Saturday, January 31 dawned with clear blue skies and balmy temperatures. I awoke to the sound of my cell phone ringing and my groom Matt telling me that a part of Broadway Street was being shut down for the Golden Dragon Parade. Uh oh. Marvimon, the fabulous venue where their wedding and reception was being held, is located on Broadway, right on the edge of Chinatown. I pulled up maps of the parade route and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that the parade ended 1/2 of a mile from Marvimon. I knew it was still going to be a sticky traffic situation, so I emailed all of the vendors and told them an alternate route to take to get there.

I asked one of my assistants to pick up a few dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts on her way in that morning as I wanted everyone working that day to be hyped up on sugar and happy. The vendors started rolling in on time and things were looking good. Thankfully, Heather and Matt were not going to show up until about 3:30 as they were doing pictures downtown. At noon, the situation took a bad turn. Traffic police pulled up in front of us and started setting out cones to shut Broadway down right where we were! Big problem. I started getting calls from the servers who were trying to get to us and they said that there were blockades north of us as well. Huge problem. We were barricaded in! Jeff, the Marvimon site manager, and I went to talk to the traffic officer to explain the situation. At first he would not relent, but after begging, asking to talk to a supervisor, and finally bribing him with doughnuts and red velvet cupcakes (sorry, Matt and Heather. It was for a good cause!) he gave us permission to let our valets park cars on the blocked off street. One crisis solved, now to get our guests through the barricades…
Jeff spoke to the officers north of us and finally got permission to let the wedding guests onto the closed street, and once we routed out a way get them to us, I called Matt’s mom and asked her to spread the word to the guests.

People had trouble getting to us, but once they arrived, things just fell into place beautifully.

All weddings are special, but this one was really special. Matt is Jewish and Heather is from the South, so they wanted to combine their traditions and cultures together for their wedding. When guests arrived, they were greeted with sweet iced tea and the sounds of a six piece bluegrass band. Gerber Daisies, Heather’s favorite flower, in red, orange, and yellow, were everywhere. The guests went crazy for the large canvas hung on the entry way wall that was covered in flowers as a custom piece of art. The rectangular wooden tables were covered with a tablescape of candles in Mason Jars, flower balls, and Gerber Daisies “growing” out of beds of wheatgrass.

The ceremony was held in the garden and was officiated by Matt’s cousin Aaron. Aaron and his wife Rebecca happened to be one of my first clients and it was wonderful to see them again! There was no bridal party other than four of Matt’s friends holding a simple Chuppah made of a Tallit and bamboo poles. As is traditional in Jewish wedding processionals, both Matt and Heather were escorted in by both of their parents. The ceremony was beautiful and touching, and concluded with Matt breaking the glass and exiting to the Irish folk song “Whisky Before Breakfast”.

During cocktail hour, the garden was transformed into a lounge with couches, coffee tables, and heat lamps.

The beginning of the reception was so cool. Heather and Matt did a very short first dance to an accoustic folk song, then the band broke into “Rockytop” as Heather really wanted to have this song played for her family. The women in Matt’s family started circling and dancing the Hora to Rockytop Tennessee! It was so cool! After Rockytop, the bluegrass band did indeed play Hava Nagila and the Hora was danced again. Matt and Heather were put up in chairs and circled around.

Everything was beautiful that night. The food was delicious, the decor was gorgeous, the band was awesome, the guests were happy, and Matt and Heather had the time of their life. I can’t wait to see the pictures! A special thanks to all of the vendors who worked so hard and to my assistants Dani and Krista–I could not have done it without you!

This picture below was taken from the Marvimon website, I have no idea who to credit for the image, but it can give you an idea of the venue until I have pictures.