A Brooklyn Wedding

“See, my husband, Gustav, and I chose to get married on the Isle of Skye in Scotland in October and then have our wedding reception at Deity Events in November. We are both adventurers at heart, so for that reason (among others) we decided that an intimate ceremony abroad followed by a big celebration back home was the way to go for us.”

“As a result, we really had to think through exactly how to throw a reception that felt intrinsically tied to a ceremony that happened at a different time in a different place. We wanted all of our reception guests to feel not just like they were attending a party for us, but like they were part of our actual wedding. We knew we couldn’t recreate our wedding day, but we wanted to bring elements of it into our reception in order to share the joy of that day with all our loved ones who weren’t with us in Scotland. And thanks to the help of the wedding coordinator at Deity Events, we got just that.”

“The day of our reception began with our settling into the GORGEOUS  Deity Suite on the top floor of Deity Events, where I had my hair and makeup done while sipping on champagne and chatting with my mother and my Maid of Honor.”

“I enlisted their help the most, for sure. The two of them really made so much of our wedding possible– both our wedding in Scotland, and our reception at Deity Events. My Maid of Honor is a master of spreadsheets and her organization and coordination this was instrumental in the planning process. My mother was extremely diligent about being in contact and coordinating with our venues and hotels and making sure I stayed on top of all the small details. We would not have been able to pull off the wedding or reception without these two special ladies.”

“Once that was done, my husband and I made our grand entrance into the dining room where our extended family was set up for pre-reception dinner. This element of the evening was really special, because it gave us a chance to connect with each of our family members before the rest of our guests arrived and we were so grateful to Deity Events for allowing us to kick off the evening this way.”

“About an hour later, our family went downstairs to join the rest of the guests who had just started arriving, and Gustav and I made yet another grand entrance onto the main floor where we greeted and mingled with the rest of our friends and loved ones.”

“It still surprises me how easy Deity and the staff made the entire evening for us. That truly stunned me. We walked into our meeting with Yulia a few months before the reception with no idea how we were going to pull this thing off and walked out 3 hours later with everything planned, but the finishing touches. THAT stunned me. What a gift.”

“After our guests all had drinks in their hands and some food from the standing dinner tables, we held a little ‘mock’ ceremony in front of Deity’s beautifully lit indoor tree. Our pastor, who’d officiated our ceremony in Scotland, led everyone in a prayer, and Gustav and I re-read our vows for all our loved ones to hear. A few toasts from our parents and my Maid of Honor followed and we closed the ceremony portion of the evening with a 10-minute slideshow on Deity’s drop-down projector screens of photos from our wedding day. I loved this because it really felt as though all of our loved ones were sharing our actual wedding day with us.”

“Re-reading our vows to one another under the tree was one of my favorite memories of the evening. It was lovely to hear Gustav’s beautifully penned vows again, and it was so moving to hear the sniffles in the crowd from our loved ones who were hearing our vows for the first time. It was a very emotional experience for everyone there, and I could really feel everyone’s presence around us and supporting us.”

“My other favorite memory was Gustav and I entering onto the dance floor to the Star Wars Theme and having an improvised light saber battle. We are both huge Star Wars nerds and former gymnasts, so we were ducking and rolling across the floor and everything. We really got into it, haha.”

“The night continued from there with more drinks, an array of homemade cupcakes that my mother had graciously baked for all our guests and a LOT of dancing. Oh man, the DANCING… My husband and I love to dance and so do our parents, so making sure we had a great playlist for our reception was essential, and we could not have been happier with the way it turned out. The Deity DJ had our guests dancing from the first song to the last. It was wonderful.”

“The most important part of our reception that we wanted to make *sure* was done right was the DANCING. Our crowd was very lively, and friendly, and VERY down to dance. A lot of folks met and mingled and danced with each other for the first time.”

“I had actually been amassing a playlist for the reception for about 6 months before the actual event, and Jamal was SO accommodating when it came to catering to the kind of music/specific songs we wanted played. We wanted to have a great mix of Motown, 90s Hip Hop, and contemporary Pop in order to cater to all age groups in attendance, and that’s exactly what we got. The dance floor was full all night, and we had guests tell us it was the best musical selection they’d ever experienced at a wedding. Mission accomplished big time. 🙂 “

“The evening finally ended with a small gathering of the wedding party upstairs in the loft, which Gustav and I had rented out for the night, and by the time we said goodbye to the last of our guests, our hearts were so full that we stayed up a while longer just talking about what a great night it had been.

So many folks said ours was the best wedding/reception they’d ever been to. I mean, I guess that was my hope going into everything– that our guests would feel that way–, but I was honestly so surprised at how many people actually said that to us. It was such a great feeling knowing we had given all our loved ones a night to remember like that. Still makes me smile just thinking about it.”

Photographer: Laura Barr Photography

Cupcakes: Karen Pacent

Wedding Dress Designer: Odylene the Ceremony

Dress Boutique: LOHO Bride

Hair/Makeup in Brooklyn: Adriana Andaluz