Lush & Moody Detailed Brooklyn Wedding

The goal for this couple was a “grown-up” version of a Halloween Wedding, with moody dark undertones that could sprinkle throughout the experience. The vendors and venue were picked because of how well they captured the vibe they were going for. In late October at Deity Events in Brooklyn, we think they absolutely knocked it out of the park! All of the details are beyond perfection for this theme, captured by Robert Carlo. And don’t even get us started about the ‘Til Death neon sign…… We checked in with Jennifer & Daniel to give us their one-of-a-kind perspective on the big day. We couldn’t express it better ourselves:

Describe your wedding day: Even if you never put the pillowcase on your head as a kid and pretended to walk down the aisle (which I didn’t), once you’re planning your wedding, you run through the day of in your head at least a million times. Planning a wedding is such an overwhelming process and we had been planning ours for three years at that point. Leading up to the day, we sort of constantly prepared ourselves for everything that could go wrong- what’s great is going to be great, but the last thing you want on your wedding day is to feel shock and disappointment. By the time October rolled around, we were sure we could handle any missteps on the day of, so you can imagine our shock when not only did nothing substantial go wrong, but our day exceeded all of our expectations by far. Everything was beautiful, people had a wonderful time, and we look back on it as an absolutely perfect day. There’s no way it would’ve gone off as smoothly without a team of incredible vendors behind us, especially the truly superlative team at Deity.

Was there something that surprised you on your wedding day? I was convinced that there was no way my stoic new husband would get emotional on the day of, but when we had our first look he immediately welled up. Of course that made me extremely emotional because I am purely a bag of emotions, so we had to shut that down quickly before I blew through my makeup before the wedding even started.

If you had to pick one favorite memory from that day what would that be? Dan: Being able to take a moment to read our personal vows to each other in a beautiful park near Deity was a great way to break up the anxiety of the day. It was a quiet moment together that allowed us to collect ourselves as a couple before we had to perform, so to speak. Jen: I loved that my brother was the one who performed our marriage ceremony. It meant that our ceremony photos highlighted us being married by someone who knew and loved us as opposed to a stranger who only knows what will fit in a one-page bio about us. It was also really fun to have a tiny boudoir shoot before I got in my dress- it meant that I had additional surprises for Dan long after the wedding was over. Get you a photographer that has great ideas!

Whose help did you enlist the most? Dan was my rock through the entire process when I would get stuck on an issue or needed assurances that I wasn’t totally running our entire wedding into the ground. My maid and man of honor really outdid themselves by helping me execute my plans, deliver on the ideas that only ever lived in my head, and calming me when I was near or fully in panic. They pulled through constantly with steadfast support, whether it was staying late to seal wedding invitations, driving me around to drop things off the day before, or carving the pumpkins that would greet our guests as they arrived. Our bridal party in general was a huge support to us in the times we felt entirely burned out, and since life doesn’t stop just because you’re getting married, they were the greatest collective help with managing everything that would’ve otherwise gotten away from us in the wedding haze. My mother and uncle were also enlisted for massive amounts of emotional support when things inevitably went wrong during the planning process, like dress stress and table number tragedy. My grandmother also helped make two beautiful mala (flower necklaces) for those who couldn’t be there that we used for our memorial table.

Deity NYC Wedding Venue. All-inclusive. Catering. Romantic. Unique. In-house. Dance floor. Bridal Suite. Rooftop

What was your crowd like? Our crowd was an even split between big partiers and low-key celebrators, which was one of the biggest reasons we chose Deity. The fact that the dancers could live in the Cellar for most of the night and the quiet contemplators could sit in the Lounge and enjoy a quiet drink meant that everyone could find their happy place. They also love to drink and love to eat, so having an abundance of both was crucial. Since we also had a few children in the crowd and very many children-at-heart, laying out a candy bar for folks to make their own trick-or-treat bags meant everyone had a jaunty late night snack for whenever they returned home. By the end of the night, everyone left sweaty, full, and merry.

Was there a particular detail that a vendor did for you that was special? Our cake vendor, Emily Lael Aumiller, took some of my crude sketches and developed our wedding cake. In my sketches I included two eyeballs on top of the cake, which she went ahead and made entirely out of sugar. We were so amazed at her level of talent and attention to detail, I couldn’t believe she actually brought my vision to life (pun entirely unintended). My wee goth heart soared.

How did you find and decide on Deity as your Wedding Venue? In a Google search of “best wedding venue nyc” Deity was one of the first, but it was also the only one of which I had not yet heard. This was at the end of 2017 and I had already spent a year venue hunting at that point, so I was surprised to find that I had missed a venue right in the heart of Brooklyn. Once I went to see it, I knew it was the one. I brought Dan with me to visit a few weeks later and we got an even more expansive tour that also highlighted the bridal suite. It really couldn’t have worked out better for our bizarre combination of needs- here was a venue that offered three floors completely devoted to your wedding from ceremony to reception, a bridal suite to die for, separate floors for those who want to dance and those who would rather listen to doom jazz, far more enticing menu options compared to your typical wedding fair, and they even provide a DJ. All these things and more sealed the deal for us with Deity.