Jersey City Wedding Weekend

It's nice to be back today after taking a much needed break on Monday to rest. We spent the weekend in New Jersey to attend a college roommate's wedding. It was an amazing weekend, but it left me exhausted as we drove back immediately following the reception on Sunday night and arrived home around 2:30 on Monday morning. We arrived in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon just in time to quickly change and head to the rehearsal dinner. Afterward, we checked into our hotel and enjoyed a walk along the Hudson. I finally had the perfect opportunity to try out my wide angle lens for the first time.

We caught up with my other college roommate, Sally, in Hoboken at a fantastic outdoor beer garden. It was perfect weather-- no humidity and in the 70s so it was great to spend time outside. After heading back to our hotel, we decided to take another walk along the water for some night time skyline photos.

 After successfully boring Andrew with my nerdy photography talk until 1:30 in the morning (yes, I really was out that late taking photos) it was time to crash, so we headed back to the hotel. In the morning we woke up to a fantastic view of the New York City skyline from our hotel window.

And we also were greeted by a fantastic view of Aerosmith's tour buses in our hotel parking lot. Whaaaat? Time to Instagram that shit.

After enjoying a huge breakfast (when I'm on vacation, I ALWAYS go for the scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and toast combo) we needed to check out of the hotel. And of course spy on Joey Kramer in his coffee tour bus.

Wait, what? You don't know who Joey Kramer is? He's only the drummer for Aerosmith. Yes, I might have been obsessed with them when I was in high school and know all of the band members names. I might have even gone to a couple of their concerts and bought some Aerosmith t-shirts. No shame in that!

Total, there were seven of these bad boys, but this one was the only one that was super fancy schmancy since apparently Joey Kramer recently launched his new coffee company. (See, I told you, I still know too much about this band.) Either way, I was kind of excited.

But then I forgot to capture my sad face from when I didn't really get to see any of the band members. I sort of may have wanted to ask the lady at the front desk which room Joe Perry was staying in while I was checking out of the hotel, but I was good and didn't ask. I'm sure Andrew was glad I saved him from that embarrassment. Anyway, this was supposed to be about a wedding, right?

Next we had some work to do. My friend Steph, who also happened to be the bride, was having a Warhol themed wedding. She had created some amazing Warhol-esque photos of her family and the wedding party and had asked us to hang them for her in the reception hall. We spent the afternoon hanging each photo with fishing line and leveling them so they would be perfect for the reception.

The wedding took place at Maritime Parc in Liberty State Park. To be honest, if you live in New Jersey near the city, I can't imagine a better place to have a wedding. The ceremony was held in a  beautiful space filled with natural light with a skyline of Lower Manhattan as the backdrop. As you walk back downstairs to the reception hall, you have a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty.

The ceremony was followed by a cocktail hour that was held both inside and on a beautiful wrap around outdoor terrace. The cocktail hour included drinks, a sushi bar (my favorite touch!), barbeque sliders, and a spread of bread, cheese, and spreads. It was the perfect opportunity for photos as well. And clearly, I must post this classic photo of a near dress malfunction thanks to the wind as we prepare for photos. In case you wondered why I never post photos of myself, you now have another glorious example.

Thank you heels for making me tower over Andrew. Thank you late night before for the bags under my eyes. Thank you wind for my crazy hair that had to be thrown up last minute. And thank you Nordstrom Rack and Tory Burch for the fabulous last minute dress after my dress freak-out on Friday night.

It was so, so good to catch up with my dear friend Sally as well. We don't get to see her often, but when we do it's as if we picked up where we left off last.

And on to the reception. The flowers were beautiful.

The food, fabulous.

The cake, perfectly simple.

The reception hall, so incredibly classy.

And an ever so amazing view from our dinner table.

 And of course the bride and groom-- stunning!

And of course we needed a roommate shot for old times sake. Sorry that you will have to live through my photo mishaps again. This is the classic eyes half way closed shot. I warned you people, these sorts of things happen 9 out of 10 times when I am in a photo. I should have just spared you, but I needed this photo for posterity's sake.

Now, I'm definitely not super into weddings. Trust me, I haven't even started planning mine nor will it be traditional in any way. However, that being said, I have to admit that this was perhaps one of the most fabulous weddings I have attended. Everything was simply perfect and made for a really amazing weekend. Congrats again to Steph and Mike! We were so glad to have been able to celebrate with you guys and know that you will enjoy a lifetime of happiness together!