“Our ceremony was at the New York Botanical Garden, and we got Uptown Vocal, a student jazz a cappella group from Columbia, to sing during the candlelit ceremony. It was a nontraditional processional—the wedding party walked in to ‘I Only Have Eyes for You.’ I walked in to ‘Fly Me to the Moon.’”
Laura Gutmann, 26, nonprofit educator
“We’re foodies, so a friend of ours e-mailed all our wedding guests and requested that they each send her a favorite recipe, under the guise that it was going to be a gift for us. She then put them all together into little recipe books, and we used them as our favors. We also decided to have a glorified cocktail party where the food was served in miniature, instead of a boring sit-down.”
Leah Rosen, 29, social worker
“My great-aunt lent me the shoes she wore at her own wedding. I had to have them stretched and do all kind of things to them, so she didn’t think I’d be able to wear them. She didn’t know that I had them on until I came down the aisle, stopped, and showed her. My family’s Irish, so wearing old shoes from the family on your wedding day is good luck.”
Caroline Grill, 27, subsidiary rights manager
“We had our legal ceremony in Canada and then threw a party in New York where we reenacted the entire thing: A friend pretended to be the Canadian minister and we read our vows again. This way, everyone got to share it with us. It was January, but instead of doing a winter theme, we did the opposite. So when you walked in on that gray day, you were greeted by bright colors, tulips, and butterflies.”
Peter Vincent, 52, HR executive
“My mom gave me a DVD made from old home movies my grandfather had taken right after I was born. He had passed away earlier; he knew I was engaged, but he never made it to the wedding. The night before my wedding, my mom, my bridesmaids, and I spent the night in our hotel room watching it, telling stories about when I was little.”
Krista Valentino Long, 32, mother
“One of our best friends got ordained online and married us. It was so much better than having a religious figure neither of us knew. The wedding was held in one of our other closest friend’s backyard, so it was especially intimate.”
Frances Gilbert, 37, editor
“We got married at the Central Park Boathouse and reserved a gondola for our guests. It had rained earlier that morning and all of the boat rentals were canceled. But my husband and I took a ride when the sky cleared up. We had the entire lake to ourselves. Our gondolier sang to us in Italian; it was a very romantic ride.”
Jennifer Heslop, 31, legal recruiter
“I designed my own dress with the help of Mika Inatome in Tribeca. It was based on John Singer Sargent’s ‘Madame X.’ One spaghetti strap was off the shoulder, so it showed a little cleavage. Not what my mother would have picked. And I wore it with gorgeous lilac satin shoes.”
Laurie Krazner, 37, attorney