Wild Orchid Baking Company / Tree of Life Films / Zephyr Tents / Suite Paperie / Taylor Lord Photography

Munster Rose / Hushed Commotion / Make Merry! / Jessica D’Onofrio Photography / Primary Petals / Gayle Brooker Photography

This wedding has definitely made us fans of the circular ceremony. When you see and hear from Kendel how special it was to them, and how fun it looks to be completely enveloped by friends & family as you make such intimate vows, you’ll probably feel the same way too. Their unique wedding venue, The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn was the perfect space for their ceremony and afternoon tea. All it needed was to feel a little warmer, so they brought in a few tissue pom poms, white Christmas lights and plenty of Confetti System garland.

Kendel’s bridal bouquet recipe (gorge, right?): cafe au lait dahlias, roses, juliet garden roses, clematis, blushing bride, andromeda, astilbe, astrantia, dusty miller russian olive, sedum, ranunculus, and jasmine.

Their processional song was the instrumental version of “Spread Your Wings” by Spiritualized and their first dance song was Donna Summer’s, “I Feel Love”.

One thing we knew we wanted from the start was for to friends and family to be active participants in the ceremony and wedding. As our advocates, supporters, and the people who have helped make us who we are individually (and now as a family of our own), we wanted each guest to have a hand in marrying us. So, once our friend and officiant signed the paperwork that made us State of New York official, she asked – on our behalf – for the entire room to pronounce us married. Everyone stood with their confetti packets in hand, and on the count of three and yelled: “We now pronounce you husband and wife!” It was incredibly special to us, and we’ll forever remember the warmth, love, and happiness that moment brought. 

From Kendel… Because we chose a free-form, secular ceremony, it was up to us to craft every last detail and transition, down to the minute. Having to focus on the ceremony added a layer of planning and required a lot of discussion and creative thinking. The result was well worth it: friends and family surrounded us, gave speeches, told stories, and were truly part of the experience. There was a lot of laughter, tears, and so much love in the room.

Photographer:  Lauren Slusher of Bonnie & Lauren / Venue: The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn / Day-of coordinator: Anna Leath at Just About Married / Hair: Daniel Rechelbacher, at Salon 2b / Florist: Kathleen Hyppolite, Katflower / Cake: friend Jane Lerner / Catering: Cobblestone Catering / Invitation Designer: couple collaborated on the design with Dever Thomas / Rentals: Party Rental Ltd / Ring Pillow: made by friend Kate Durkin / DJ: friends Piotr Orlov and Eric Demby / Bride’s Dress: Jenny Packham purchased at Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier / Shoes: BHLDN / Engagement Ring: custom made by Anna Sheffield / Wedding Ring: Greenwich Jewelers / Earrings & Bracelet: Ben Amun / Groom’s Suit: Paul Smith / Shoes: Barney’s / Tie: Hugo Boss, Shipley & Halmos / Wedding Party Boutonnieres: ban.do / Flower Girl Hair Clips: Anthropologie / Ring Bearer & Best Man Suits: J. Crew

A few sweet perks that come with creating a wedding registry with Astoria Road…

* Create a registry that’s completely you. Add products from any store, add your favorite charities, or even create your own gifts… ahem… a honeymoon or grad school fund.

* Straight forward design. You can feel proud to share your registry with all of your guests (no matter their web skill level). Astoria Road is easy to use and navigate through.

* Check out process is easy peasy. Guests won’t have to go through the hassle of being redirected to other stores to complete the checkout like with other universal registries. On Astoria Road, the entire transaction takes place on the website (so helpful!).

* Running over budget with your wedding planning? Here’s a little secret tip… just discretely cash-out some of your gifts. Your guests will not find out about this. You can even do it after the guests purchased the gifts. Astoria Road will ping you to ask if you still want gifts or rather get cash.

* Astoria Road is the Pinterest of wedding registries. We know, that can be dangerous, right? It doesn’t just have the look & feel of Pinterest, but also curated sample registries from which you can find inspiration and can just “repin” gifts. Here, give it a shot with the 100 Layer Cake wedding registry we created. You can “repin” anything you like from ours onto yours!

Sounds pretty awesome, right? Dan, Muse, Miki and Jake, the two founding couples got so fed up with existing registries during their own weddings, so they created a registry they wish they had themselves. So glad they did, because now you get the pleasure of registering for anything your heart desires!

Pop over to Astoria Road and get started. Now that you know you can add any item from any store, we’re sure you’ll keep busy for the next few hours!

We love it when we can tell that the photographer had just as much fun at the wedding as the guests did. It’s evident in the photos, plus it’s always great when the photographer shares a few words on how much they loved capturing the wedding. Such is the case with Amber Vickery. Here’s what she had to say about this charming vintage inspired soiree…

Everything about Ashley and Josh’s beautiful wedding at Mercury Hall in Austin, Texas made me swoon. From Ashley’s beautiful 40′s style hair do and her vintage lace wedding gown, to the beautiful florals and succulents and home made desserts. Everything was so perfect. Denise Harlan of Thee Design Wedding and Events did such a superb job. Most of all, I just loved capturing the love between these two. Their happiness is pretty contagious – I couldn’t stop smiling while editing this wedding. 

Ashley didn’t carry a bouquet because she knew that her aunt gives all the brides in the family a handkerchief before walking down the aisle, so she held that while her bridesmaids held bouquets with blush garden roses, dusty miller, seeded eucalyptus and baby finger succulents wrapped in burlap and twine.

Their tunes: Josh walked down to “Stand By Me” by John Lennon and Ashley walked down to “Calico Skies” by The Beatles.

Photographer: Amber Vickery / Event Coordination & Design : Denise Harlan Thee Design / Hair & Makeup: done by Bride / Cake: Chef Ken Wilkinson of Cocoa Mod / Catering: Royal Fig / Invitation designer: Friend of the bride Esteban Diaz / Rentals: Loot Vintage Rental / Photobooth: Airstream photo booth / Bride’s Dress: Allure from Georgios Bridal in Waco / Shoes: Marc Fisher / Veil: custom made by a family friend / Earrings: vintage / Lipstick: Yves Saint Laurent lip stain in number 2 (62J300) / Groom’s Suit: Perry Ellis / Shoes: John Varvatos / Bowtie: custom made  / Bridesmaids: Alfred Sung D522 in Pearl Pink / Groomsmen: Mixed linen two piece suits and suspenders / Flower girls: Custom made dresses by Etsy seller, Olive and Fern