Okay, HOW gorgeous is this purple floral chuppah?! And to think that Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Samantha, a lawyer, and Eugene, an investment banker, only ended up with it as their plan B after the bride’s grandmother objected to their first choice of a lucite canopy! Sometimes grandma really does know best…
Not to say that we don’t love us some lucite! And we’ve got that in common with this modern design-loving couple, who took cues from their apartment décor to combine their contemporary vibes with bright colors they knew would bring cheer to their winter wedding. Don’t miss the joyous pics from Jovon Photography.
We’re obsessed with their beautiful gold-trimmed ketubah by Stephanie Caplan of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Ketubah, who Samantha and Eugene found right here on STG, and we love all the special touches these two added to make their day unforgettable, from hashtag stirrers in their signature drinks to a glitter canon on the dance floor to a caviar station. There were even banana pudding cups as favors at the end of the night, in honor of Samantha’s trademark dessert.
We’ll let the bride – who looked stunning in her custom gown from Svetlana Bridal – fill you in on the rest…
Keeping It Close to Home
Samantha, the bride: Our venue was Glen Island Harbor Club, New Rochelle NY. I grew up 10 minutes down the road, my Bat Mitzvah was right next door (at the New York Athletic Club) so it seemed like a good spot. My husband jokes that we live in “Westchester South” a/k/a the Upper East Side of NYC so we played off of this.
Modern Floral
Purple…and lots of purple. My style is very much modern. We initially wanted a lucite chuppah (we have a lot of lucite furniture in our apartment), but as soon as we told this to my grandma…she looked at us like we were crazy, so we went with “flower throw up” instead. Story I’m sure will come out below. Yes, my husband was reluctant but the best gift my parents gave me was Monique Banks at Party! By Monique
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
Before we got a planner, I was able to bounce ideas off young women in Brides Club who would not be at our wedding. Sometimes friends and family give great advice, but I wanted my guests to have an experience that was full of surprises. It sounds silly but this was SO beneficial for me.
We got our beautiful ketubah from Stephanie Caplan of The Ketubah, who I found via Smashing the Glass!
Invitation
The invitation was the first part of the experience that our guests would receive. Cards are very important to me…I spend countless hours in Papyrus (RIP) for birthdays and holidays. Invitations naturally was something I was really looking forward to. I spent HOURS on our invitation…this was also the first time we revealed, subtly, that our wedding would be purple. We had the trim of our invitations foiled purple.
The rest of the invite was letterpress with our names in gold. The envelopes were also purple. We went back and forth with an amazing designer numerous times. We ended up having addresses done by hand calligraphy. I didn’t want to regret not doing anything 110%. Since I’m so detail oriented, this just seemed natural.
Paper Heart Company in Warwick NY designed them. We initially looked to have them done online (via minted) but that wasn’t my vision. There’s something about working with a stationary store that I just loved.
Hair + Makeup
The Hair + Makeup Co. – they were amazing. Heather and Kristina + there whole team was amazing. Everyone looked great. I’ve heard through the grapevine that some of my bridesmaids makeup looked better than it did at their wedding days J
A Svetlana Bridal Dress
My dress was completely custom. Actually, the women who designed it just appeared on 90 Day Fiancé. Natalya of Svetlana Bridal in Port Chester NY. It was scary not seeing my dress until it was actually created. She took my measurements so exact which was reassuring. I tried on many different dresses she had. We ended up adding a strap and beaded/sequin detail…at the suggestion of my grandma.
Wedding Choos
I had two pair of Jimmy Choos – one white kitten heel and another stiletto glittery pair. My plan was to change into the white kitten heel after the ceremony…. I never changed and wore the stiletto the whole time. I don’t typically wear stilettos so I had no reason to think that I would be able to on my wedding day. But…I guess when you invest in great shoes, they don’t hurt your feet!
The handsome groom
He had a custom tux from Black Lapel. As chances have it and we knew this before, the tailor he uses in NYC who is really the artist behind the tux (Beyond Bespoke NYC), handles alterations for Black Lapel. Beyond Bespoke was amazing in making him the best tux. He also wore a white bow tie. I got him cufflinks that looked like inside of a watch since he loves watches. He also got a Rolex as a wedding gift.
Bridesmaids
They wore floor length lilac dresses from Azazie. They each got to pick out their own style.
Ketubah
Stephanie Caplan of The Ketubah designed our ketubah. It was gold trimmed and we absolutely love it. We also did Hebrew on one side and English on the other.
Chuppah
Initially, we wanted a lucite chuppah. The ceremony room at our venue is on the Long Island Sound. There are floor to ceiling windows and you almost feel like you’re floating on water. We didn’t want to disrupt this view…so lucite came in handy. However, when we told my grandma at the florist appointment about this idea…she looked at us stunned…she loves flowers…and politely told us, don’t be cheap.
Then we pivoted to color. Since we had a winter wedding, we wanted to give people color and happiness. Although the weather was amazing, we couldn’t bank on that. We went with a purple chuppah filled with flowers…my husband termed this “purple flower throw up”…and it became a running joke. All kidding aside, it was BEAUTIFUL and everyone was WOWed.
Our music choice
We used a violin and cello duo for the ceremony that we actually saw perform on the NYC subway. As it has it, this is just how they advertise…they are amazing. People couldn’t believe it. I walked down and circled to ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Peri. Eugene walked down to ‘Hands Down’ by Dashboard. Our grandparents and bridal party walked down to ‘Living on a Prayer’.
