Deborah Nadel Calligraphy

photo by Paul Rich Studio

Deborah Nadel did the calligraphy on our wedding invitations and place cards. We found Deborah through a friend who works at Tiffany & Company--she said they use Deborah for their calligraphy and that she's amazing.

Amazing is right! Janet loved the invitation calligraphy so much that Ethan asked Deborah to write out one of the wedding ceremonies readings to give to Janet as a wedding day present.

photo by Deborah Nadel

photo by Deborah Nadel

photo by Deborah Nadel

That present is now featured on Style Me Pretty as part of a calligraphy give away by Deborah Nadel. In a comment on the Style Me Pretty article, Janet wrote:

I'm the Janet from the 'Janet and Ethan', and we just fell in love with Deborah. When we first got our invitations back from her, I didn't even want to mail them out. They were just so beautiful. I looked through them in admiration for a very, very long time. Her calligraphy truly is a work of art! I kept telling Ethan that I wanted her to write more for us, something we can keep, but he kept blowing me off. Little did I know, he already had a plan in mind and was already talking to Deborah on his own. This is such a great give-away Deborah is offering, but regardless if you win, you really should use her for your wedding anyway. She set the tone for our wedding by beautifully addressing the invitations and we also had her do our escort cards. Good luck!

This is the second time that our wedding showed up on Style Me Pretty... We were also written up in a posting entitled New York Wedding From The Paul Rich Studio ~ Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

Sarah Magid wedding cake

We were so fortunate to have Sarah Magid design and bake the cake for our wedding. It was not only gorgeous but it tasted unbelievably delicious!

We met only a couple times but I knew even before meeting her I really wanted her to do the cake for us. I first saw her cake from The Knot magazine and the colors and design was exactly the style we were going for.

Sarah has a background in style and design for names like Jcrew, Henry Bendel, and Tommy Hilfiger to name a few.

She bakes her cakes using organic and seasonal ingredients which was perfectly in-line with our wedding venue. We decided to have a two-tiered decorated cake for the cutting ceremony and a larger round sheet cake to serve to all the guests. We chose a chocolate cake with espresso buttercream.
It was clear Sarah put so much detail into the cake design; the coloring for each flower was shaded differently and the flower variety was based on the bridal flower bouquet and colors of our wedding.
Ethan and I couldn't be happier with the result. Even though the second sheet cake wasn't intended to be seen by any of the guests, it was still just as beautiful where Sarah used what looked like gold leaf to cover the espresso buttercream frosting. It's a shame our guests didn't get to see this as well.

Thanks Sarah for designing and baking the BEST wedding cake I've ever seen and tasted!

The Importance of Paul Rich Studio

Photos by Paul Rich Studio

We're amazed at how much we've learned in the process of getting married.

Since we did not already live together, the planning that led up to the wedding gave us the opportunity to learn how we manage money, stress, and complicated projects. For us, wedding planning was as much a part of the transition from single to married life as was the beautiful ceremony performed by our friend Jonathan Martin.

One aspect of the wedding that surprised us was how important our photographer, Paul Rich, was to the experience of the wedding day.

We had decided to do our formal photographs before the ceremony--mainly a practical decision so that we'd be free to enjoy the cocktail hour. Otherwise, we would have probably chosen to do the tradition of not seeing one another until the bride walks down the aisle. However, we're very glad that we had that time together before the ceremony.

Paul joined Ethan while he was getting ready (and Paul's wife/co-photographer Holly was with Janet) to take spontaneous shots. Once we reached the venue, Paul took posed photographs of Ethan and his best man.

Once Janet was ready, Paul had her come out (making sure Ethan didn't peek) and captured the moment of us seeing each other for the first time that day. It was a wonderful moment! Janet looked beautiful and Ethan (who is typing this and whose eyes are starting to water) was very surprised by the dress--he had thought he knew which dress she picked out (there was a photo of her in a dress on Picasa), but he was wrong!

Neither of us are terribly comfortable posing for photographs, but Paul was great at relaxing us and keeping our smiles genuine (Paul is very funny). The photo session with Paul and Holly really set the tone for the day: we felt beautiful, comfortable, and like stars!

We can't wait to see the photos Paul took--he showed us a couple in his camera's viewfinder and they looked amazing!

After the formals with our family (Paul had memorized all their names!), Paul and Holly became very unobtrusive while they continued capturing all the spontaneous moments. We had told Paul that the food being served was very important to us (our wedding was at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and the chef, Dan Barber, is the 2009 James Beard Outstanding Chef of the Year). So Paul arranged for unprecedented access to the kitchen so he could take the best possible photograph of each of the courses.

So the lesson learned is that picking your photographer is crucial--not only for documenting the day, but also as a key contributor to the experience of the day itself.

We're married!

Photo by our friend Pyul Horbelt

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect wedding!  

Everything fell into place: the weather was perfect, Janet's hay-fever disappeared (despite her forgetting her allergy medicines), the music was beautiful, the ceremony amazing, and the toasts touching.