GQ + Sam | Kontokosta Winery, NoFo Wedding

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Genevieve, also known as GQ, and Sam, could not be more suited for one another. They have figured it out. The planning journey with them, as well as the entire wedding weekend, was filled with laughter and good spirits. They both walk through life with humor, perspective and gratitude. The love they share for each other makes spending time with them pleasant and all the more special.  All of these wonderful characteristics of GQ and Sam were palpable during the wedding and amongst their family members as well. Overall, the wedding weekend was fun, relaxed and filled with love. 

Below are just a few of the many details that shaped Genevieve and Sam's choices for their wedding. 

They wanted the weekend to be easy for their guests and for guests to be closer to one another, which eliminated some of their initial venue choices in the South Fork/Hamptons. They also wanted their ceremony at waterfront. While they loved another venue on the South Fork very much, the choices of pairing The Soundview and Kontokosta Winery together on the North Fork, Wine Country, made for a more communal weekend and bonus as they got that waterfront wedding ceremony they hoped for. 

When planning their wedding, Genevieve and Sam left their parents and friends out of the planning process and worked with ADE on their own.  With the help and guidance of ADE, GQ and Sam were able to make choices that ensured their wedding weekend would be fun and relaxed for everyone involved. 

When they got a bit behind during planning, they did roll with the punches and gave up control when they needed to. In order to keep sane with everything else going on in their lives, they were able to make time for important elements of the planning process.  We were lucky in every regard. 

Shout out to Groom Sam who has called meetings with our team “Wedding Therapy” more than any other client or person. 

Having an upscale wedding that was also approachable was important to them and was a success at the end of the weekend. They both love decor and are eager to provide their own opinions. They were sensitive to the question of enough. What would be enough for them, for balance in the tent, to not distract people from conversation, etc. I think we nailed it on the head. What do you think?

Many thanks to Carats & Cake for featuring this beautiful wedding. We would plan this type of wedding again in a heart beat. 

Genevieve and Sam’s Kontokosta Winery Wedding Gallery

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Planning + Design | Ashley Douglass Events

Venue | Kontokosta Winery

Tenting | Stamford Tent

Band | Elan Artists - Ground Control

Photographer | Sarma & Co.

Florist | Sag Harbor Florist

Lighting | Social Decor Lighting

Hair | Brandon Michie

Make Up | Danielle Librizzi

Caterer | Art of Eating

Ceremony Musicians | Iconiq Strings

Invites | Sam Clarke (the groom himself!)

Rental Company | Party Rental LTD

Rental Company II | Nuage Designs

Rehearsal Dinner Venue | The Halyard at Soundview

After Party Venue | First and South

Hotel | The Gallery Hotel

Hotel II | The American Beech

NICOLE + ROSS | Blue Hill Stone Barns | Tarrytown, New York | October 2017

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This wedding was a joy to plan. During the planning process, Nicole and her mother had somewhat different tastes in aesthetics. However, it was their combined love for the beautiful venue at Stone Barns coupled with our own ability to be not only diplomatic but also showcase ideas that they would both love which, in the end, set them up for success.

One element of their design that was different than most of our weddings is that they both favored paper that had considerable detail. They both moved forward with intricately designed invitations and save the dates a bit on their own and had good renderings early so the over all design fit into the paper details.

Being cohesive was super important to them both and, in particular, the Mother of the Bride. The family entertains enough at home and had learned from past experience that they love consistency. There are many details you cannot see in their photography. Details such as the ribbon and name tags on the flip flops and blankets. Other details like their specialty coffee and hot cocoa station, their enormous and cool outdoor lounge with plenty of games for those less inclined to dance.

You never know what is going to stick after a wedding. The couple’s adorable and memorable first dance, well rehearsed after months of classes, made the whole room tear up. Then the best man speech had so much love you wanted to hug your neighbor. The surprise, albeit less emotional, was the guest’s love for their linens and napkins. Multiple guests asked the Mother of the Bride where their beautiful La Tavola linens came from and they also asked about the dinner napkins, which also came from La Tavola. In fact, two ladies called us separately asking where to purchase their velvet ecru linen lined napkin!

We anxiously await July of 2019 when we will be back at the one-and-only charming Blue Hill at Stone Barns for another buyout!

Happy venue shopping and congratulations again to Nicole + Ross.

Photography by Craig Warga Weddings

Planning + Design | Ashley Douglass Events

Venue | Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Band | FAZE 4 Orchesteras LTD “Scott Yunney Band”

Photographer | Craig Warga Weddings

Videographer | 15 Minutes of Frame

Florist | Blade NYC

Photobooth | New England Selfie

Lighting | Pegasus Productions

Hair | Indulge Salon

Make Up | Hope Landry

Bridal Attire | A Little Something White

Rental Company | Nuage Designs

Rental Company II | Party Rental LTD

Rental Company III | La Tavola


AILEEN + SHAI | The Liberty Warehouse | Red Hook, Brooklyn | January 2018

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Aileen and Shai had a ton going on during the time of their engagement and wedding planning process. For one, they were pregnant! The couple was super happy and over the moon. On top of this, they were already renovating Shai’s loft for Aileen to move in and had to incorporate a new design into the renovation to accommodate their baby. If any of you have renovated any place of your own you know that renovations alone can be like giving birth to a baby with joy and pains along the way. All on top of renovations, preparing for a baby and careers of their own, the couple was still eager to plan a beautiful wedding.

