more, was designed by the amazing Rebecca Green. Her hand-painted watercolors were gorgeous and whimsical and provided a consistent motif throughout the whole wedding.
Hair + Makeup
We used Willow House Beauty for hair and makeup. I had known a few people who had used them and really loved their natural looks. It was important to me that I actually looked like myself on my wedding day, and I did NOT want an updo. Our artists totally nailed it, not just for me but for the bridesmaids and moms as well!
A Sareh Nouri Dress
My dress was the “One and Only” from Sareh Nouri, purchased at her flagship store in Livingston, NJ. I was mostly looking at extremely simple gowns with very little detail, but when the designer herself suggested I try this style, I fell in love immediately!
Accessories
I rented a diamond necklace and earrings from Verstolo which was one of the best decisions I made! Our rings were from Ring Concierge – we had a great experience with them for both my engagement ring and our wedding bands.
Max wore his grandfather’s watch, lovingly refurbished by his cousin Matt. And I wore a borrowed veil from my friend Melissa, who sadly could not attend our wedding due to the birth of her daughter Zoey! Wearing her veil was like having her with me on that day.
Shoes
My shoes were Gucci and they were SO comfortable!
Bridesmaids
I had six bridesmaids! They chose their own dresses in the sunset color theme. Max had nine groomsmen, and they got their tuxes from The Black Tux.
Ceremony & Chuppah
Our ceremony was so special! Max’s childhood cantor, Eric Schulmiller, officiated. Our chuppah was adorned with the tallit from Max’s parents’ wedding, and we used kiddush cups from both of our families. We wrote our own vows and passed the rings around the audience for them to bless with warm wishes. We also had our parents and siblings read English translations of the 7 Blessings. Our chuppah was decorated with beautiful sunset-colored flowers and greenery.
Ketubah
We got our ketubah from Ketubah.com, and it is so gorgeous! It is a 2-piece laser-cut design that is now hanging proudly in our living room.
Our music choice
We had a string quartet Dolce Vita for the ceremony, who beautifully played some meaningful songs for us: “This Year’s Love” by David Gray, which was the first song that Max ever played for Emily on guitar, and “You Are My Sunshine,” which is a song that Emily’s parents sang to her as a child. Our band, Dane Wright Band of Hank Lane Productions, was absolutely INCREDIBLE. And as an extra special treat, Max’s dad and brother joined the band for 2 songs on guitar and drums and brought the house down!
Flowers
We chose a gorgeous summery mix of yellow, pink, and orange flowers with some blue accents. Ashley at Damselfly Designs brought our sunset color scheme to life.
Photographer and videographer
Joseph Lin was our amazing photographer! We loved his easygoing, natural style and his deep knowledge of our venue. From our first meeting with Joe, we knew he’d nail our NYC summer vibe perfectly.
We used Kiss The Bride films for our wedding video. Our lead videographer, Alwyn, was amazing to work with and captured the joy and magic of our day.
We also used Dasha Murashka for photography for our rehearsal dinner/welcome drinks. She had worked with my family before for my shower, my cousin’s engagement and rehearsal, and we loved getting to work with her again.
Food and cake
Our catering and cake were done in-house at The Lighthouse, and they were outstanding. We especially loved the passed desserts on the dance floor. Our cake was alternating tiers of funfetti and carrot cake, yum!
Wedding list/registry
We used With Joy for our wedding website and registry. We registered at Bloomingdales, Anthropologie, and Williams-Sonoma.
Extra Details
Making our wedding really specific and personal to us was so important. We wanted it to really feel like a Max and Emily event, not just a cookie-cutter wedding that could have been anyone’s. So we really went out of our way to include a lot of different personal touches that could only have been ours.
One of my favorites was a nod to how much we both love to travel, but also love New York City, which is where we live. Our escort cards were luggage tags that had the New York City skyline and our names and wedding date embossed on them, which was a really fun favor for guests to take home.
