Our Wedding Highlights

I have never been so excited to share anything on this blog before as I am to share our wedding with you all!  I know you have been waiting a long time for this, but our feature in The Knot New York is finally out and it’s the perfect time to share (you can see the online feature here, but look for the print version out now.  There are way too many photos to share for one post, so for the month of February, I will be featuring a Wedding Wednesday series, and will be highlighting different parts of our wedding.  Today, I’m bringing you some of my absolute favorite moments and a glimpse into our beautiful summer wedding that felt like it was a dream.

I will start you off at the beginning.  You can read all about our proposal story here, which was in December 2014.  About a year ago, we settled on our venue Lord Thompson Manor in upstate Connecticut, about 15 minutes from where Raja grew up (in the quiet corner of the state).  Raja and I wanted our wedding to be very different and we wanted to bring our friends and family who are scattered all over (Raja’s family came from Beruit, Lebanon and my family traveled from Florida and even Canada). We wanted a weekend wedding concept and something that felt like a destination wedding (since it was for some people). We fell in love with Lord Thompson Manor right away and loved the vintage vibe. We thought mid-summer would be the perfect time in this setting and after almost 8 years of being together, we didn’t want to wait! So, we planned the entire wedding in close to 6 months.

The moment I first laid eyes on an Inbal Dror dress, I knew she was the one!  Her line is only carried in just a few bridal boutiques throughout the country (Mark Ingram in NYC being one of them) and I went in with one particular dress in mind.  I knew I wanted something different and loved the idea of sleeves and lace but was open to other options just in case it didn’t look like I thought it would!  My bridal consultant had me try on that dress first (just so I would know right off the bat if it didn’t work and could try the rest of the dresses on with an open mind).  As soon as I put it on, I turned to my Mom and we both knew.  It was as easy as that!

My dress was Inbal Dror with a plunging necklace and open-back.  The sleeves were a very fine and thin lace with beautiful pearls lining the bottom.  There was a also a very thin belt in the front of the dress and hand embroidered beading throughout the entire dress.  I wore a simple veil (since the dress was so extravagant).  For my “something blue” I went with the Sex & The City Manolo Blahnik pumps and my “something borrowed” were beautiful pearl and diamond earrings from my best friend and bridesmaid (who wore them to her own wedding the year before).  I also carried a beaded clutch from BHLDN.

Since my dress was the statement piece, I wanted it to have all the attention.  I went with very simple hair and makeup to relax the vibe of my look.  I wore my hair down (basically how I always wear it) slightly brought to the side to help show off the back of the dress.  For my makeup, we tried to keep the look “natural glam.”  The last thing I would have wanted was to not look like myself.  We went with a very toned-down smokey eye and neutral lip.

I had 9 bridesmaids (a mix between friends I grew up with, college friends, dance team teammates and Raja’s sister).  The bridesmaid dresses were something I was instantly anxious about when we set our date.  I had been a bridesmaid a few other times and knew the standard time to order a dress was at least 7 months out (and try getting 9 girls together with crazy busy schedules).  Luckily, J. Crew has a beautiful selection of long chiffon dresses in a ton of colors and styles.  I wanted everyone to be happy and I never like things too “matchy, matchy” so I narrowed down three colors I liked and told them to have at it.  I figured there might be more who leaned towards one color and the color distribution might not be even… but it just wasn’t something I was hung up on.  To my surprise, they ended up picking 3-3-3 so we had three in each color and all different style dresses.  I love the way it ended up looking and people said they were so surprised when they all walked down the aisle one by one.

Since it was mid-summer, Raja went with a white J. Crew dinner jacket, black tuxedo pants and a black bow-tie.  He looked like he was in the Great Gatsby movie (unintentionally) and our guests even started applauding for him as he walked down the aisle before our ceremony!   Seriously.  My dad and I were hidden in the back waiting to come down the aisle and you would have thought a secret celebrity performer came out of the wings, that’s how loud our guests cheered for him.  We were cracking up when we put two and two together and realized the applause and cheers were for the groom!  His 9 groomsmen wore fitted black suits with a black skinny tie and black shoes.

Our first look was one of the most amazing moments of my entire life.  As our friends and family watched on from above, I walked down the aisle with Raja turned away from me, tapped him on the shoulder, and watched him tear up as he saw me for the first time.  Getting to spend those first moments together before all the craziness started was so much of a relief for both of us.

We were fortunate enough for clear skies and we were able to have our ceremony outside in the side garden area of Lord Thompson Manor. My dad escorted me down the aisle and we used Raja’s family pastor to officiate the ceremony.  For our ceremony music, The Fengate Chamber Players were recommended to us and we had heard a sampling of their music live during our menu tasting.  We knew adding live music to the ceremony and cocktail hour would add a beautiful touch so we had the string quartette play a mix of classic string music as well as renditions of some modern songs.  The groomsmen and bridesmaids walked down the aisle to Bittersweet Symphony and my dad and I walked down the aisle to A Thousand Years.  We also had to add in some Coldplay tunes as that is Raja and my favorite band together!

VENDORS | Venue: Lord Thompson Manor | Photography: Rebecca Arthurs | Videography: Barnberry Productions | Ceremony Music: Fengate Chamber Players | Reception Music: Miles Elliot | Hair/Makeup: Emily Keepin | Invitations: Minted

DETAILS | Dress: Inbal Dror via Mark Ingram Atelier | Shoes: Manolo Blahnik | Wedding Rings: Cartier | Ring Holder: The Mrs. Box c/o | Bridesmaid Dresses: J.Crew | Bridal Robe: BHLDN c/o | Bridesmaid Robes: BHLDN c/o | Bridesmaid Foldable Flats: Yosi Samra c/o | Bridesmaid Clutches: GiGi New York c/o | Groom’s Jacket: J.Crew | Groomsmen Suits/Ties: TOPMAN | Toasting Flutes: Waterford Crystal

Make sure to tune into the next Wedding Wednesday post coming to you next week!  I will be sharing more moments from getting ready with my bridal party!  In the meantime, I’m happy to share our wedding video with you, so you can get more of a sense of our unbelievable day.  I cannot wait to share every little detail with you!