The View

The glittering, glorious skyline of Manhattan was the shining star of our winter wedding.


This was carefully planned. RZ & I are lucky enough to enjoy stunning views of Manhattan from our beloved hometown of Hoboken & we wanted to share this experience with our guests. So the Manhattan Ballroom at Hyatt on the Hudson, with its fabulous skyline views, was booked. The flowers & decor were kept simple & elegant. The prayers to the Weather God were made for a clear evening.


On January 15, everything fell into place & the Manhattan skyline lit up in full glory.



Imagine dining on delicious food with sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline. Imagine dancing to a fun song with the bright lights of Manhattan surrounding you. Imagine celebrating a joyous occasion among the ultimate backdrop of Manhattan. So beautiful, so romantic. You're imagining the very night of our wedding!


It was a dream come true to treat our wedding guests to the dramatic Manhattan views. In my mind, the skyline was the star of the show & she's never shined brighter or more beautifully!

(Skyline Photos from Our Wedding
Taken by Wedding Guests)

DIY Project #3: K & R

Painted K, Naked R

My final DIY wedding project was our initials, K & R. Because RZ & I branded everything from the spot in the sand where he proposed to our wedding invitations with our initials, I wanted to continue the theme at our wedding reception. I picked out the perfect spot for our initials on a site visit at Hyatt on the Hudson: our guest book table. The guest book table would be against the wall & the letters would add a bit of height & personality. After the wedding, we could hang the letters in our home as a wedding memento. Now all I needed was to complete the project!

K & R in Progress

This DIY project was the quickest & easiest. I bought two wooden letters, one ampersand, two bottles of ivory paint & one bottle of mocha paint at AC Moore. I briefly considered painting the ampersand purple because I had added touches of purple, like the bridesmaid dresses, throughout the celebration. In the end, I went with mocha for the simple reason that it would look best in our living room when the wedding was said & done. I took my supplies home & painted the K & R with about five coats of paint over a period of a few days. I applied the final coat of paint the night before the wedding :-)

The snag was the guest book table wasn't placed against the wall as the catering manager had told me. I went through three catering managers at Hyatt on the Hudson &, unfortunately, the second one who led me on a site tour may not have known everything about the cocktail hour set-up. It never occurred to me to confirm the guest book table placement with my third, final & best Hyatt contact. At our wedding, the guest book table was placed in an excellent position near the ballroom entrance- just not against a wall. I hadn't bought letters that could stand on their own so the initials were awkwardly propped up somehow on the table. For a fleeting moment as I entered the ballroom & noticed the table, I considered putting on my wedding planner hat & trying to fix the problem, then realized it wasn't a big deal. At all.

K & R in our home today

For the record, as you can see above, our initials look just right on our living room wall!

Transportation: Wedding Shuttle

Our Wedding Shuttle
provided by NY Waterway

Similar to the theme of Halloween last week, the theme is wedding transportation this week. Our ceremony & reception are in two locations so, naturally, we need transportation. We have hired three modes of transportation &, at times, it's felt a little like planes, trains & automobiles. In our case, it's bus, limo & taxi. Let's start with the transportation for our wedding guests which I've so cleverly dubbed the Wedding Shuttle.

Why do we need transportation for our wedding guests? Our ceremony & reception are in neighboring towns of Hoboken & Jersey City, about a 15-minute, easy drive. Parking is the big, big issue. Our church has a small parking lot the size of a postage stamp that we want to reserve for our elderly & infant guests. Street parking is limited & the parking rules make it easy to find yourself ticketed, booted or towed (I've experienced all three in my eight years here). Garage parking is available but the walk may be bitter & cold in winter. Because parking in Hoboken is such a headache & hassle, we thought it would be best to provide transportation to & from the ceremony.

A bus was the natural solution to our wedding guest transportation needs & we decided to make it a tad fun with a local spin: a NY Waterway bus. NY Waterway operates ferries between New Jersey & Manhattan & they provide buses on each side to various locations. You can hardly visit the NYC-area without spotting the familiar red, white & blue NY Waterway buses. The buses are local & distinct, plus it didn't hurt that I've worked with NY Waterway as a private charter in the past & I found them to be courteous & prompt. So we booked them for four hours & worked out the details of our Wedding Shuttle.

Here is the plan. All wedding guests, regardless of whether or not they are overnight guests at the Hyatt, are being directed to go to the Hyatt prior to the ceremony to valet park or self-park their vehicle. Our Wedding Shuttle will be waiting near the Hyatt lobby to take them to our ceremony. The shuttle will make two scheduled runs to Hoboken. After our ceremony, the Wedding Shuttle will make two scheduled runs to return our wedding guests to the Hyatt. Now they're in the right place for our wedding reception. Let the party begin!