I can’t even believe how adorable and simply beautiful the tasseled huppah came out! The ultimate DIY gift from friends of the groom…and such a great idea to boot!
Andrea and Josh wanted their wedding to be a shared event where the bride and groom were as much the focus as their family and friends, all joining together in celebration of their marriage. To do this, they asked their guests to participate in a variety of ways throughout the wedding, making it a perfectly homespun and crafty Brooklyn affair.
In preparation, family members helped make the luminaries and the signing quilt, while the groom’s architect friends designed and built a huppah (a Jewish wedding ceremony canopy), topped with over 100 handmade strung paper tassels.
When the day of the wedding arrived it was a perfectly autumn afternoon: 65-degrees and sunny with leaves taking hues of deep green, yellow and fiery red. The ceremony was outdoors on Prospect Park’s Long Meadow starting at 1pm, and was introduced by the bride’s two friends as the fluitist and officiant. With the park’s lawns and trees as their backdrop, Andrea and Josh read each other vows as the huppah’s tassels swayed in the breeze. Sharing the park with their guests was important to Andrea and Josh since they spent much of their time there, relaxing on the weekends and running and biking before work. So having a kids soccer game going on next to the ceremony was a perfect complement, if not an adorable forecast of Andrea & Josh’s possible future: someday brining their own children to the park.
After the ceremony guests were invited to a reception held in the Picnic House, a lodge with large windows overlooking the Long Meadow. Guests were treated to a variety of homemade beers crafted by the bride’s father and a series of passed hors d’oeuvres, starting with savory and ending with sweet. Dessert was highlighted by homemade pies made by the bride’s family. The afternoon was filled with laughs, conversation and dancing while a slideshow featuring family photos of the bride and groom as kids played in the corner, and a jazz trio led by the groom’s step-brother carried guests through the afternoon. At sunset, Andrea and Josh were whisked away by a pedi-cab, driven from the park and through Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza as passers-by wished them congratulations, sending them into the night.
VENDORS
Location: Prospect Park Picnic House
Caterer: Great Performances
Homemade Pies: Stone Soup (bride’s sister’s boyfriend)
Homemade Beer: Bride’s father
Photographer: Brookelyn Photography
Florist: Sprout Home
Terrariums: Bride & Groom
Dresses: Bride – LulaKate, Bridesmaids – Lynn Lugo
Shoes: Kate Spade
Suit: Hugo Boss
Jazz Musicians: Trio Slaye with Josh Reed (groom’s step-brother)
Get-away Pedi-Cab: Revolution Rickshaws
Signing Quilt: Bride, Groom & Bride’s mother
Huppah: friends of the groom
Luminares: Groom’s step-mother
Officiant & Flutist: Friends of the Bride
[images from Brookelyn Photography]