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Home > An Alyssa Kristin Bride for a Very NYC Jewish Wedding Inspired by Art Deco and Old Hollywood at Carnegie Hill, New York, USA

An Alyssa Kristin Bride for a Very NYC Jewish Wedding Inspired by Art Deco and Old Hollywood at Carnegie Hill, New York, USA

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Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA

Today’s Jewish wedding is just so quintessentially NYC, and we are obsessed! Kara is the Sr. Manager of Video Programming Operations at Vogue & British Vogue, and Ian, who’s in property management, adore the city, and their choice of Carnegie Hall as their venue allowed it to play a starring role.

The couple dreamed of a chic, elegant day inspired by Art Deco and Old Hollywood – with a few musical odes to Carnegie Hall thrown in for good measure. Their amazing planner, Andrea from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Nylux Events, brought the vision to life SO perfectly – Laura Huertas captured all the details exquisitely in her photos.

We’re in love with Kara and Ian’s minimalist, architectural chuppah – and we love that they chose to sign their ketubah, which they purchased from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com, in front of all their guests right before the ceremony began!

There’s so much more to say about this fab day – we’ll leave it to Kara, who could not have looked chicer in her Alyssa Kristin gown, to tell you all about it…

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA How We Met

Kara, the bride: We met in college, no crazy story 🙂

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA A New York Wedding 

Our venue was Carnegie Hall in New York! I am in love with New York City and Ian is a huge music lover so it seemed like the perfect combination and very us. It turned out to be the most PERFECT venue I could have ever dreamed of. There was an outdoor terrace where you felt like you were floating in the city, the acoustics in the main space were unbelievable because it was a performance space, and the dinner room was so intimate and gorgeous. I want to go back!

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Theme + Wedding Planner

We had a prominent color scheme that I really wanted and we had a few little Art Deco & Old Hollywood moments included along with some musical odes to Carnegie Hall. Mostly, I wanted everything to be very simple, chic, elegant, and neutral. I think I even uttered the phrase, “green yes, but exclusively for plant leaves” at one point. Our planner, Andrea from Nylux Events, and vendors were amazing at bringing this simplistic vision to life in the most elegant and amazing way!

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA In terms of making it about us, we tried hard to have a lot of special family moments throughout. We had only our family walk down the aisle, we had our witnesses sign the ketubah in front of everyone before the ceremony and we had witnesses from my family sign the civil docs at the same time, we incorporated as many family moments as we could. We didn’t want it to be as much about us as we did about our entire families coming together.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Invitation

Paper/Invitations were from Coeur Noir Specialty Printers

We designed our invitations along with Andrea. She had a bunch of references to chose from and we decided to try and play into the Art Deco & Old Hollywood vibe because of our amazing location. We had a custom graphic created and incorporated it into all stationery and the menus during the day! It was such an amazing little touch to make it super unique.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Hair + Makeup

I knew I wanted my hair up – it felt more formal to me. A simple bun is all I really wanted. I used a hair stylist I have used in the past and everything went perfectly. For makeup, I did the same. We used someone my mother in law has used for years and I trusted her implicitly. We thought using a team we had a previous relationship with would make us super comfortable and we were absolutely right. I felt beautiful & elegant on the day!

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA

An Alyssa Kristin Dress

My dress was from a bridal shop in Portsmouth, NH – Madeline’s Daughter. The designer was Alyssa Kristin. It was very simple and chic. I knew I wanted something that was very plain, but I tried on every style and shape under the sun to confirm what I already knew- I was meant to wear a long, white gown with absolutley nothing on it. When I put on my dress I felt like myself and that was how I knew it was the right one.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Accessories + Shoes

I wore a simple veil that covered my face in front and was long in the back. You could also sweep the front over and it gave the back of it so much volume and dimension (it was secretly my favorite part of the look).

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA My jewelry was also very simple, I am not a super over the top girl. I wore drop diamond earrings, a pearl bracelet that was my grandmother in laws, a diamond watch that was my other grandmother in laws, and my mother in laws original wedding band on my pointer finger. I loved incorporating family pieces into my look, it made it really special.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA In my hair I wore 2 pearled bobby pins of different sizes to give a little interest to the updo. My shoes were white slingback, pointed toe, flat Versace‘s. I am 6 feet tall, and while I have no problem wearing a very high heel, I only want to wear it if it can be seen. Since my dress was so long I figured a flat was the way to go so I wasn’t towering over my husband. The pointed toe gave it some interest when I walked and they popped out the front of the dress. The best part is I wear them all the time now because they aren’t your typical wedding shoe!

