Often couples come to me with a venue they already have in mind, but sometimes I get to work with couples right from the beginning. It is really exciting to learn what an engaged couple hopes for and how they want to feel on their wedding day. We looked at some great wedding venues all around NYC and the winner was the Four Seasons Downtown Hotel. The Four Seasons Downtown was opened in 2016 and only a block away from the World Trade Center. You can see the Santiago Calatrava-designed Oculus as you walk towards the hotel. There is a modern chic flair to this hotel in the tidal marble wave walls in the lobby and the striking suspended staircase. It houses a luxurious spa and the restaurant CUT by Wolfgang Puck.
As an introduction to a New York City wedding, the letterpressed save the date from Bella Figura featured the city skyline in navy with rose gold stars. For the invitation suite by Fourteen-Forty, we used a colour palette of soft white, deep racing green and pewter grey with a modern feel. An illustrated map was included that highlighted the weekend events, along with where they first met (NYU), where he proposed (Eleven Madison), their favourite coffee spot (La Colombe Noho) and their favourite pizza (Prince Street Pizza). The entire suite was enclosed in a folded vellum cover and Xi added a clear vellum wax seal from Artisaire, which I adored. The vellum seal on the vellum cover looked so chic!
Xi wore an intricately detailed gown from Lee Grebenau, which she found at Spina Bride, together with Christian Louboutin pumps. She wore her hair up in an elegant low chignon and carried a crisp white and green bouquet of dahlia, lisianthus, eucalyptus pods and baby’s breath. It was inspired by Priyanka Chopra’s wedding bouquet!
Xi and Eric had their (very sweet) first look right outside the front of the hotel. I was hiding inside the lobby, but loved seeing later in the pictures how it turned out. Xi really wanted greenery in her wedding portraits and their photographer Sasithon suggested that we take a walk to nearby City Hall Park. We lucked out with weather and the trip to the park was well worth it! It was an easy walk 1 block walk away from the Four Seasons. Xi and Eric spent some time together doing their portraits first, and we had the bridal party join them later in the park. Including the very adorable ring bearer and Eric’s nephew.
Jessy from Fleurs really blew everyone away with the ceremony florals in the Chamber’s Room. We had the white aisle setup as a diagonal across the room from the doors to the windows. Fleurs installed a mirrored rectangular arch, and built an enormous tree filled with baby’s breath and lush greenery. It all looked so dramatic, fluffy and romantic! At the top of the aisle, we had mirrored pedestals, which held two statement branch arrangements with baby’s breath. The white carpeted aisle was lined with even more baby’s breath. It made for quite an stunning entrance for the bridal party. The Highline string quartet played Ave Maria for the bridal party and Pachelbel’s Cannon in D for the bride’s entrance with her father. A dear friend of Xi and Eric, Gian officiated the ceremony.
After the ceremony, guests walked over to the Greenwich Ballroom Foyer for the cocktail reception. In addition to the delicious passed hors d’oeuvres, guests also enjoyed a pasta station and a Nobu handroll station. The Nobu station was quite the hit! Fleurs built another baby’s breath tree on the bar. It brought a whole new meaning to me of “bar arrangement”!
It was always a dream for Xi to have some sort of hanging floral in the dinner reception and Fleurs designed that beautifully with a statement piece of baby’s breath and greenery hanging over the white dance floor. It was like dancing under a giant fluffy cloud! Behind the DJ, Fleurs setup a large white backdrop and decorated that with a winding wave of baby’s breath. Some round dining tables had low lush florals incorporating show stopping dahlia, roses, lisianthus and blushing bride. Other round dining tables had tall branch arrangements with baby’s breath. The head table was a long table with a full garland along that length that flowed down to the floor on both ends. Floating candles and votives cast a warm romantic glow over the whole room. Xi and Eric were introduced into the room, straight into their first dance to Whitney Houston’s “You’ll Never Stand Alone”, before an energetic dance set ensued!
For the first course, guests dined on nori-crusted tuna, crispy bok choy with brown butter miso glaze. Entrée was a choice of seared jumbo scallops, English pea risotto, pea tendrils and black truffle, OR filet mignon, spice rub, heirloom carrots, king trumpet mushrooms, potato pave, and truffle demi. I’m so glad they choose to change things up and serve scallops at their wedding, instead of the usual fish course. That scallop dish was incredibly delicious! I still remember it now.
Ron Ben-Israel designed the wedding cake, which had a grey background to compliment the grey used in the invitation suite. Each of the four tiers featured a delicate deckled edge that was tipped with gold, and a thin gold band piped at the bottom of each tier. The white sugar flowers really popped against the grey background. Inside the cake were alternating layers of vanilla and chocolate cake, with three fillings: brown sugar with mini chocolate chips, salted caramel, and hazelnut with praline crunch.
For her bachelorette party, Xi’s friends had Eric’s head printed out as giant cut outs. These hilarious cut outs made it to the wedding too, and were so much fun at the photobooth from Mirmir. As the guests hit the dance floor after dinner, we handed out glow sticks and ballet flats from Rescue Flats for any ladies whose feet needed a break. Late into the dancing, baskets of French fries and mini grilled cheese sandwiches were passed, which were a hit! Thank you to Sasithon Photography for capturing Xi and Eric’s big celebration! It was such an amazing wedding to be part of. Full of love, humour and happiness.
Venue: Four Seasons Downtown NYC | Event Planner: Ang Weddings and Events | Photography: Sasithon Photography | Floral design: Fleurs | Videography: Mike Zhu Films | Save the Date: Bella Figura | Invitation and Day of Paperie: Fourteen Forty | Ceremony strings: Highline Quartet | DJ: 74 Events | Dancefloor: Go To Shout | Rentals: Party Rental Ltd | Photobooth: Mirmir | Gown: Lee Grebenau via Spina Bride | Hair: Liam Carey | Makeup: Face Time Beauty | Cake: Ron Ben-Israel | Lighting: Stortz
See Xi and Eric’s rehearsal dinner at Manhatta Restaurant here
See more of our favourite NYC wedding venues here:
Carly and Bobby’s Plaza Wedding
Somia and Jared’s Rainbow Room Wedding
Carly and Xavier’s Central Park Zoo Wedding