What made Melanie + Marc’s wedding special wasn’t the details (of which there are plenty), it was the rallying of rad & supportive guests as they declared their love like only they could. They may have used the streets of New York City as their stage, and an officiant with a megaphone to make their love heard, but heck – you only get married once (we hope)! They spent several evenings discussing how they would create a memorable, and most importantly interactive, event. The idea: to hold a Love & Peace rally in City Hall Park, across the street from Melanie’s childhood building, followed by a procession through the streets led by the Veveritse Brass Band, all while being photographed by Les Loups. We love a couple that pushes the norm!
Melanie designed and hand-printed (silkscreen) all of the invitations at SVA. She purchased the gold card stock from Paper Presentation‘s Flatiron District location.
Bringing this concept to life took months of phone calls and NYC permit applications, but it all came together about one month before the big day. After careful consideration we realized that we could not think of anyone better than our good friend Mike (founder of record label Modern Shark) to marry us. He did an amazing job of making our wedding very interactive, fun and memorable.
Melanie made a large Love & Peace banner (held up with mop sticks) and some of the flags that their friends carried throughout the procession.
Melanie and Marc walked to the southern end of City Hall Park where members of the Veveritse Brass Band were waiting to officially kick off the procession through the streets to Thalassa. There was no dancing at the wedding, but the bride and groom’s friend Andowah serenaded the newly married couple with a beautiful rendition of Etta James’ “At Last”, accompanied by an acoustic guitarist.
Marc proposed to Melanie in Santorini, Greece, so they felt that holding the reception at a Greek restaurant would be appropriate. They fell in love with the look and feel of Thalassa, so chose it as their reception venue. The space was so much to their liking that they didn’t need to add much decoration. They even decided to forgo flowers!
For the favors, Melanie designed four peace and love-themed buttons in keeping with the rally concept. The “button parts” were found on eBay and the little fabric bags holding the buttons were purchased from Oriental Trading. In addition to the favors, each table was decorated with an illustration of an ‘ambassador for peace’ (i.e. Mother Theresa, Ghandi, John Lennon), which they printed on card stock with quotations and a brief biography of each ‘ambassador’.
We really shook up the neighborhood — people were leaning out of buildings, cabs stopped on the street, well-heeled diners paused in the middle of their brunches, and store owners stepped onto the sidewalks to see what was going on! We had a great time!
What a stunning and uplifting wedding, right? Congratulations Melanie + Marc!
Photography: Les Loups / Ceremony venue: City Hall Park in NYC / Reception venue: Thalassa Restaurant / Videography: Veracious Productions / Didgeridoo Player: Jeff Osarczuk / Band: Veveritse Brass Band/ DJ: DJ Kool Kear / Makeup: Andrew Sotomayor / Favors: Wacky buttons / Bride’s dress: Melissa Sweet / Bride’s shoes: Harry’s Shoes / Jewelry: a combination of gifted and borrowed from mother / Bride’s headpiece: hand-constructed by bride from a number of vintage elements / Groom: Jack Silver Formal Wear