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Bridesmaids

I had bridesmaids and they all wore champagne dresses from BHLDN and heels with some type of clear acrylic mixed in. They all wore a different style, which I loved, because they got to pick something they felt good in and liked. They all also got to choose their own shoes, hairstyles, makeup, and jewelry.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA I felt it was really important that they all felt like they got to choose their looks and feel like themselves. BHLDN was amazing for this because they have a bunch of dresses in the same fabric & colors with a lot of different styles. They all looked very cohesive without looking like carbon copies.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Ceremony & Chuppah

The most different part of our ceremony is that we had the ketubah signing in front of everyone. It was before we entered the chuppah and after the processional. I loved letting my non-Jewish family and friends view every single aspect of the Jewish wedding ceremony.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA I personally hated walking down the aisle. I basically ran and dragged both of my parents with me. I like to dress up and be noticed, but the thought of a moment where everyone HAD to look at me made me squirm. My favorite part though was once I got to the end and I was next to Ian he whispered to me, “Mikaela (my cousin) is bawling,” and in that moment I knew we were able to be ourselves and just have fun up there.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA My mom and I spent hours looking on pinterest and other sites for chuppah designs. Every one I saw was covered from head to toe in flowers and I knew I wanted something simpler than that. After changing around a few key words, we found one that was simple & white with some elegant chiffon hanging from it. We sent it to our designers and they created the masterpiece our chuppah turned out to be!

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Ketubah

We ordered our ketubah from Ketubah.com. Nothing particularly special about it except we both liked the design. It is now of course very special and hanging proudly in our living room.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Flowers

Honestly, I think the photos speak for themselves. Carlos & Antonio of Carlos Rivas designed the entire wedding and it was STUNNING. The most beautiful flowers and decor I have ever seen! Could not recommend them more.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Photographer

For our photographer, I actually found her on Instagram. A girl I went to college with had the most stunning wedding pictures of her and her husband walking around the West Village and I knew it was exactly what I wanted for our wedding photos. They are super editorial & candid and feel like they could be photos in a magazine. Highly recommended! Laura Huertas was incredible!!! I also think her photos speak for themselves. 

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Food and cake

The cake was two tiers with our favorite flavors, the bottom was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and the top was white cake with coconut buttercream. The carrot cake was amazing but the white cake was the greatest piece of cake I have ever eaten in my life. Cannot recommend enough. The rest of the food was catered by Constellation and was so so delicious!

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Entertainment

We had a lot of different music experiences throughout the night, and had bands for every part of the wedding. Ian and I both felt the music was incredibly important given the venue and that it is something we both very much enjoy. Our ceremony was a solo pianist, our cocktail hour was a jazzy string quartet, dinner was a jazz band, and dancing was a big wedding band that was easily the greatest wedding band I have ever seen!

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Starlight Music took care of all music for the entire evening and I genuinely hope I get to be at another event where they are featured because they are unbelievable. So many of my guests told me they were the best wedding band they had ever seen!

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA In terms of songs: We walked down the aisle to piano covers of ‘Pennies from Heaven’ & ‘Tiny Dancer’. We walked out to ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’. My dad and I danced to an acoustic version of ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’ and Ian and his mom danced to ‘Where You Lead’. Otherwise we played a lot of disco and hits from the 70’s & 80’s. 

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Wedding List

I used Zola for the registry so I could combine different stores into one list, which was super helpful to be able to register at more places and share one link out.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Extra details

The things our guests raved about the most were the little details thought of by my amazing planner and mother in law. For example, cocktail hour was on the terrace and we were nervous everyone might be chilly at the end of October at 8:30pm, so we gave out complimentary wraps. For our flip flops at the dancing section, I always think the thongs are super uncomfortable so we went with super colorful & fuzzy slides – my friends still wear them to this day.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Our decor was out of this world- Antonio and Carlos took everything I said and completely knocked it out of the park. The flowers were gorgeous and everything was so elegant and chic.  Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Both of our dads made speeches which was very special. We basically just tried to incorporate family and friends as much as possible.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Honeymoon

We went to Hawaii. We wanted to go right away and so we chose a place we wanted to go most that was warm in early November, so Hawaii was where we landed. We had both been, but my husband at 15 and I went for work, so it was nice to go back and experience the islands. We went to Maui & Kuai which were beautiful.

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA Advice to couples currently planning their wedding

Planning a wedding is stressful. There are a million decisions to make and sometimes it can all feel like too much. The one thing to remember is that it really is the best day of your life. I had the most fun I have ever had on my wedding day. Just remember that it is all worth it. It was my absolute favorite day and you will have the most fun you have ever had so just remember to enjoy every second!

Kara and Ian, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA KARA & IAN’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK

Photography – Laura Huertas Photo
Planner – Nylux Events {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 – Carnegie Hall
Bride’s dress – Alyssa Kristin found at Madeline’s Daughter
Bride’s shoes – Versace
Bridesmaids – BHLDN
Flowers – Carlos Rivas
Entertainment – Starlight Music
Catering – Constellation
Stationery/Invitation – Coeur Noir Specialty Printers
Wedding Registry – Zola
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.