Aileen is very feminine and did not imagine that one day she would get married in a place with any sort of industrial feel. However, in the end the Liberty Warehouse was a perfect fit! The couple did not have a long time to search out a venue so it was a good thing they came to a planning before signing. As their wedding was close to the holidays they were competing very much with holiday parties and events that venues had already booked and were still booking. We started, I think, in early November and this wedding took place in January! Aileen loved how the industrial details in the space were highlighted by the twinkle lights and chandeliers that were provided by Pegasus Lighting.

This wedding is a great example of an end result that is JUST what the clients dreamed of, which always makes our job worthwhile. We have the imagination and experience to put ourselves not just emotionally but visually into the shoes of our clients and we happily do so. Variety is what makes our role more fun! I can appreciate that this wedding was beautiful and we did a good job balancing the different elements that were needed to make Aileen and Shai’s dream come true!

Happy bees they all are now with a beautiful, happy baby boy! Mazel Tov to Aileen and Shai and their new family!

XO

Ashley + Team

Photography by Forged in the North

Planning + Design | Ashley Douglass Events

Florals + Design | Fleurs NYC

Photography | Forged in the North

Venue | Liberty Warehouse

Band | Hank Lane Productions, “ Pete Saunders Band”

Cake | Betty Bakery

Lighting | Pegasus Productions

Hair | Betsy Elisa

Makeup | Every Hue Makeup

Dress | Monique Lhuillier

Stationary | Katie Fischer Design

Rentals | BBJ Rentals

Rentals II | Party Rental LTD

EMILY + CARLOS | Cold Spring Harbor Beach Club | Cold Spring Harbor, New York | September 2017

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This wedding was featured on Carats & Cake in April of 2018.

What to say about this fun loving, super chill, smart, all around wonderful couple and refreshingly simple wedding celebration! Emily and Carlos met at work. More specifically - when Carlos interviewed Emily. Needless to say she was offered the job but don't read into this; she was running circles around Carlos in no time and technically he was not her boss when she came on board to the company. 

Both hail from incredibly fun families that do not take themselves too seriously. Both their sets of parents ripped up the dance floor as you can see in photos. Even grandma busted a move and Carlos's mom got up on stage with the band to dance and she even sang a tune with them as well! Nothing better than a packed danced floor with three generations. 

We have to give a shout out to Mama Mary Alice for being so much fun, gracing us with too many treats and always having the best attitude about planning her daughter's wedding. Seriously, while we were looking out for our clients she was always looking out for us and so appreciative, as was the whole entire clan. And they are a clan of loyal families these two -  their love was busting at the seams on their wedding day. 

Additionally, last year was another season where we found overlapping faces from that season, as well as, seasons past! It is always nice for us to see past clients, couples and wedding guests that we have seen at many previous wedding - it is icing on an already delicious cake. 

Emily and Mary Alice both already knew of the adorable, sweet and kind flower man Andrew Pascoe who has been a respected staple on Long Island for decades. Simple white flowers with grass-green greens - the freshest you can find. That was the note and what he does best. Andrew does procure the freshest flowers from his wholesalers, like they had just been cut down the road and arrived arranged to the tent. Emily, Carlos and Mary Alice (MOB) are not fussy people, so too much going on was not necessary. They didn't need to blow people away with things they have not seen before but wanted to engage them, find personal touches and make sure fun was number one. 

The cocktail hour had a beer tasting bar. Emily and Carlos are beer connoisseurs and went out of their way to procure beer from various places, some on their own and some with the help of the caterers they hired, Sterling Affairs. As an example, Emily and Carlos visited Other Half a few times to get enough of a particular brew that they limit customers to only buying a certain amount each time! This was a station separate from the main bar. We had a large chalk board describing the seven various beers, served as tasting flight or alone. 

Another personal detail were the menus that had a back side with a custom made MadLib. There were four versions - one version for Emily and one for Carlos, then one in Spanish for both. We preset these with tiny golf pencils that had their hashtag printed on them. So freaking cute! These answered MadLibs made for great entertainment the next day at brunch which was held at Emily's charming childhood home, with perfect weather to boot. 

Thank you to CSHBC! You guys were so flexible and willing to come on board our detailed insanity. It is not a club that hosts such weddings yearly - Gary and the team were truly hospitable! Not to mention the water being so damn blue right there! Love to CSH. 

Thank you to Carats & Cake for featuring this wedding. Thank you to the vendors for a job well done. Thank you to Emily, Carlos, Mary Alice, The Boss FOB Michael, Carlos's Mom, Dad, and family for their spirit as well! We cannot wait to see you at more tables at other weddings soon! ;-)

See link to Carats & Cake HERE and more photos below, along with the participating vendors.

