We were married December 1, 2007 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Montclair, NJ and held our reception at The Grand Summit Hotel in Summit, NJ.  Our ceremony was beautiful and of course, I sobbed while trying to say my vows.  I wore a Henry Roth Chantilly lace gown with a sweetheart neckline that I think was very sophisticated and elegant.  My veil consisted on two hand-sewn veils, a cathedral veil with patches of Chantilly lace and a shorter veil that I also wore as a blusher for my walk down the aisle. My bouquet, made by Connie Riemer, was all deep red calla lilies with touches of white Veronica to soften it and give it that Victorian look I wanted.  My bridesmaids wore a champagne Bill Levkoff dress with a wine colored sash and carried a mixture of white hydrangea and red calla lillies. Unfortunately, it was 30 degrees outside on our wedding day so our bridal party froze their butts off, but we still managed to get amazing pictures thanks to our photographer, Neil van Niekerk.  Everything regarding our wedding day turned out close to perfect. We had a few mishaps in the morning (my manicure got ruined and one bridesmaid's dress was altered incorrectly) but it ended up being a perfect day. 

Since our wedding was in December, I tried to keep with a winter or Christmas feel but was very careful not to make it feel like a theme or get too overwhelming.  Overall, I strived for an elegant wedding.  Some of our Chistmas touches were: we hired two musicians for our cocktail hour to play Christmas music; our dinner music consisted of Sinatra and jazz styled Christmas music; we were introduced as the new Mr. and Mrs. to Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas," which was a HUGE hit; and our favors were Christmas ornaments that I purchased from Crate & Barrell and tied a quote on them from "The Polar Express."  Our centerpieces did not have a theme to them but the vases were all filled with fresh cranberries to give it a winter feeling.  Our wedding flowers consisted of tulips, white hydrangeas, red calla lillies, and hypericum berries.  I prefer the look of simple flowers and uniformity so I stuck with only a few types and red and white.  I also hired someone to erect and decorate an 8 foot tall Christmas tree in our reception room to give the room the extra warmth of the holiday season.  The Grand Summit Hotel was beautifully decorated for the holidays so I didn't need to do much else.

We danced our first dance to Michael Buble's "For Once in My Life" and took private dance lessons prior to it so we looked pretty decent.  The most important thing throughout our day was that we loved being together and had a lot of fun.  We also ate the food, which was a big deal to us since everyone says they never enjoy the food. Our cocktail hour consisted of multiple stations of food, a raw bar and plenty of drinks to go around. We featured special drinks of the night and made a signature drink bar menu with special drink names that had personal meanings to us and our friends. We had 210 guests at our reception with about 90 being friends.  Needless to say, it turned into a pretty good party with 90 friends.  Our dinner menu started with a wild mushroom risotto, followed by a salad, and filet and lobster tail for dinner.  Our Venetian hour dessert was a huge hit and our wedding cake, done by a local bakery in Westfield, NJ, was very tasty.  We chose bride and groom golf cake toppers since golf is my husband's favorite thing to do.  Our reception was wonderful as we were surrounded by those that we loved.  I cried during our last dance because I couldn't believe it was over.  The next best thing was waking up the following morning at The Grand Summit Hotel and having about three inches of snow on the ground and flurries in the air. I felt like a true winter bride.  All of friends and family were there for breakfast and we took pictures in the snow in our pjs and my veil. It really was a magical 24 hours.

Our wedding vendors were all wonderful, although some really blew me away.  Connie Riemer, my florist, and Neil van Niekerk, our photographer, were the two best vendors possible.  Connie's work in our reception room almost made me cry when I opened the doors to the room for my first peek. The glowing red candles and overfilled room of red tulips and white hydrangea was dramatic and stunning.  Neil's work is featured on this site he took every picture you see on this site under my profile.