A Creative Shoe Shop Wedding in New York [Real Wedding]

Tell us about your photographers and how they worked on your wedding day

Our photographers were fab! They captured our wedding from start to finish in a way we could only have dreamed of. We invited them to the party the night before the wedding which enabled us to see how they worked. They are super discrete and blend in with your other guests seamlessly. We love the way they’ve captured photos of all our nearest and dearest just enjoying themselves. This was really important to us as we didn’t want to stand around for hours having our photos taken. There are so many smiles and emotions captured in the photos they delivered to us, we really couldn’t be happier.

bride and groom posing in front of manhattan bridge

A creative New York shoe shop wedding

How did the two of you meet?

Big shout out to our friends Matt and Meredith who introduced us.

What was the inspiration behind your day and do you think you achieved it?

Our vision for our wedding was an intimate, low-key wedding with delicious food. We definitely think we achieved this. Having a relatively small wedding means you can interact with your guests much more easily. Talking to everyone at your wedding is actually feasible. We’ve been to lots of weddings over the years and sometimes you only get 2-3 minutes with the Bride and Groom before they are whisked off to speak to someone else. We knew we didn’t want this for our special day and definitely feel we made the right choice only inviting those closest to us. Food is very important to us, we love to sample all kinds of dishes but most of all enjoy italian dining. Whenever we’re in the Lower East Side we always have to visit Bacaro’s. The food speaks for itself but the atmosphere is stunning. Exposed brick walls, slate floors and candle light just make it such a cosy place to be. When they agreed to cater for our wedding we couldn’t believe it. We’re so happy that we got to share our happy place with all of our friends and family.

What is your favourite story from your wedding?

Our original plan for the wedding was to hold an outdoor Ceremony in the local park. We thought this would be gorgeous surrounded by greenery and the hustle and bustle of New York in the background. Oh boy did our plans have to change though. We awoke on the morning of the wedding to torrential rain. It was truly a horrible day. Luckily one of our friends is a realtor and had the keys to a venue quite close to Bacaro’s (our wedding reception) It turned out to be an abandoned shoe store! Safe to say we landed on our feet… On the surface it doesn’t sound very good but it turned out great. At least everyone was dry and it’s an amazing story to tell our children! The photographers worked wonders with the photos and I think they enjoyed the challenge too. It made for some truly unique shots. There won’t be many couples who can say they have wedding photos like ours!

Were there any details or parts of your day that were DIY?

The whole wedding was DIY! From the flowers to the wedding reception decoration. We knew this would keep costs down and we also enjoyed having the input on how everything would look. The only thing we wish we had done differently was to have hired a day of event coordinator. This would have meant a lot less stress on the wedding day for us as a couple. It would hopefully have meant everything ran a little more smoothly and we could just relax a bit more. However, it wouldn’t have changed the weather or last minute change of venue so maybe it was just meant to be!

Tell us your favourite moment or moments from the day

As we’ve already mentioned one of the key things for us was having all of our friends and family with us to celebrate. This meant the world to us and we really can’t thank everyone enough for the special effort made to be at our wedding. People travelled from all over the world to share in our happiness, that for us was the best moment. And the dancing! There was lots and lots of dancing late into the night. And lots of drinks were drunk haha

What was the most expensive element of your celebration?

The food was the most expensive but we love good food! So it was well worth it. We know that people spend big on lavish venues and pristine dresses and suits but that just isn’t us. Of course we wanted to look good on our special day and I think we did haha but we’d much rather prioritise our taste buds and Bacaro’s didn’t disappoint!

Any cost saving tips for our future couples?

We spent a lot of time on Etsy sorting various little bits and pieces. They soon add up but by doing a lot of the work ourselves we definitely kept the costs down. We used Etsy for the invites, seating plan and menus. It’s definitely a good option if you’ve got the time.

If you could go back and change anything, what would it be?

Looking back on our wedding we think we could have definitely invited a few more people. It’s something that is hard to judge when you’re planning a wedding and you’ll never really know until the day hits you. Our vision was for an intimate wedding and we definitely achieved that it’s just it could maybe have still been intimate but with a few extra guests haha.

Any advice for those who are planning their wedding?

Don’t stress about details. What’s the worst that can happen? You change your whole plan on the morning of the wedding because the weather Gods have turned on you? Well yeh that happened and it all turned out perfect! It was still the best day of our lives. You also shouldn’t worry about little things, you need to realise that you’re way more invested in your wedding details than your guests. So if all your table decorations aren’t perfectly aligned for example no one will care, they’ll be having too much fun anyway!