Dreaming of summer? Us too – and that’s why we can’t get enough of the fabulous Jewish wedding of Alex, who works in education, and Mike, in finance. The New York couple loves spending their summer weekends in Montauk, and they wanted to bring those relaxed, intimate vibes to their big day.
With an outdoor chuppah at Solé East Backyard followed by an afterparty at Roberta’s Pizza, they positively nailed it – thanks in no small part to their wonderful wedding planner, Andrea Adelstein from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor NYLux Events.
In Alex’s words,
Andrea has an incredible attention to detail and extremely high standards – both of which were key when working with so many different vendors. NYLux handled everything! The coordination of vendors and day of execution is extremely challenging and it was nice to know that I was in such good hands throughout the entire process. Andrea really understood what my vision was and worked incredibly hard to make sure it came to life.
To complete the summer theme, Alex and Mike used Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor ketubah.com to create their custom ketubah, with a natural wood and white color scheme and surrounded by shells from Ditch Plains beach in Montauk.
Karlie Louise Photography captured the whole day so beautifully – do scroll on to see the day in all its glory!
How We Met
Alex, the bride: We met the old fashioned way – at a bar! We were both 22 and living in the East Village. We ended up at the same bar on a Saturday night and had friends who knew each other. Our groups merged and we ended up talking in a corner for hours.
A Montauk Wedding
We got married in Montauk – our rehearsal dinner on Friday night was at Navy Beach and our ceremony & reception on Saturday was at Solé East Backyard. Montauk has always held a special place in my heart. I have been spending my summers out there since I was 3 years old and in my teenage years instead of going to camp, I worked at the toy store in town. When Mike and I first started dating, I invited him out to Montauk for the weekend to meet my parents. Since then, Mike has grown to love Montauk as much as I do.
We spend most of our summer weekends out there surfing and hanging at the beach. After dating for seven years, Mike proposed to me out there on a winter weekend. I always knew I wanted to get married in Montauk, but I wasn’t sure where. We spent a lot of time looking for the right venue. We were looking for a place that emulated a “backyard vibe” because we wanted our wedding to feel intimate and relaxed. Solé East was the perfect venue for this! We ended up moving locations for the afterparty, and bussed our guests 5 minutes down the road to Roberta’s Pizza.
Roberta’s is one of my favorite pizza places from NYC and their Montauk outpost is a beautiful space with white-washed wood and surfboards on the walls. It was the perfect spot for our afterparty!
Theme + Planner
My wedding planner, Andrea Adelstein from NYLux Events, was absolutely amazing! She was my full-time planner and really brought my vision to life. She has an incredible attention to detail and extremely high standards – both of which were key when working with so many different vendors. NYLux handled everything! The coordination of vendors and day of execution is extremely challenging and it was nice to know that I was in such good hands throughout the entire process. Andrea really understood what my vision was and worked incredibly hard to make sure it came to life.
The theme of my wedding was summer. My save the date was a sand-colored paper with an imprint of text, which was supposed to mimic stepping in the sand. The color scheme for the actual day was orange and yellow, to create a sense of warmth and sun. My best friend started her own wedding stationery & branding business, Lovers for Life, and she helped me choose my wedding aesthetic. We went through multiple iterations to help narrow down the color scheme and general vibe.
An Alexandra Grecco Dress
I got my dress from Lovely Bride, a boutique bridal store in Tribeca. The designer was Alexandra Grecco and the style was simple and elegant. My personal style has always been very plain, simple and cozy. I wanted a dress that felt like me and one where I could be comfortable all night.
Ceremony & Chuppah
We ended up having two “ceremonies” and did something slightly untraditional. We felt strongly about having a close friend marry us, but did not want to sacrifice the traditional aspects of a Jewish wedding. On Thursday, we had Rabbi Franklin come to my parents house to host an intimate Jewish ceremony surrounded by family and a few close friends. On Saturday, our best friend Jordan officiated our civil ceremony and incorporated several Jewish aspects including the blessing of the rings and the blessing of the wine.
The blessing of the wine was one of the most special aspects of our ceremony. We had my grandfather come up to the podium to recite the Jewish prayer, and used a wine named after my Nana, that was made from my family’s small vineyard in Connecticut. We used Mike’s grandfather’s kiddush cup, which has been used in his family for generations. Both my Nana and Mike’s grandfather have passed away, so this was a special way to incorporate them into our celebrations.
Regarding the chuppah, I wanted the look to be green and white and somewhat simple. I went through many different flower variations but ended up just choosing baby’s breath for the entire thing. I found baby’s breath to be very summery which went well with my overall summery, outdoor aesthetic.
Ketubah
We used ketubah.com to create our custom ketubah. We worked with our rabbi on the verbiage and the final piece turned out beautiful. We chose a natural wood and white color scheme and surrounded it by shells from Ditch Plains beach.
Our music choice
We used Michael Hart, which is a Hank Lane band. They were super easy to work with! We had multiple meetings with them prior to discuss the type of music we like and were able to give them a list of specific songs to play throughout the night. For our ceremony, they played the instrumental versions of ‘Beyond‘ by Leon Bridges and ‘Yellow‘ by Coldplay using the piano and a violin.
Flowers
There are so many beautiful flower farms in the Hamptons area and I wanted to use a local florist. We ended up working with Karen Lenahan Designs who are a couple based in Sag Harbor. Karen and her husband did a wonderful job bringing my vision to life! She did multiple site visits with us and worked closely with our planner NYLux Events to make sure the florals fit in with the rest of the design. Our table scape and tent decor was bright and colorful, so we wanted to keep our florals simple and clean – we chose to do smaller, loose bouquets with white and green florals.
Photographer
We hired Karlie from Karlie Louise Photography as our photographer. Because you have to spend almost all day with your photographer, we cared a lot about working with someone that would be easy to get along with. We ended up not using a videographer, so we’ll just have to rely on the incredible photos and our memories!
Cake & desserts
We used Mini Melanie who is based in Brooklyn. We had a small wedding cake to cut, and then used a separate sheet cake for the individual slices. We also worked with Melanie on designing a desert bar. We wanted the desert area to look fun and for our guests to have many different options.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Nothing is ever perfect, no matter how planned every detail may be. Unfortunately, something always goes wrong! Don’t sweat the small stuff, just be present and enjoy the best night of your life!
ALEX & MIKE’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Karlie Louise Photography
Planner – NYLux Events
Ketubah – ketubah.com {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Solé East Backyard
Bride’s dress – Alexandra Grecco found at Lovely Bride
Hair + Makeup – Beautini
Flowers – Karen Lenahan Designs
Band – Hank Lane
Catering – Sole East Backyard
Cake + Dessert Bar – Mini Melanie
Stationery – Lovers for Life
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.
