We’re up to more wedding crashing mischief, and this time we’ve invaded a classy spring wedding at a pretty gosh darn amazing location. Meet Heather and Christian, the blushing bride and groom. After a decade of dating, this adorable duo (who met at Red Lobster where they both worked in high school) decided to make it official. And when they did they chose a bold red, white and black color scheme along a breathtaking location: The Madison Hotel in New Jersey.
Heather snagged her La Sposa dress at a bridal boutique in New York City while the bridesmaids donned strapless satin dresses from David’s Bridal (with a little tweak: they were hemmed a bit to expose the black tulle slip underneath). The textured red on red bouquets were packed full of roses, lilies, renunculous, and gerber daisies and the groomsmen sported red rose boutonnieres and red satin ties…
… along with some elegant matching watches from the groom (for their groomsman gift):
Here’s the remarkable location, a glass domed conservatory that held the ceremony as well as the reception (they rearranged all the furniture when the guests moved outside for the cocktail hour). Oh and see if you can spot us quietly observing in the second to last row in the right. We may be wedding crashers, but we’re subtle, polite wedding crashers.
Heather and Christian went all out and hired a 12 piece band for the reception and asked the sax player to work his magic during the cocktail hour for a festive and jazzy feel while guests munched on shrimp and sipped champagne.
A cute reference to the couple’s high stakes proposal (which took place in a casino) the wedding favors were a set of glass playing card coasters that the bride ordered here.
And now onto the sweetest part of the night: the cake. The bride has quite a sweet tooth, so she not only insisted on New York style cheesecake with strawberries for her lovely guests (and her lovely wedding crashers. yum!)…
… which was plated gorgeously by the way…
… she also doled out tiny chocolate and peanut butter pies for each guest. When she couldn’t decide between her two favorite treats she thought: Let them eat cake. And pie.
And after the sun set and the tiny string lights illuminated the conservatory, the band played into the night and Christian and Heather danced the evening away.
It was definitely an elegant affair to remember (even if you’re just attending virtually). We hope you’ve enjoyed peeking in on their big day. Stick around to see which wedding we’ll pop in on next. So many nuptials, so little time…
Gorgeous! Those peanut butter pies look amazing!
Gorgeous venue! It looks like a smaller version of the Palm House at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I love all the red and those chocolate and peanut butter pies must have been delicious.
Was that really you there??!! I love NJ weddings, maybe I’m biased being a Jersey girl, but the most extraordinary, over the top bashes I’ve attended have been up there! Yikes, those peanut butter pies! Was that wedding cake the cheesecake? It looks different sliced.
Were we really there? Of course! And those peanut butter pies were every bit as good as they look. We’re true wedding crashers in every sense of the term. Here’s the best proof we could dig up, a photo of John and I at the cocktail hour- about to explain to the bride why we snuck into her big day (she’s blocking me but you can clearly see my tall golden hair hubby). People are generally excited to share the happiest day of their lives with us, so there have been no incidences of body guards and restraining orders. Yet.
And it’s quickly becoming one of our favorite hobbies. You’re right about Jersey and their extravagant weddings (little mentioned fact: I too am a bonafide Jersey girl- born and raised). But we’ve also crashed some pretty insane weddings in other places (from a Denver extravaganza to a Manhattan loft party) so stay tuned! As for the cheesecake, I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled one of those cake switcheroos, where they made the display cake for show but also created sheet cakes to be served. Oh weddings… we’ll never get sick of crashing you.
xoxo,
Sherry
What a riot! I thought people were just sending you pictures of their weddings. I’m loving this! It’s book material for sure! By the way, I was exit 10.
my wedding is going to be the same colors…any advice?
Hey Crystal,
Advice? Well, just check out what Heather and Christian did and take any and all inspiration for your wedding that you’d like! They’re gorgeous elegant colors so it’s sure to be a hit.
xo,
s
i’m still reading through the archives, in order…. and here i thought these were weddings you were invited to, but just sharing with us!!!! lol that you really are/were crashing them!
Well, in all honestly, some of the weddings we feature are actually ones that we’re invited to. But others just happen to work out where we’re in the right place at the right time. And we get to make some great new friends out of the deal!
xo,
s
This is where my prom was! Except they wouldn’t let us use the conservatory. Which, as a member of the prom committee, had me outraged… but in hindsight, they were totally right. I wouldn’t have let us use it either.
Madison is a beautiful town (as you probably know, Sherry) – and I bet it’d have a lot of great thrifting/vintaging/architectural salvage! I lived there during my college years, and wasn’t thinking that way then, but I’d love to go back now and see.