The Bowery Hotel, New York

Wedding
Written By Manda Worthington

Sea and Billy’s Wedding

Sea and Billy’s romantic wedding at the Bowery Hotel in New York is master class in creating a design with modern elegance that complements old world glamour. When you’re working with an abundance of textures, it takes a certain finesse to strike a perfect balance between modern touches and vintage detail. And the final design is a clear example of how creating the right design for our clients can be so important when executing a wedding our clients will remember for a lifetime.

We spent weeks working to find the perfect venue for Sea and Billy to create the feel that we all wanted for the weekend. The more I dove into the iconic, Bowery Hotel, the more I knew there wasn’t a better fit. Upon setting up a walkthrough, from the moment Sea and Billy stepped foot in New York’s Bowery Hotel, they knew this venue was the perfect fit. This classic New York hotel is a cultural icon – a mirror to the old-world elegance of 1930’s and ‘40’s glamour. Deeply inspired by high fashion, big band jazz and vintage warmth, Sea trusted our team to bring her and Billy’s vision of timeless, New York ambiance to life for their wedding day at the Bowery Hotel.

After kicking off the wedding weekend with an intimate rehearsal dinner at the well known, River Cafe in Brooklyn, we poured all our energy into creating a timeless and elevated experience for our couple and their guests. On the morning of their wedding, Sea and Billy slipped into high fashion pieces whose textures and details permeated the design for the entire wedding day. Sea wore Manolo Blahnik slingbacks and a Vivienne Westwood Long Cocette dress, layered with a silk skirt and bolero to match. And Billy dressed in head-to-toe designer fashion, with a Laurent black tuxedo, a Prada bowtie and Gucci lace-up oxfords.

The New York wedding ceremony took place at the St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, a centuries-old landmark in Nolita that carried both historical and spiritual significance for our couple. To amplify the emotional gravity of the space, we worked with Winsome Floral to create a large-scale, cascading floral installment that framed the entrance and cascaded gracefully along the basilica. The luxe, modern floral design not only juxtaposed the historic frame of the cathedral, but it also created a runway-inspired frame that welcomed guests to step into a space that felt at once both modern and historic, in a word, it felt otherworldly.

For Sea and Billy’s wedding reception at The Bowery Hotel in New York, we pulled inspiration from the space’s fixed, distinctive elements like the vintage floor tile, the velvet curtains and the brick walls that evoked old world glamour. In a busy, vintage space, we knew our work was cut out for us: we wanted to create a clean, simple, modern design while adding vintage touches that complemented the space instead of competing with it.

As guests made their way to the cocktail hour, they gathered around the Bowery’s bar that opened onto a picturesque patio overlooking the city. Prohibition-inspired tunes from the jazz ensemble Baby Soda brought a lively, NYC café feel to the setting. Amidst spritzes and hors d'oeuvres, we created an electric atmosphere with bistro seating, powder-blue linens and rich, dramatic florals.

In the reception space, our vintage-inspired vision came to life with a warm glow of candelabras, chandeliers draped in modern florals and a perfect mix of new old magic. Inspired by muted but rich color tones, artful fashion and timeless elements – every detail from the shape of the flatware to the rims of glasses to the floral colors had meaning and intention behind it. For the colors, we knew we wanted to bring in sea green linens – a perfect complement to the Bowery’s blush tiles and deep green velvet curtains. The florals, too, brought in lavender hues to pop against the greens while creating a sense of romantic nostalgia.

For the tablescape, to bring in 1930’s vibe, we layered a vintage lace runner and sienna velvet napkins atop a raw linen tablecloth to balance an old-world luxe feel with modern elegance. The delicate balance between new and old extended to every design choice, including an artful layer of vintage mis-matched salad plates atop modern stoneware dinner plates resting on textured chargers. All of these details worked in tandem to bring in a lot of textures in a cohesive and modern way.  

For the florals, minimal arrangements and natural fruit balanced with the dramatic height of the candelabra. The softness of florals and fruit created a seamless cohesion with the tablescape design while mirroring the fruit-filled tablescapes of vintage New York dinner parties.  Every detail, from the champagne tower, sprinkled with edible petals to dessert table filled with sweets from Lucie Franc de Ferriere, added to the understated elegance of this vintage, old-world inspired New York wedding at the Bowery.

As the evening unfolded and Sea changed into a short Magda Butrym dress, complemented by Jimmy Choo heels, Billy and Sea’s classic New York wedding at the Bowery Hotel reminded us that it’s not about following trends and doing what everyone else is doing. It's about making your own trends. It’s about taking on the challenge. It’s about thinking outside the box and creating something that’s unique to our couples and what they are passionate about.

It's not easy, but that usually makes it much more worthwhile. And that’s what made this iconic luxury New York wedding one of our favorite events to date.

Let us plan your dream day

Manda Worthington
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