Sam and Pete got married in Manhattan in spring. The couple planned and designed the whole day themselves over 18 months, holding it to a strict black and ivory palette, a bouquet of black calla lilies and a vintage Checker cab for the ride between church and party. Blair Elizabeth Co. filmed it all with real tenderness and a sharp eye for texture. The whole celebration works as a love letter to Old New York, written by two people who very clearly live in the new one.
Location: New York, United States
Style: Romantic, Black Tie, Cinematic
Time of planning: 18 months
Number of guests: 220
Setting: Historic ballroom
Season: Spring
Sam and Pete met in New York City and spent about four years together before Pete pulled off a surprise proposal in the city, followed straight away by a celebration with their closest family and friends. That instinct to bring their people into the big moments ran through the entire wedding brief. Their priorities were simple and very specific: the people they love most, a dance floor that stays packed and a New York backdrop with actual history in its walls.
The couple handled the design themselves across roughly 18 months, from the two venues to the florals and the lighting, with Brittany Blanchard Events stepping in to run the day itself. Every reference came from the city: Gothic stonework, Catalan tile vaults, candlelight bouncing off old architecture and a yellow cab waiting at the curb. The black and ivory palette reads less like a color scheme and more like a film stock, which made it a perfect match for Blair Elizabeth Co., whose films layer digital video with Super 8 and vintage camcorders.
Bride's Morning & Fashion
The morning look skipped the matching satin robe entirely. Sam got ready in a structured corset and lace shorts under a sheer robe trimmed in lace, a getting ready set that photographs like a fashion story from the very first frame.
Senada K. worked her hair into a long, loose French braid tied with a silk ribbon, leaving soft pieces out around the face. It is the coquette bow grown up, with one ribbon and one braid doing the work that a whole Pinterest board of hair accessories usually tries to do. Becca Guidice kept the makeup in soft glam territory, with defined brows and a neutral lip, so the corsetry and the braid get all the attention.
For the ceremony she wore the Anastasia by Kim Kassas Couture, a gown built in layers: a structured corset, an embroidered lace underlay and a dramatic Duchess overskirt on top. For the reception she changed into the Frances, a fitted lace gown with a corset topper cut from Solstiss lace, the house that still weaves Leavers lace on historic looms in Caudry, France. Layered beaded chains drape across the shoulders exactly where a strap would normally sit, so the dance floor look lands closer to jewelry than to tailoring.
Both looks ran on the same finishing touches: satin mules by Mach & Mach, pearl earrings and heirloom rings. The Tbilisi label founded by sisters Nina and Gvantsa Macharashvili is best known for crystal double bows on party heels, and this ruffled, pointed pair sits somewhere between a powder puff and a ballet slipper.
The bouquet carried the entire thesis of the wedding: black calla lilies only, wrapped tight in white satin, fastened with pearl pins and finished with a small charm hanging from the wrap. Her bridesmaids wore black and carried white callas, which makes the bridal party a perfect photographic negative of the bride herself.
Groom’s Fashion
Pete wore a custom black tuxedo with a black bow tie and a black calla lily boutonniere that ties straight back to Sam’s bouquet. The interesting part is everything the tuxedo leaves on show: tattoos at the hand and neck, rings on his fingers and slicked back hair. Black tie with the ink left visible keeps the most formal dress code in the room from tipping into costume, and it makes the tux read as personal style rather than dress code.
Ceremony
The couple married during a traditional Catholic Mass at St. Vincent Ferrer Church on Lexington Avenue, the Dominican church that Bertram Goodhue designed and that was dedicated in 1918. Goodhue himself considered it his finest church, and the Gothic Revival interior does most of the decorating on its own, with a soaring carved reredos behind the altar, a rose window in deep blue glass and pointed stone arches all the way up.
For Sam and Pete, celebrating the Sacrament of Marriage inside a building with this much history gave the vows real weight, and the architecture fit their brief before a single flower went in.
The florals from Eltingville Florist answered the stone in pure white, with tall arrangements framing the altar steps alongside gold candlesticks. Sam’s cathedral length veil pooled behind her down the aisle, and all that sheer white tulle made the black bouquet hit even harder.
Just after the ceremony, a brief sunshower hit as everyone stepped out of the church. Family portraits moved indoors until it passed, and the couple took it as a sign of good luck, which is the only correct way to read weather on a wedding day.
Moments Together
Between the church and the reception, Sam and Pete took a quiet taxi ride across town in that vintage Checker, and both of them name it as one of their favorite moments of the day. The cab still carries its original interior sign promising air conditioning for your comfort, and a Duchess overskirt folded into a back seat built in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is a better fashion image than most campaigns manage. Swapping the classic getaway car for a yellow cab is the most New York decision of the entire wedding.
Josie Brooks Photography documented the day across digital and 35mm and 120 film, and the street portraits show exactly why that mix matters. The black and white frames flatten the cab into a pure graphic checkerboard, while the color frames let that yellow do all the shouting against the ivory satin. Josie Brooks treats the city as a second lead rather than a backdrop, and it gives the couple’s portraits the energy of a street style shoot with the emotion of a love story.
Reception
The reception moved to Guastavino’s, the event space carved out of the arcade beneath the Queensboro Bridge. The Valencian architect Rafael Guastavino lined those vaults with herringbone tile when the bridge opened in 1909, using the centuries old Catalan vault technique, and the arcade started life as a fruit and vegetable market before it reopened as an event venue in 2005. Every design decision in the room was made to light those vaults up.
Tall clear candelabras crowded with taper candles rose above low clusters of white tulips, roses, ranunculus and calla lilies, while warm lighting washed up into the tile. Tables were dressed in white linen with silver chairs and table numbers in oval silver frames that look lifted from an estate sale. A mirrored disco ball hung over the dance floor, and candlelight, Catalan tile and a disco ball sharing one room is the black and ivory palette with a sense of humor.
Guests started on signature Cherry Lime Gin Rickeys and Espresso Martinis, a menu that covers both moods of the night: a soda fountain flavor with gin in it and the after dark coffee hit that refuses to leave the cocktail conversation. Neon Transit, the band and DJ hybrid from Elegant Music Group, kept the dance floor full until the end, and the couple’s favorite memory is the view from the middle of it, with every generation of the family dancing at once. Their first dance was to I Only Have Eyes for You by The Flamingos.
The cake went full vintage: a tall white buttercream tiered cake with ornate piping, filled with layers of white cake, raspberry jam and French cream. Lambeth piping, the heavily layered vintage technique, has been the most photographed cake trend of the year, and a pure white version under candlelight is the cleanest way to wear it. The couple’s advice for anyone planning their own day sums up exactly how this one came together.
Advice from the couple:
• Decide early on what matters most to you as a couple and get as much of the planning done upfront as you can. Trust your gut along the way. When the day arrives, let go of the details, stay present, and stick together. Everything else will fall into place.
VIDEOGRAPHER Blair Elizabeth Co. | PHOTOGRAPHER Josie Brooks Photography | SECOND SHOOTER Kristin Grosso | CEREMONY VENUE St. Vincent Ferrer Church | RECEPTION VENUE & CATERING Guastavino’s | FLORALSEltingville Florist | MAKEUP Becca Guidice | HAIR Senada K. | GOWNS Kim Kassas Couture | BRIDE’S SHOES Mach & Mach | DAY OF COORDINATOR Brittany Blanchard Events | BAND Elegant Music Group
