Metropolitan Building Wedding Photography | Modern Vintage Style
Jordan + Adam’s wedding was recently published in the 2019 Spring/Summer Issue of the Knot Magazine!
I always love working at the Metropolitan Building. Jordan and Adam’s wedding was exceptionally fun to photograph. Jordan was kind enough to give us some insight into the wedding day and the wedding planning process.
How did you meet? Adam and Jordi met in New York City, at a bar, so the story goes. Adam had just moved to New York from the UK and was still getting to know the city. He happened to be out with some mates the same night Jordi was out with a group of girlfriends. It would be lying to say the British accents didn’t help win the girls over- but they hit it off and had a fun night together. But it wasn’t love at first sight. Adam and Jordi remained friends after that night and didn’t start dating until several months later. It was really wonderful to get to know each other as friends- it was great to get to know each other without the pressure of dating. We felt so comfortable around each other and shared so many laughs. Eventually, I realized that I wanted to spend all of my time around him and thankfully he agreed. We are so thankful for our strong foundation of friendship and ability to laugh together, even through the hard times.
Location and venue details – We decided to have our wedding in New York City. It was the setting for our love story, our favorite city and a great destination for our guests coming from all over the world. As soon as we walked into the Metropolitan Building in Long Island City we knew we had found the place. It’s quirky elegance and Bohemian charm was breathtaking. We’d never seen any place like it and felt that it suited the both of us so well. We really wanted our guests to feel like this was a one of a kind wedding.
The inspiration behind the day – Once we found the venue everything else fell into place. To suit the space we wanted to have a modern vintage feel to the day and my dress really completed that vision. I had always admired my grandmother’s wedding dress in photographs but had no idea what kind of shape it was in. Once I was engaged, my mom brought it down from the attic and I couldn’t believe how nicely the satin fabric had aged. The once white satin had aged into a beautiful ivory color and the quality of the fabric is unlike anything you can find today. I went to a few bridal shops to try on dresses, but nothing felt as authentic and special as being able to wear my grandmother’s dress. She and I have always been extremely close and she has been such an incredible role model for me. It was such a pleasure to honor her and our bond by being able to wear her wedding dress on my big day.
Living in New York I was fortunate enough to have access to the amazingly talented wedding dress designer Katheryn Conover. I met with Kathryn and explained my vision- I wanted to use and showcase the fabric from my grandmother’s dress but update it with a modern twist and my own personal taste. Her execution of my vision was beyond anything I could have imagined. We ended up with 3 pieces. A high waisted skirt and strapless bodice made from my grandmother’s dress and a beautiful, hand embroidered overlay with long sleeves. I loved the vintage elegance and the versatility of the dress. I wanted to be able to wear sleeves for the ceremony and dinner, but be able to dance freely by the end of the night. I added a third look (hey, it was my big day so I was allowed to go all out!)- wearing pants with the strapless bodice at the end of the night for maximum dancing ability. The veil I wore was my mother’s. Again Kathryn helped to update that (removing the garish 70s headpiece) and turning it into a simple floor length veil. It was so special to be able to honor the important women in my life while adding my own fashion twist.
Favorite memories of the day? Seeing my grandmothers face when she saw me put on the gown was priceless. She was blown away by how beautiful it turned out and we shared a special moment together that I will always cherish.
I also loved our dinner. Adam, being from the UK was adamant that we have a formal sit down dinner, and also in sticking with British tradition, we had a good friend serve as the master of ceremonies and introduce each of our speakers. We had quite a few speeches during the dinner and that was by far one of my favorite memories of the evening. It was so special to have my mom and his dad share some words about us, our relationship and how we each became the people we are today. Then we had our best man and maid of honor speak- these were more like roasts coming from our best friends and that brought the house down with laughter. His best man also passed along the “rudder of life” a tradition born out of Adam’s rowing days with his best mates from University. But my favorite speech was Adam’s he spoke from the heart to thank and honor all of the people who helped get us to that day and really honored the love that we share. I still tear up thinking about it. I’ll never forget pausing to look around the room and seeing all of our favorite people enjoying the meal and laughing along with the speeches, and I don’t know if anything can truly describe that feeling of love and gratitude.
Music choices? We wanted an element of live music but as we started to price out bands we found they were a bit out of our price range if we wanted to keep costs down. So we had the idea to hire a DJ and then get a live saxophone player to play along with him. We found our wonderful DJ through 74 Events– Dan was fantastic, he really got a good sense of what we wanted before the big day and kept the crowd going all night long. Our guests also loved that they could request songs throughout the night and that surely kept the dance floor packed. Dan referred us to Lathan, our incredible sax player. He was such a hit on the dance floor. It was great to have an element of live music to keep the dance party going.
When it came to choosing our ceremony music we gave a nod to Adam’s British Heritage. The Bridesmaids walked into Blackbird and I walked in to Here Comes the Sun both by the Beatles. For our first dance, we were struggling to find a song. We had a short list but couldn’t agree on anything that felt just right. Adam, growing up in the UK has fond memories of watching Morecambe and Wise- the British variety show act- with his mum, and listening to her sing their songs. They sang a song “Bring me Sunshine” which if you listen to the lyrics has a wonderful sentiment for a first dance. When he found the Willie Nelson cover of that song it felt perfect. It was a nice nod to his family and upbringing and his mom and aunt were in tears.
Any advice for brides planning now? As cliché as it might sound- don’t sweat the small stuff. I remember one night we spent far too long deciding on napkin colors and I just had this moment of clarity that it really didn’t matter. I realized that no one but us will ever notice or care about this and there is no point stressing about it. From then on we just tried to take the planning as it came and not worry about little things. Make decisions quickly, stick to them and trust that your amazing vendors know what they are doing and will execute perfectly. Of course, everything will not go as planned- it never does- and there were small things throughout our day that didn’t go perfectly- but there is no sense in letting that ruin your amazing day. Take it all in stride and remember that the most important thing is that you and your fiancée will be together surrounded by all of those who love you the most and none of the small details will even matter. Oh and take several moments throughout the day to just stop, and breath, and marvel at all the love in the room and just how truly lucky you are!
Vendors
Venue: The Metropolitan Building
DJ: 74 Events
Ceremony Music: Sterling Strings
Flowers: Whisper and Brook
Dress: Grandmothers redesigned by Kathryn Conover
Groom Attire: Rag and Bone
Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Hair and Makeup: Marci Saucedo
