Beautiful Family Wedding in Brooklyn

In 2021, what did it mean to have a traditional wedding? Despite the fact nothing is normal or traditional, this Brooklyn couple shows us what the meaning truly is in this post-pandemic world. It’s about family, intimacy, and classic style. Although the plan changed drastically since originally booking Deity Wedding Venue (including welcoming a tiny addition to this new family), we think they absolutely nailed it! And what it means to have the new modern, family wedding. All of this was captured by Jose Melgarejo. We talked to the bride herself to get her take on the big day:

Describe your wedding day As parents of a 6-month-old, we were up at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of our wedding day! It was a great opportunity for “normalcy”–we woke up, made coffee, and played with our daughter for a couple of hours before Stephen left to meet with his father at the Hilton Downtown Brooklyn to get ready, and before my mother, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law arrived for hair and makeup.
Honestly, our day leading up to the celebration felt very low-key. We knew that Deity was taking care of all logistics and day-of setup, which eliminated the need for any stress or rushing around, and our photographers were parents of little ones as well, so they were flexible and knew how to capture great moments while accommodating our daughter’s schedule. We took photos at Brooklyn Bridge Park, a very special place to us and a part of our relationship story, then we headed over to Deity to decompress a bit before guests showed up for cocktail hour. Once guests arrived, we were able to spend the night connecting and celebrating–for the majority of our guests, it was the first time we were able to see one another in person since the pandemic began, so it was truly a joyous night.

If you had to pick one favorite memory from that day what would that be? Stephen and I had our official ceremony one year prior to our reception at Deity because our original wedding date was postponed due to the COVID-19 shutdown. That first ceremony was limited to a small vow exchange with our immediate family–which was beautiful, but we also wanted to share our commitment with the friends and extended family who have supported us through our lives. Because Deity did such a great job building a personal relationship with us along the way, they were able to help us plan a unique exchange of vows during Cocktail Hour, where we were able to share our commitment (and some stories!) with loved ones in the room, and to include them in that special moment. A real bonus is that because our vow exchange happened early in the night, our 6-month old daughter was able to attend and celebrate with her whole extended family! That moment felt so true to our relationship, and gave us an opportunity to thank everyone who has loved us and stood by us throughout our lives, and we are so grateful that Caio and the team at Deity was flexible and set a vision for how we could make it work!

Whose help did you enlist the most? My mom (Linda Caney) helped a lot with the planning (locating vendors for desserts, wedding attire, bouquet, etc.) and day-of logistics, but the help we leaned on the most was Deity’s. As two (new) working parents, we are already pretty pressed for time through the week, and one of the main reasons we chose Deity as our venue was that we knew we would be working with an experienced staff who is able to personalize a beautiful wedding experience. Not only did Caio keep in touch with us every couple of months as we waited to determine a new date for our COVID-postponed wedding, but he also learned about our guests and gave us insight into which food choices would be the best match, helped us envision adjustments we could make to our day as we shifted from a ceremony/reception plan to mainly a reception, and facilitated a seamless relationship with our day-of wedding planner. Additionally, Caio helped facilitate a streamlined process to ensure that all of our guests were vaccinated and negative for COVID-19, so that we could truly enjoy the evening safely.We knew our day-of planner would be excellent; like everyone else we worked closely with at Deity, she made sure to establish a relationship with us prior to our celebration, and our day was a true reflection of our “vibe” and our vision. She had promised us that on our day, we wouldn’t have to worry about any logistics or operations, and that was exactly how the day played out. We simply showed up and had a great time celebrating with our guests–she even planned around me having some privacy to nurse and put our daughter to sleep. As a note, none of our guests could believe that Deity had planned the entire event; they thought it was so authentic and unique to us!

What was your crowd like? Dancing crowd? Foodies? We knew our guests would be a dancing crowd, but even we underestimated the extent to how true this was. The majority of our guests were on the dance floor from the first dance to the last, when the lights came on close to midnight! For nearly all of us, our wedding celebration was the first time since the pandemic started that we were able to gather with loved ones (and for many, it was the first night away from parenting little ones) and everyone took advantage of the opportunity! Shoutout to DJ Ben (Deity’s in-house DJ)–he really nailed the vibe of our night. I can’t tell you how many guests reached out afterward to say that it was the best music mix they’ve experienced at a wedding; they couldn’t pull themselves off the dance floor 🙂

Was there a particular detail that a vendor did for you that was special? All of our vendors were incredible, but two in particular deserve special thanks. Our photographer, Jose Melgarejo, was both accommodating and did a beautiful job capturing our special day. It was very important to us that our infant daughter was included, and Jose and his wife applied their experience as parents of two little ones to ensure that we both got in a full portfolio of photos that met our vision AND that we were flexible to accommodate our daughter’s needs. They pivoted when needed to find space for me to nurse, planned the schedule so that any photos she was not a part of had family members nearby to care for her, and they were efficient in ensuring that photos of her met her limited attention span. I felt so taken care of and stress-free! Additionally, my dress designer, Michaell Lynn, was accommodating through the year-and-a-half journey of executing on our vision despite the unexpected update of having a baby in the midst of our planning! She was thoughtful and flexible in ensuring that we had enough fittings to make necessary adjustments, and in the end was able to complete the dress exactly as we imagined! I spent the night fielding compliments, and felt beautiful 🙂

How did you find and decide on Deity as your Wedding Venue? We knew we wanted to find a venue nearby in Brooklyn that captured the spirit of our relationship, and we were looking for an all-in-one experience that could accommodate both ceremony and reception and had most vendors in-house. We looked at a few different venues in our neighborhood and in downtown Brooklyn, but made the decision to book with Deity immediately after our viewing. The combination of a personalized, human-centered approach, beautiful decor, and the knowledge we would be working with an experienced team convinced us that we were in good hands.