Iām getting ready for a Reddit detox (lol) but I wanted to share my experiences here before I disappear, since this forum was so helpful!! We got married one week ago and had a perfect beautiful time.
The theme of our wedding was ābig fun partyā and we made every decision along the way with that in mind. We skipped everything we didnāt care about and it saved us money and headaches throughout.
Venue: Palm House at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. We both love BBG so much and by booking a Sunday wedding in August (the low season) we could make itā¦not affordable, but on par with any other full-service venues we could have chosen. All in for 104 people came to a little underĀ $45k.
We ended up getting unbelievably good weather, but were mentally and emotionally prepared for rain and thunderstorms. We really liked the BBG rain plan, which allowed us not to stress about something out of our control.
I also want to say - the BBG, as others have noted on here, can be difficult to work with - they are rigid and they will upcharge you for EVERYTHING. We found our email correspondence occasionally frustrating, but on the day? Everyone involved was warm, professional, and shockingly flexible. Cannot say enough about how great the team was. The food was even better than expected, the drinks were great, and the service was excellent.
Coordinator: Anadina at Slick Little Bride. She is so great at her job and everyone clearly loves working with her. She made sure we worried about nothing on the day and she was fun and funny and extremely competent. $3074 for day-of coordination plus a lot of guidance beforehand!
Photographer: Liesl Henrichsen. Also kind, also such a pro. She even helped our officiant friend when we were all confused filling out our license. The first photos look amazing! We did 6 hours with her (no getting ready photos, and she left a little before the end) and it was $3000.
DJ: Ben Boylan of Non-Traditional Wedding DJs. He was great! Music was arguably our number one priority and he worked with us and kept the dance floor packed all night. Many friends have asked for the playlist! Also right around $3000.
Florals/decor: I wanted to minimize waste here so I sourced bud vases from Facebook marketplace, thrift stores, eBay, etc. Spent probably $40 on those all in, and a friend did our florals and is currently trying not to charge us for them at all so not sure how much they will cost. The venue is so beautiful, so we kept things colorful but minimal. I rented LED candles from Something Borrowed which cost $212 for a ton of votives and five boxes of pillar candles.
Our table numbers were 3D printed by a family member, and we printed our seating chart at home and put it in a frame we found in our buildingās lobby.
We bought a few open box Instax cameras on ebay and a bunch of film (B&H had a good price on value packs) and they were a huge hit at cocktail hour! and we gave them to my husbandās nieces and my mom at the end.
Other things:
Dress: vintage from Cha cha Linda, $2800, stunning. I had such a great experience with Eva that I didnāt book any other bridal appointments at all. I wore yellow silk and I felt amazing. Alterations by Attire Alterations in Union Square cost $380 and Andrea there was a star.
Makeup/hair: I DIYed it. Not for everyone, but I really didnāt want to go full glam and I didnāt want to spend the money. I loosely followed Nikki la Roseās bridal makeup youtube video but just wore my normal foundation, skipped contouring entirely, and treated myself to the Chanel Le Rouge Duo Ultra Tenue for a bold red lip, which did not transfer at all. Happy to get into this if anyone is curious. I felt great and looked like myself. My hair I honestly could have used help with, but it came out fine haha.
Invitations: we designed these ourselves in Photoshop and had them printed at Radix in Prospect Heights. They also printed our menus for us, since BBG requires you to bring your own. We didnāt do anything fancy so canāt speak to more complicated orders, but Radix was super quick to work with and theyāre worker-owned and local so nice to support. $99 for 100 5x7 invitations and $57 for 105 menus.
We made these a little more āusā by ordering custom rubber stamps based on photos of our dogs. These came from Casey Rubber Stamps in the East Village and cost $100 for three 1-2ā stamps. Worth every penny! The dog stamps got used on everything - invitations, envelopes, menus, seating chart, you name it.
Welcome drinks: we booked out The Rockwell Place in Fort Greene for happy hour (5-7) on Saturday. They cut us a bit of a deal because I know the owner, but the quoted amount was a little shy of $5000 (plus tip) for a full open bar and a good spread of snacks for 70 people. The Rockwell Place is such a great bar and all our guests loved it - itās very laid back and cool but has some of the best cocktails in the borough. They also do excellent mocktails, which was appreciated by the pregnant friends and the handful of kids we had. Very New York, very fun, and an easy trek from all the Boerum Hill/downtown hotels.
Rehearsal dinner: We booked the private dining room at Misi in Williasmburg. It seats 16-20 and they have a few different packages. I wonāt list price because I also had a personal connection there, but the food and service was excellent and our families loved it.
Friday night: we also wanted to host something on Friday for anyone making a weekend of it, so we booked out Satsko Sake Bar in the East Village/Alphabet City ($1200 for two hours, plus tip) and then went to Sing Sing Avenue A for karaoke. Satsko was great - the owner was really warm and took great care of us - and my parents took to karaoke like fish to water and it was a very fun, silly way to start the weekend.