There were plenty of special touches in our welcome bags: We had postcards made that told the story of our love story in four little frames, like a little comic. This was in honor of the fact that Max and I have a tradition of writing postcards to each other and it was designed by my amazing artist friend Erin Andrews. Another favor that people really loved was Nutella banana bread from Hungry Gnome, which is one of our favorite places in Brooklyn. Max got these custom bobbleheads made on Etsy for his groomsmen that looked exactly like them, which was a really unique and fun favor for them to get to keep. We also included mini candles from Apotheke, a Brooklyn-based candle company we love, as well as custom matches. We even made custom Em&ms candy!
At our memory table, we had photos from our parents’ weddings, our grandparents’, and even some of our great-grandparents, and we also had the cake topper from Max’s parents’ wedding, which had survived since 1988!
Something else that was really, really special to us at our wedding was that all four of our living grandparents were able to attend. We weren’t sure if this was going to be able to happen with health and travel and everything, and it was a bit touch and go until the very last possible minute. But they all made it, and it was just so special for us to get to spend our wedding day with them and celebrate with them and have the photos too!
We tried to keep the speeches at our wedding itself to a minimum because we really wanted people to just be partying and on the dance floor all night. We only had our parents speak at our actual wedding, which was really special, but because of that, we had lots of friends and family give speeches at our rehearsal dinner on Friday night, which was MCed by Max’s friend Jon, who did an amazing job.
We also had a photo booth from the company called Amaze Booths, which was super fun. And the company took all of the photos of all of our guests and put them into a book for us that the guests could sign when they got their photo taken, which was a really special keepsake for us that we didn’t even know we were going to get!
Honeymoon
We went to Singapore, Thailand, and the Maldives for our honeymoon, and it was so amazing! We used Over the Moon Vacations – they were great. We highly recommend waiting a few months after your wedding before taking your honeymoon if you can. This gives you time to recover and decompress and also leaves something else to look forward to after the wedding is over!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
It’s YOUR wedding, but it’s also your guests’ experience too… as people who have gone to a ton of weddings, we really tried to think about every aspect of the guest experience to minimize issues and maximize fun! Be intentional with things like logistics, directions, lines, etc. – your guests will appreciate it. We tried to anticipate questions and address them proactively, either on our wedding website or in person.
People often say not to sweat the small stuff – I disagree. If the little details matter to you, then they are important! Personally, I loved the little touches that made our wedding special and made it specifically ours. Your wedding should feel like yours!
Trust your vendor team and planner, if you have one. By the time the wedding weekend begins, things are out of your hands, so enjoy! Relinquishing control is not easy, but once things are in motion, there’s not anything left for you to do.
If at all possible, plan additional events around the wedding weekend. Emily did a workout class, Max hosted a golf event, plus we had welcome drinks on Friday and Sunday brunch. While it can feel like a lot, these events give you a chance to actually chat and catch up with friends and family who have traveled to celebrate you – the wedding itself does not allow for a ton of that.
Finally, make a wedding email address that you and your fiance can both access! (and any other key people like your mom if she’s involved). This was the BEST thing we did in our planning process because it made sure all the emails were in one place, not lost in our personal inboxes, and we could both see and respond to things as they came in.
EMILY & MAX’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Joseph Lin
Videography – Kiss The Bride films {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Ketubah – Ketubah.com {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – The Lighthouse
Planner – Dominique Bell
Bride’s dress – Sareh Nouri
Bride’s shoes – Gucci
Bride’s accessories – Verstolo and Ring Concierge
Bridesmaids – The Black Tux
Hair + Makeup – Willow House Beauty
Flowers – Damselfly Designs
DJ – Dolce Vita and Dane Wright Band of Hank Lane Productions
Stationery/Invitation – Rebecca Green
Wedding list/registry – With Joy
Photobooth – Amaze Booths
Honeymoon agency – Over the Moon Vacations
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.
