Jessie & Craig | Spectacular book-themed Jewish wedding at the New York Public Library, New York, USA

I’m not sure you can get much cooler than Jessie and Craig’s New York City nuptials. Their Jewish wedding has it all. The glamour, the style, the chic, and the unique. I almost died when I first clapped eyes on their chuppah design — I’m telling you, it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen, and you’ll have to excuse me for including so many pictures of it.

Prepare to be green eyed folks as I cannot possibly deny that this W-Day may cause some serious wedding envy, namely because of the exquisite fashion that bride Jessie sported on the day itself. Firstly there are her Christian Louboutin clear heels with silver studs, swiftly followed by her divine Reem Acra dress. Honestly Jessie has the most wonderful sartorial taste.

And what with getting married in the iconic New York Public Library, I haven’t even begun to tell you about how well-executed their literary bookish theme is. I’m talking real-life librarians helping guests find their seats, library card catalogue escort cards, and a chuppah made entirely out of antique books! But wait, it gets better. Their chuppah was topped with hundreds of lightbulbs, so when it came to smashing the glass at the end of the ceremony, the groom picked out a light bulb from their chuppah to smash, and swiftly stamped on it. Have you ever?

So if you want to take a page from Jessie and Craig’s wedding (see what I did there?!), now’s the time, as I’m handing over to the beautiful bride for the story behind her big day. All of the fantastic photography is by the wonderfully talented Dave Robbins, and design is by AaB Creates.

how we met

Jessie, the Bride: We met at work. We both worked together at MTV. We had been working together for two years before we starting going on fake dates. The fake dates turned into real ones and we soon were in love. We dated another 5 years before we got married, and now we have been married two years and have an 11 month old.

An iconic New York City venue

We got married at the New York Public Library. We wanted an iconic New York location. From the minute we walked into the venue, we totally fell in love with it!

We wanted to have a memorable party and make our friends and family experience the same joy we were feeling. We wanted our wedding to be a weekend full of partying, laughter and excitement, and we wanted everyone to share in those same feelings.

A literary theme

Inspired by our venue choice of the New York Public Library, we worked with AaB Creates to create a style that was  1940s bookish New York. We incorporated all sorts of literary touches from a chuppah made entirely out of antique books, to librarians helping guests find their seats, and library card catalogue escort cards.

A book for our invitation design

For our invitation we designed a book. It was inspired by the book The Thin Man. My husband wrote the story, and certain words were underlined that held all the wedding information.

A Reem Acra dress

My gown was Reem Acra. It was one of the last dresses I tried on. I fell in love with it right away. It was beautiful, but also had a little edge to it.

Christian Louboutin heels

I matched it with Christian Louboutin heels that were clear with silver studs.

1940’s hair

For my hair I wanted to have the 40’s pin curl. My hairdresser, Roy, who is amazing, made that happen. My makeup was done by Face Time Beauty.

A Dior Tuxedo for the groom

Craig wore a Dior Tux. He looked so handsome!

gorgeous mismatched Bridesmaids

I had bridesmaids made up of family and friends. I let them wear whatever they wanted. I wanted them to pick something they would feel beautiful in. Even though they all selected very different dresses, it looked great!

The ceremony

We wrote our own vows for the ceremony, and I am so glad we did. It was truly one of  the best moments of my life, standing up there with my husband and sharing a moment that I will never forget.

 
chuppah design

We designed the chuppah ourselves, my husband is very creative, and really had the vision. There is a bar in NYC that has Edison light bulbs on the ceiling, and that gave us the space age idea. Then we incorporated the book theme for the four pillars, and my husband took a light bulb from our chuppah to smash, once we came to breaking the glass at the end of the ceremony!

Music for the ceremony

I walked down the aisle to Radiohead’s No Surprises. Craig walked down the aisle to The Pixies’ Here Comes Your Man and we walked out to Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.

flowers

My bouquet was made up of cream cala lillies, and we also used cala lilies frozen inside blocks of ice for the focal point of the tables, as well as rose and purple artichoke arrangements.

Photography

Dave Robbins was our photographer. We loved his work — particularly his candid shots.

A naked ‘burger’ wedding cake

We didn’t want your typical wedding dinner so we opted for a burger. The cake was done by Momofuku Milk Bar. It was a salted caramel and beer ganache cake.

Entertainment

We had the Dexter Lake Band play. They were amazing. There was even an encore of  Welcome to the Jungle at the end of the night!

advice to other brides and grooms

Try not to stress. The day comes and goes so quickly, so just make the time to take it all in.

Jessie & Craig’s LITTLE WHITE BOOK

Photographer — Dave Robbins Photography
Wedding Planner and Designer — AaB Creates
Venue — New York Public Library
Bride’s dress — Reem Acra
Bride’s shoes — Christian Louboutin
Groom’s Tuxedo – Dior
Make Up — Face Time Beauty
Wedding Cake — Momofuku Milk Bar
Band — Dexter Lake Band