Planning + Design | Ashley Douglass Events

Florals + Design | Andrew Pascoe Flowers

Photography | Karen Wise

Venue | Cold Spring Harbor Beach Club

Catering | Sterling Affair

Gown | Harbor Bridal

Band | LUXE from Hank Lane Productions

Hair | I DO! Glam

Make up | RJ West NY

Tent | Sperry Tents Hamptons

Rings | Van Busch

Invitations | Ipanema Press

Day of Stationery | The Printery

Rentals | Party Rental LTD

RACHEL + DAVID | Ritz Carlton, Westchester, New York

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Every wedding is different as every family is different, let alone each couple and venue. Planning a wedding for a couple that has been together for over a decade has its own special characteristics too. Also, this is a second marriage for them both. The inclusion of children became most important, and sweet, and honoring both family members and friends that have been by their side through thick and thin, for decades. 

While most couples today want their ceremony to be over as soon as possible, it’s the ceremony we talked about most while planning this wedding. For one, limiting the bridal party was hard! Does the Bride and Groom keep it to friends or to family because having them both was just too many people! In the end we got very creative which made for a more personal, goose bump worthy ceremony. 

First in the processional came the Bride’s closest friends, some of which have become the Groom’s as well. These friends were coined “the flower friends”. They walked first and to assigned seats, which lined the ceremony aisle. Once they got to their assigned seats, they stood by their chair until it was time for them to sit. In their hands they carried a portion of Rachel’s bridal bouquet. Then came her closer family members - her niece, the Groom’s niece, siblings and then last, the Bride’s two daughters, all of which stood under the Chuppha with the Bride and Groom, and Rabbi. Rachel then walked the aisle by herself making her way from one flower friend to the next, building her bridal bouquet as she walked. Each piece was wrapped in ribbon with a heavy duty magnet inside to help keep the pieces together. Once she got to the Chuppha her long time friend and mentor, who sat in the front row, met her by the Chuppha. This friend has been in her life since they met at Summer camp when he was just a few years older and her CIT - “Counselor in training” for those of you who never went to camp! He helped her tie the pieces of her bouquet into one, and lifted her veil over her face as a father would, and helped her walk up to the Chuppha to meet her Groom. It was a tear jerker to say the least. Guests hummed to Do Di Lee along with the musicians.  

When it came to design, she would use the words such as lush, feminine and romantic. While she loved the pictures she accumulated that were more traditional for a ballroom or hotel setting, she also loved more modern weddings and couldn’t really make up her mind what direction she wanted to move. In the end she felt if she went too modern then she may regret it later on, so the sense of modern was minimal, such as chairs we chose. This is a common conversation that comes up with wedding gowns more often but for venue design as well. If I really express myself and how I feel today, will I regret not having been more traditional in design twenty years from now? For her the answer was yes.

The venue was chosen for a host of reasons and in the end, the main ingredient they wanted in a venue, which was to be by the ocean, was not possible. The couple resides in Westchester and needed the venue to be rather local to accommodate all the people they hoped to attend - more important than the ocean. Having hotel accommodations on-site to make the weekend easy for all far away family members, many of which have children, and to be close to the city, close to LaGuardia and close to their home. The Ritz in Westchester is located near metro north and there is another hotel that is brand new as of 2016 right around the corner for those that wanted to spend a bit less on accommodations.  The weekend started with dinner at a near by restaurant and ended on Sunday with guests being shuttled to the couples brand new home in nearby Rye, New York - something that was very important to them both. 

We got lucky that day on traffic. As sometimes is the case we watched WAZE like a hawk and all roads were clear, so the couple, along with their fabulous photographer we love so much, Roey Yohair, traveled to Greenwich to get in some waterfront photos.  Then on the way back they also managed to take a quick pit stop at their home in Rye, NY to include Ackerman, their family dog in the festivities. Then back to the Ritz in time for the Ketubah signing and ceremony. All roads where clear and gosh are we thankful. The risk was worth the reward said the bride and I was happy to oblige as long we the risks were understood. Thank you to the traffic gods!

Thank you to all the vendors that made this wedding exactly what the couple wanted it to be! They waited a awful long time for this day to come and they couldn’t have been more thrilled. I will never forget the look at Rachel’s face when she entered the reception room during cocktail hour and her jaw fell. She screamed, “My white dance floor, my big white dance floor” and began to dance as the band, The Carlos Estrella Band, warmed up. They were fabulous by the way and nailed the very much rehearsed first dance the couple had prepared with them for weeks beforehand. 

Photography below by Roey Yohair 

Planning + Design | Ashley Douglass Events

Florals + Design | Fleurs NYC

Photography | Roey Yohai Photography

Venue | Ritz Carlton

Gown | Austin Scarlett

Band | Carlos Estrella Band from Hank Lane

Cinematographer | First Day Films

Lighting | Social Event Decor

Make up | Amanda Shakleton

Gown Dresser | The Stylish Dresser

Invitations | Bella Figura

Caligraphy & Design | Sarah Hanna

Rentals | Nuage Designs

Rentals | Party Rental LTD