Chart House Wedding {Real Wedding Sneak Peek}

Don't get too excited, Koru family & friends.  Maybe just a smidgen excited.  Why?  I have some sneak peek photos to share with you from last Saturday's wedding!!!!  Please understand these photos were taken by me during a whirlwind work day on my camera phone.  I couldn't capture everything (ahem, like the beautiful Bride & Groom!), nor could I capture anything well.  But I did my best to give you a little glimpse of a happy, gorgeous occasion.

The Bride & Groom live in Hoboken (just like me) where they are treated to stunning views of the New York City skyline just across the Hudson River from them.  It was important to them to share those city views with their guests & the Chart House in nearby Weehawken gave them that luxury.  Bonus points if you remember I considered Chart House for my wedding!  Chart House sits at the end of a pier & it's so close to NYC you feel like you could touch the buildings.  As shown here, Chart House is at the end of the pier on the left & the city is just beyond it:

The Bride loves, LOVES the romantic vibe of candlelight & candles were a major force throughout the wedding during the ceremony & reception.  I didn't get a good photo of the guest table centerpieces but each table got a healthy dose of red rose petals, crystals & candles wrapped in various black & white pattern ribbon.  Here is the version I modified for the head table:

This is a close-up of a candle & rose petals on the head table, yet look beyond the table to that glittering NYC view from the ballroom!  Incredible, right?  The Empire State Building is front & center, lit up in orange, white & blue for the NYC Marathon the next day:

Oh, & the gorgeous, delicious cake from Hoboken's famous Carlo's Bakery (aka Cake Boss)! Again, bonus points if you remember Carlo's Bakery also made my wedding cake!  This couple's round, white cake is decorated with a big, black bow, black swirl detailing & black piping.  Red velvet cake- YUM!  I re-purposed flower garlands used during the ceremony to decorate the cake table.  We positioned this darling cake so it was in front of the windows facing downtown.  Maybe only I notice it but the white glow near the top of the cake is the Freedom Tower:

After a fun, rocking reception, the Bride & Groom had a Sparkler Grand Departure!  If you follow me on Twitter you know this was almost nixed due to a fire hazard.  But when there is a will, there's usually a way & we found one.  After a candlelit Last Dance, my assistant & I lined up the guests, handed out sparklers & lit them up, then prompted the Bride & Groom to run through to their getaway car.  This is the second Sparkler Grand Departure I've organized & it's just so awesome!  My photo was taken after the Bride & Groom had left but the guests still had plenty of sparkle:

I hope you enjoyed this humble little sneak peek!  More to come as soon as I can share professional photos from the great Daniel Hedden Photography.  Um, cause if you noticed, I am not a professional wedding photographer.  Just leave me to the wedding planning!

The Look

The Look of Our Winter Wedding
Ivory Linens, White Flowers, Glowing Candlelight
(Photo by Friend)

There are countless ways to approach the design of your wedding. We took the venue-driven route. We chose venues that, among other things, were so stunning they require little to no decor. We wanted to keep things simple & elegant to enhance, rather than distract from, the venues' true beauty. Simple & elegant became our wedding mantra. If the idea didn't fit simple & elegant, it didn't belong at our wedding.

The snapshot of our sweetheart table & wedding cake best showcases our wedding look. The simple, bunched carnation bouquets with ivory swirl ribbon. My long, sleek calla lily bouquet with ivory swirl ribbon. Striped ivory linens with simple white napkins. Votive candles glowing. Magnolia menu cards with peony purple backers & matching shades of peony purple ink, including our swirl motif. Our pretty purple toasting flutes. Our square, white wedding cake with orchids spilling down the side. All set against the glittering backdrop of Manhattan. Simply elegant!

Now I realize some of the things I'm describing, you can't see well in the photo above. I'm working with guest snapshots to tell our wedding story; later, I'll go into every last design detail with TGP's crisp, beautiful photos. But you get the idea hopefully.

The Manhattan Ballroom took my breath away when I saw it for the first time. I was so happy to see our design ideas come to life so beautifully. But in the end, it wasn't the flowers or the linens or the menu cards that mattered. Our friends & families who celebrated with us made our wedding shine!

. . . and Eat It Too!

Look, we can cut cake!

And feed each other nicely!
(Photos by Friends)

As beautiful as our wedding cake was, the time came to cut, serve & eat this beauty.

RZ & I cut the cake to the tune of "How Sweet It Is" by James Taylor (First Dance song runner-up). It's kind of an odd feeling to be cutting cake with a million eyeballs on you. Thankfully, we managed this simple task together without ruining the cake or cutting any fingers. I can't remember who feed who first but both bites were given nicely. We hadn't discussed cake smashing being off-limits but it was an unspoken, understood rule. Then came the obligatory, post-cake kiss. It was all fun & good but this Bride wanted to sit down & enjoy her yummy cake!!!

Because it was delicious!!!!! Our wedding cake was a black & white cake with chocolate fudge filling, a dirty layer of buttercream & an outer layer of white fondant. We'd had a hard time choosing between the black & white cake or a red velvet cake but I can safely say we made the right choice. OMG, it was finger-licking good! I enjoyed my first bite, then my slice at our sweetheart table & finally, my last slice as a late night snack in our hotel room.

I'd enjoyed cakes from Carlo's Bakery before & they never, ever disappoint on looks or taste. I may be a tad biased but I'm positive our cake was the best ever!

