A few details from our Brooklyn Wedding

Melissa of Cake Hero is my actual hero.

Back in September I posted a few photos from my wedding at Frankies 457 in Brooklyn over on our Instagram, but now that we have the professional shots back I wanted to share a few more details with you. All photos by the amazing Emma McIntyre.

We choose our venue before we did anything else, and it was literally the easiest part, and the first place we visited. Since my husband is English and half of the guest would be coming from the UK, we decided to meet in the "middle" and get married in our favourite city.  Rather than asking half our guests fly to either Toronto or London, we decided to just make everyone fly. It's more fair that way, right?

We fell in love with Frankies the moment we walked through the door. Once we took a tour of the space and had a meal and it was settled. No need to look anywhere else, and they were an absolute dream to work with.

We designed the invites ourselves. And by we I mean Jon designed them using some photos I had taken of the venue, while I stood over his shoulder and made comments about fonts. I'm still totally obsessed with them.

We bought our wedding rings 3 days before the wedding from In God We Trust in Williamsburg. Bringing home a piece of Brooklyn with us to wear every day was such a special memento of the trip.

We decided to splurge and stay at the Bowery Hotel for 3 nights, since it's where we got engaged and our favorite hotel in the world.

Julie did my makeup, and my god did she do a good job.

My "getting ready" outfit consisted of an amazing flamingo-print "Tru-Mu" from Show Me Your Mumu, via Fitzroy Boutique.

It was really important to me that the bridesmaids dresses also came from the shop, so it was a no-brainer that they were going to be by our absolute favourite line.  Julie and I picked them out at the Coterie trade show last fall, and the Mumu girls were so excited to help us choose between different prints and styles. We ended up choosing the Jocelyn Maxi in Floating Floral. Dream dress.

My dress was also an easy choice. I saw this Mara Hoffman beaded sheath gown online as part of her Devotional Collection, fell in love and ordered it immediately. I didn't want anything fussy or that I wouldn't feel like myself in, and this easy throw-it-on-and-go gown was the perfect choice. 

My reception dress was yet another dream dress, by French designer Rime Arodaky via The Mews Bridal in Notting Hill. Because I saw this video and had to have it. And I will 100% be wearing it again.

My shoes were gold-snake Kate Spade's via David's in Yorkville. Also the first and only pair I tried on!

I had planned to wear a floral crown but changed my mind at the last minute and bought this stunning headpiece, hand-made by Toronto's own Armed for Shop Bicyclette. It's almost like it was made to go with my dress.

While I was getting my hair done my wonderful bridesmaids ran all over the East Village to find donuts and mini champagne bottles. Dream friends.

And Kristen brought the perfect cocktail accessories from BYOB.   

Happiest bride ever.

Our stunning florals were created by the insanely talented Kimberly of Rose Red and Lavender in Williamsburg.  When we first met I had no idea what I wanted other than "a wild looking bouquet" and banana leaf centerpieces. She patiently helped me work through colour schemes and ideas and in the end she and her team just absolutely KILLED IT.

The girl who dropped off my bouquet said it was their favourite one they had created this year.  Jaw dropping.

It's amazing how fast 5 girls can just destroy a hotel room.

The hotel terrace was the perfect backdrop to sneak a few quick photos.

 I had warned Jon beforehand that my dress was "basically an oversized t-shirt".  But sooo glad I went with something I felt 100% comfortable in.  No bustling malarkey here. 

Cab selfies with my girls.

I think I have a drink in my hand in a good 50% of our photos. Helped keep me chill on what can be somewhat of a stressful day... 

 

 Driving across the Brooklyn bridge on the way to the venue was such a special moment.

Once we got to Carroll Gardens, everything was a perfect backdrop.

Requisite photobooth backdrop via Studio Mucci. Couldn't resist. These pretty streamers now live in the shop. 

 Our guest book was custom made by Print Smitten on Etsy. (How did people get married before Etsy??)  I had her put a line from our vows (which we had written ourselves) on the spine and surprised Jon with it on the day. Everyone took photo-booth polaroids and glued them into the book with hilarious messages to us. We treasure this book.

Cocktail-table flowers by Rose Red and Lavender.

 The pretty bunting was hand-made by my dear bridesmaid Leah for her own wedding earlier in the summer, and lovingly loaned for the occasion.

Instead of flowers on the tables we opted for simple banana leaf in gold vases.  (Via Rose Red and Lavender)

My mom and brother spray painted the plastic dinosaurs and jungle animals for us, which we used as place markers for our guests.

We created the menus ourselves, incorporating my all time favourite banana-leaf print.

Jon wore a bespoke sky blue suit from Tiger of Sweden, swoon. The groomsmen wore succulent boutineers.

"don't even try to take my drink, husband"

When people asked us "why Brooklyn" I wanted to punch them. Then show them this photo. That light.

 I couldn't find a bracelet I liked so at the last minute decided to do metallic temporary tattoos instead. Obsessed.

Jon and I spent a morning spray-painting pineapples together in McCarren park. Totally worth it.

Our cake had to be my absolute favourite detail of the whole wedding. We had wanted to incorporate our cats into the day somehow (yes, we're those people) and the lovely team at Frankies had recommended that we check out Brooklyn-based Cake Hero if we were looking for a super cool, unique wedding cake.  I emailed Melissa my cat cake idea and she was totally behind it!! We worked together to decide on the colours and flavours, and she created succulent and banana-leaf sugar flowers by hand to match our decor. I kept the cake a secret from Jon until the day so I could see the look oh his face when he saw our cat children on our wedding cake! It was well worth the wait.

And last but not least, our INCREDIBLE photographer was our dear friend Emma McIntyre. Emma doesn't shoot a lot of weddings so we were so very grateful that she agreed to come down and shoot ours. All photos by her.  We couldn't have asked for better.