October 01, 2017

MEGAN + TIM | Montauk Lake Club | Montauk, New York

October 01, 2017/ Ashley Douglass

Megan and Tim came to us pretty far in advance. In fact, they were the first to book for 2017 about 23.5 months out from their date and wisely so because they wanted to get married in Montauk. When they first booked they didn’t have a venue which is perhaps the hardest choice you will make. They are as familiar with the area as we are so in that regard making this choice wasn’t hard but pulling the trigger (or price tag) was. The variance of price amongst some venues out East is great. Learning where your priorities lay can take some time or change once you really delve into planning. In the end they chose the Montauk Lake Club because it was quiet, private, available over more preferred dates, and one of the more favorable options financially. It’s also a tented site so you can certainly do whatever you want inside the tent! The staff is very nice as well. ;-)

Megan and Tim both work a ton. I know everyone can say that these days but let me explain…..Ashley would have calls with Megan while she was in the middle of overnights. In other words, a night where she would sleep on her desk, in her office, at the law firm. YUP! Tim simultaneously worked full time while earning his MBA at Columbia University. Got enough on your plate? To add to the pot, the summer before their own wedding and the summer of their wedding, they attended more weddings than ADE planned. Now think about that…Working all the time and between the 18 or so weeks from Memorial Day to just past Labor Day, they attended more weddings than there are almost weekends. On top are the engagement parties for the year after, bachelor and bachlorette parties, not to mention their own parties! They are one of our couples that we refer to as ‘professional wedding attendees’!

Laid back and fun was most important for this weekend. Nothing stuffy, nothing formal and nothing that is truly not needed. Invites that made them excited, linens that popped with indigo, with lots of greenery and a great band! They booked their band just a week out from booking us! As I always do, I talked about music when I first met them. Very fast I knew they’d love this band and low and behold they were the same band a friend of theirs used that they loved and had forgotten the name of. Good thing we moved fast because often enough the Marcus Reid Band books upwards of two years out or more. They were a wild crowd that danced more than most, ties on heads, people on friends shoulders, you get the picture! This wedding was one of the most fun - hands down!

Photography below by Craig Warga Weddings

RACHEL + DAVID | Ritz Carlton, Westchester, New York

August 09, 2017/ Ashley Douglass

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

Architectural designer's launch party | New Canaan, CT | July 2017

August 01, 2017/ Ashley Douglass

We could not have been more excited to have been hired to plan and design this fabulous launch party for the Maiden Lane Group in tandem with them hosting an open house for one of their pristine and perfectly restored New Canaan, Connecticut homes.

The home was designed with such thoughtfulness and detail; the lighting fixtures, the fabric wall paper, the flooring, the array of paint colors, tiles, knobs, built-in book cases and other nooks - total perfection. You always want to work with what is already there at a venue, or in this case a home, and build from there. This is not the time to reinvent the wheel, just make it better and more WOW for a party's sake! Lucky me, the owner of The Maiden Lane Group also loves grey, blue, silver, brass, coper and white as much as I do! Also, lucky for us he has wonderful taste and was all for pushing the button to make the design, and the party's flow, more perfect. Modern with a tad of hollywood regency were in order and, in true OCD fashion, we worried about guests clashing with the decor. We knew pretty fast the guest count was going to be high so we made the invite to be an All White party. Listen to me - you can never go wrong with an all white party and in July no less! White always looks right!

Inside the home and on display, and for sale at the open house tours, were one-of-a-kind paintings by renowned and local artist Paul Balmer. We've had real art in a tent before so the opportunity jumped out at Ashley when she first entered the home and saw most all of the works were from the same artist. Yes, rain plans were in place and people on hand - no art was put in danger! Thank you to Paul Balmer for being so generous and accepting of the offer, and entrusting us with your beautiful canvases.

Thank you to the fabulous team that helped bring our vision together - Social Decor, Belle Fleur, Laurence Craig Catering, Okamoto Studio, Luxe Event Rentals, American Furniture Rentals, Party Rental LTD and Greenwich Tent Co. Huge Kuddos to Katie Fischer Design for bringing everything together with The Maiden Lane Group's new branding, website and also the invitation, and other day of paper details. This invitation was just exquisite! And a shout out to Ryan Oak Productions for their jaw dropping mentalist and Jarrell Entertainment for spinning the tunes!

Please scroll the beautiful photos captured by Melani Lust Photography!

Simple joy at Blue Hill Stone Barns

March 20, 2016/ ashley

This wedding was so light, happy and inspired from the moment the bridal party woke up to the last jig on the dance floor. Their hearts were on their sleeves, their gratitude for having met one another palpable and their family and friends happiness for the couple was felt in each perfect speech. What I remember most was everyone and the couples lightheartedness.

March 20, 2016

Apple Farm Wedding in New York State

March 20, 2016/ ashley

Congrats New York State, the closest apple picking farm to New York City has just opened up to Weddings and lucky ADE as we have gotten first dibs on touching this apple loving family farm's soil with some wedding inspired beauty!

Wedding Planning & Event Planning in CT, NYC, Hamptons & Destination

MEGAN + TIM | Montauk Lake Club | Montauk, New York

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RACHEL + DAVID | Ritz Carlton, Westchester, New York

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Architectural designer's launch party | New Canaan, CT | July 2017

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Simple joy at Blue Hill Stone Barns

Apple Farm Wedding in New York State

Ashley Douglass Events