EAT, Drink & Be Married

Bride & Groom enjoying their Entrees
(Photo by Friend)

Many Brides eat little to nothing at their Wedding. I was determined not to be that Bride. I believe in the "Eat, Drink & Be Married" philosophy. Much like life, there is a time for everything at a wedding: a time to dance, a time to laugh, a time to drink & a time to EAT. Our four-course Wedding Feast was near & dear to my heart & I'm happy to say we enjoyed every last bite.

Shortly after toasts, the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake appetizer was served. YUM! I'm a picky eater & my family teases me that my diet consisted solely of grilled cheese & chicken fingers until college when I added crab cakes to the mix (thank you, Maryland). They're exaggerating a bit but they're right that crab cakes are one of my favorite foods. As such, it was added to our tasting menu upon request & chosen for our wedding because it was delicious & reflected my tastes. Mmmm, great choice.

Next, the Apple, Endive and Feta Salad. The salad was a beautiful presentation of green apple slivers, purple endive slivers & pops of white feta cheese. RZ raved about it at our tasting & raved about it again at our wedding. While the appetizer was all me, the second course went to RZ. I can't speak to the taste of the salad because I, Mrs. Picky Eater, was served the Caprese Salad because I don't like feta cheese. I was quite happy with my tasty fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes & pesto.

We offered three entree selections: Tenderloin of Beef, Pan Seared Salmon & Pork Loin Medallions. There was also a vegetarian option available. We made our selections shortly after being seated at our Reception & we ordered the Tenderloin of Beef. It was our clear favorite at our tasting &, as far as we can tell, at our wedding too! We haven't talked to one person who didn't order & love the tenderloin. Although the theory of ordering two entrees & sampling our wedding food was tempting, we couldn't resist the tenderloin which was melt-in-your mouth good.

Last, but never least, was dessert. Zeppoles & cake which as far as I can tell are a match made in heaven. Oh zeppoles, how I love thee. I've been known to wait on line for over 30 minutes to get the famous zeppoles at our church's annual street festival. We were thrilled to add these doughy little balls of heaven to our wedding menu. When our zeppole basket was delivered to our sweetheart table, RZ & I almost knocked each other over to get to them first. They were piping hot & absolutely divine!!!

Are you wondering about our wedding cake from the Cake Boss?! Full details coming soon when I post about our cake cutting :-)

Will (or did) you eat at your wedding? Does your wedding menu reflect the food you enjoy?

Our Wedding Feast

Bride & Groom enjoying the Second Course
(plus a sneak peek at our cake!)
(Photo by Friend)

RZ & I celebrate everything with food- relationship milestones, job successes, family triumphs, etc. We toast the latest good news, then dive into a delicious appetizer, entree & dessert. It's our way.

As such, food at our wedding, our biggest celebrations to date, was a huge deal. We chose the Hyatt on the Hudson for many, many reasons & one important reason was the food. We didn't regret this decision one bit as we worked hand-in-hand with the Hyatt to create a custom wedding menu to reflect our personal preferences & tastes. This was one of our favorite parts of planning our wedding.

Here is our four-course Wedding Feast chosen by our hearts & our taste buds:

Appetizer:
Jumbo Lump Crab Cake

Salad:
Apple, Endive & Feta Salad (Caprese Salad for Mrs. Picky Bride)

Entree: Guest Selection of
Tenderloin of Beef, Pan Seared Salmon,
Pork Loin Medallions or Chef's Choice of Vegetarian Entree.

Dessert:
Zeppoles & Wedding Cake

My tummy is rumbling at the mere mention of this yummy food! Tune in tomorrow for the full report on our Wedding Feast!

Meeting the Boss

Cake Boss aka Carlo's Bakery
The site of our cake tasting

Fall cake display at Carlo's Bakery

Halloween treats
(we were there Halloween weekend)

"Love at First Bite"
Our bakery box of treats

3 vanilla spiderweb cupcake for Halloween
3 red velvet cupcakes just cause

Cake Boss, that is.

Our wedding package at the Hyatt includes a wedding cake from Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken. Sound familiar? Carlo's Bakery is featured in the popular TLC show, Cake Boss. On a recent Saturday morning, RZ & I found ourselves at the packed bakery for our cake tasting.

Although the line of tourists hadn't formed outside yet, the inside of the bakery was a zoo. It took some grit & determination to alert someone we were here for a cake tasting. Then we were ushered past the velvet ropes (no kidding, there are ropes), into the bakery where Buddy was posing for photos with a cake & upstairs to Buddy's office to met with Mauro. Buddy made a brief appearance to say hello & good morning to kick off the appointment.

The Hyatt had told us there was a selection of cakes included in our package or we could choose a custom design on our dime. We started the appointment looking at the selections & I was pleasantly surprised by the designs available. I had been sure the selection would be slim & we would be forced to pay more for our cake. Instead, we could choose from quite a few pretty cakes. One looked like stacked Tiffany boxes tied with white ribbon, one featured a beautiful swirl pattern & another was decorated with the NYC fondant skyline. I drooled over the swirl cake but we went with another clean, modern design.

Then came the fun part- tasting the cake! We were served ten, small slices of cake, each a different cake flavor paired with a different filling. Did you ever dream of eating cake for breakfast as a kid? Well, this was a dream come true. Yum, yum!! RZ & I easily narrowed it down to two choices & we had a tough time with the final decision. In the end, we went with the most popular cake/filling combination that Mauro suggested. Our wedding cake will be beautiful & delicious.

Our Cake tasting was definitely one of the best parts of wedding planning to date. Oh, how sweet it was.