Stylish Williamsburg Wedding

If ever there was a couple that exuded style from every pore, it’s today’s couple in this wedding from Pat Furey. The groom’s blue suit is sharp to a T, the bride’s bouquet by Fox Fodder Farm tied with an Hermès scarf is all kinds of chic, and her silk gown by Johanna Johnson is completely irresistible. Color us smitten.

From the bride, Jackie: Mike and I both agreed we wanted a wedding that felt intimate, that felt very New York, that felt very relaxed, that was full of good food; we wanted to share an intimate moment with our nearest and dearest… and then let loose and really celebrate. We live in the East Village and just across the bridge in BK was the Wythe Hotel. They fit the bill with their gorgeous indoor/outdoor space complete with foliage, exposed brick, a huge beautiful bar and oodles of built in ambiance. Fall seemed perfect – golden leaves, a chill in the air and a dream of donning a leather jacket with my wedding dress. What we got was green leaves, unseasonably warm weather and a torrential downpour to tell the grandkids about. We couldn’t help but laugh about the ridiculousness of it all.

A theme isn’t really our thing. Colors on the other hand… Jewel tones are my jam. I love love love raspberry, maroon and deep pinks. Pair that with deep greens, shades of cream, off white, ecru and accents of gold and I am in absolute heaven. That being said, the color scheme really only pertained to our flowers and the place cards. Everyone has their own style and we wanted them to be able to wear what they wanted, what they felt good in.

I can’t remember the root of it, but I wanted dip dye place cards. Some places said beet juice, others said grape juice, some said cranberry juice. Don’t be fooled, when it comes down to dying thick card stock, you need dye. I bought two shades of RIT and got down to business. It was time consuming to say the least, but I loved the way they turned out. Mike hand wrote the names of each guest. Table Numbers: This might be a little offbeat for a wedding but we have a thing with skulls. Tattoos, ceramic skulls from Mexico, hand drawn ones, decoupage plates from John Derian – you name it, we have them. I wanted to subtly incorporate that into the wedding. We hand stamped a skeleton couple holding hands with a heart in between them on the envelope on our Save the Dates. Our invites had hand stamped and embossed skeleton couples dressed to the nines on the envelope. Our table cards each had a hand drawn skull courtesy of Mike. We were going to keep them all and frame them, but a few went mysteriously missing. =) I wanted signs but couldn’t figure out the best way to do it. We enlisted a very talented friend with some serious X-acto knife skills who cut each letter out by hand and and glued them onto printed paper. Some of them were even strung together into a tiny banner for our card basket. Bless her and her crafty skills.

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? I asked myself daily, “Are we doing the right thing? Is this too much?” For those who are getting into the nitty gritty of planning, know that asking that question on a daily basis is completely normal. Planning a wedding is insanity and the only thing more crazy is second guessing yourself every day. The best advice I received was from my neighbor. She pulled me aside and said, “Listen, weddings are a sh*tshow. There will always be something that goes wrong. They are a snowball rolling down the hill. You can’t chase it. You can’t stop it. You can only roll with it.” As the rain moved in on my wedding day, I kept that close to my heart and let the stress roll right on by me. Do a wedding makeup and hair trial! And if you don’t like it, do another. The last thing you want to do is second guess your hair and makeup day of.

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Wedding Music:
On our first vacation together the George Harrison album, All Things Must Pass (1970), was on repeat. To this day, that album is us and the beginning of our relationship.
Processional: “If Not For You,” George Harrison
Recessional: “What is Life,” George Harrison
Our first dance was actually a surprise. We didn’t really have a song and I wanted Mike to pick one for us. He chose a song from an album that he and I both really latched onto: John Grant – Outer Space. Super swoon. The rest of the music was a mix of our faves and our amazingly knowledgeable DJ – Tom Petty, Tame Impala, The Supremes, Neil Young, Martha Reeves, Robyn, Marvin Gaye, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones were just a few. We wanted a dance party and we got one – no one was safe. Moms, dad, friends, family – everyone was up. Feet hurt, shoes were cast aside and hair was a mess. It couldn’t have gone better if we had planned it song for song. James Mulry can read a room like no other and for that we thank him.