Our band leader played acoustic guitar for our cocktail hour.
We had dance classes from Maya Moves in our NYC apartment since Eugene works crazy hours. We danced to ‘You Make my dreams come true’ by Hall and Oates. We actually mashed together a slow version and fast version.
Hank Lane (Josh Greyson Band) KILLED it for the reception. They were so interactive…they came down onto the dance floor and partied with us. We were debating having them on a stage and I’m so glad they were…made for such a cool experience. Also, when the chuppah was deconstructed…they put the top of it in front of the band for more color.
Purple Flowers
All purple flowers. We sat at a long table with our immediate families…which I loved. Down the center of this table were 12 vases of different purple flowers (each vase had the same flower). Half the tables had a large arrangement with orchids coming out of it. The other half had 3 vases of submerged floating flowers. All purple of course.
Photographer and videographer
Amazing – Jovon Photography. End of the night he took us outside and set off smoke bombs for pictures with friends. As soon as he made us sit in the middle of a NYC street for our engagement shot, we knew we chose the right photographer. David is awesome.
Food and cake
Glen Island has their own catering. They worked with us to customize though. We had hashtag stirrers put into the signature drinks that were given after the ceremony on way to cocktail hour, rock candy put into the champagne that was given to guests as soon as they arrived at the venue.
My father-in-law is Russian and he brought caviar (“top of the line”) for a caviar station (Glen Island offered a caviar station but it wasn’t good enough), we had a paella station that was super unique and a hit…and then the DESSERTS – we did passed desserts because we wanted people to keep on dancing – this was amazing…ice cream cones, cake pops, cookie shot glasses with purple sprinkles and milk inside, rice crispy treats, fruit tarts, etc.
Entertainment
We had the Hank Lane, Josh Grayson band…amazing. We also had a live painter (The Celebration Artist – Jessica Stevens) paint a scene from our reception. She was off in the corner by the photobooth but when people noticed her they were “wowed.” None of the weddings we’ve been to had this.
Also we had a Foto-Matt Booth photobooth, I was even so particular about the font that the photobooth print out would say our names. I wanted everything to flow together nicely (this matched the napkin and coaster font)
Edible Favors
I make my own version of Magnolia Bakery’s banana pudding which my husband has told people that we will package and sell one day so it was natural to have mini banana pudding cups (with of course a personalized purple foil sticker on them with our names) to give to guests on the way out. Our venue also provided huge hot pretzels and hot chocolate.
Details
We had custom purple foil “S+E” napkins, we had coasters that said “Don’t Take my Drink I’m Dancing” in purple foil, custom hashtag stirrers, our signature drink sign was amazing. We had a drink named after our parents dogs, after rooftops (first date at Rainbow Room in NYC, got engaged at our rooftop), and of course a Westchester South Drink (that said it’s an ode to the place of Gossip Girl, the Met, and S+E…and we’re never leaving).
We also had GLITTER CANNONS ON THE DANCE FLOOR – this was courtesy of our planner Monique. Just before passed desserts these huge cannons were handed out on the dance floor.
It was amazing and just really kept the party going. We incorporated lucite by having lucite table numbers painted in purple. We also created custom menus with the same font we used for napkins, coasters, photobooth…our names were in the same purple foil as the napkins and coasters.
We got napkins, coasters and menus from For Your Party. Sticking with one vendor for these items helped with consistence. We also had placecards made out of agate tiles…they were not purple…they were natural color, with gold names.
We had touches of gold elsewhere (our ketubah), which broke up the purple. We also had a purple lucite welcome sign that said welcome in English and Russian (my husbands family is Russian and thought this would be a nice touch).
Of course our yarmulkes were purple. They were suede which I think went nice for the winter. Yarmulkes were also in a lucite tray that said “The Kushnirs” in gold. It’s now in our home. As you can tell, even though the chuppah wasn’t lucite I love lucite and incorporated it when I could.
I do want to mention our fiesta themed afterparty. We had just our friends to a room at the hotel…we had a party planner (Shira of Simply Shira Parties) create a fiesta for us..complete with a mariachi band, life size games (jenga, connect four, cornhole), bar with bartender, APPLEBEES (an ode to my husbands favorite food) and insane candy bar. It was just another element of surprise that just kept the party going.
Honeymoon
We won’t be going on honeymoon yet because of my husbands crazy work schedule (he’s an investment banker)…but did a quick minimoon locally.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Honestly, get a planner. I was simply able to be a guest at our wedding because I knew Monique had it all under control. I’ve heard from countless people that the best day is the day after your wedding when the planning is over. Although I was very detail oriented…Monique executed everything so I really didn’t have to worry. I was able to really really enjoy!
SAMANTHA & EUGENE’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography & Videography – Jovon Photography
Ketubah – The Ketubah {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Wedding planner – Party! By Monique
Venue – Glen Island Harbor Club
Bride’s dress – Custom design at Svetlana Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Jimmy Choo
Groom’s attire – Black Lapel, Beyond Bespoke
Bridesmaids – Azazie
Hair + Makeup – The Hair + Makeup Co.
Band – Hank Lane
Catering –Glen Island Harbor Club
Invitation – Paper Heart Company
Stationery – For Your Party
Photobooth – Foto-Matt Booth
Live Event Painting – The Celebration Artist
Afterparty planner – Simply Shira Parties
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.
