Real Wedding | Jenny + Simon

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We met in college 8 years ago and have been inseparable ever since. While we call New York City our home, we’re always traveling and going on new adventures. We can’t wait for our 6-month honeymoon world trip next year!

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

We’re both deeply in love with New York City and knew we wanted a small, cool, and laid-back NYC wedding that reflects the New Yorker vibe, so we chose to have our wedding reception at Maman Café. Even the proposal was an Amazing Race style treasure hunt that spans across the streets of New York!

How many guests did you have?

50 guests, all friends as well as Jenny’s sister as family. Our parents and other family members unfortunately couldn’t make it due to Covid. However, this meant the wedding was exactly how we envisioned it to be: laid-back, cool, and fun with our closest friends.

Tell us about your outfits.

Jenny : I knew I didn’t want to go the traditional route of wedding dress buying. Instead of visiting bridal boutiques, I browsed online for months, trying on dozens of dresses in my own apartment. I found my afterparty dress first from V. Chapman and immediately knew that it was it. The sweetheart, off the shoulder neckline was super flattering, but I especially loved all the ruffles that made the look so fun, which was how I wanted the night to go.

For the ceremony dress, I knew I wanted a simple, chic, timeless silhouette and finally came across the Reformation dress one month prior to the wedding day. The moment I tried it on I knew as the dress hugged in all the right places, and the material was light and airy enough to run around town on a hot NYC summer day.

Simon : I already had the Haggar suit in my closet and with some tailoring, it fits me perfectly. I’m not an accessory-type of person, so I tried to keep it simple: black tie, white pocket square, and a sophisticated watch.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

Instead of a planned out, intricate wedding day, we wanted our guests to have the best time and be talking about our wedding for years to come. At the end the day, it was exactly as we envisioned - our ceremony location was literally in the streets of our favorite neighbourhood, we had no guest seating chart or no stuffy sit-down dinners. Throughout the whole night, our guests were up and about, enjoying themselves!

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

We invited only close friends as we want the celebration to be as intimate as possible. We wanted everyone to have fun so we put in a lot of effort in ensuring people have things to do (bingo, games, photobooth, guest book, temporary tattoos, etc.) throughout the event. And with all of our guests in their 20s in NYC, we obviously went with an open-bar. That way everyone was partying as hard as they could!

Any tips for couples getting married, particularly during the pandemic?

This tip is more for couples who are planning their own small wedding with no outside help. Choose what aspect is your most important, high-priority aspect of the day, and start there. For us, it was the photographer, as we had a specific style in mind, and we knew that these photos would be capturing the best moments of the day and be enjoyed years to come. It took us months of research to finally decide on a photographer, and we are so glad and lucky to have found Savanna Sturkie, as the final pictures exceed our expectations. After you decide on the high-priority details, be more flexible on other things. It will be impossible to check everything off your wish list, especially with no outside help, so this way you won’t be overwhelmed and can actually enjoy the planning process as well.

Photographer : Savanna Sturkie @savannasturkiephoto | Ceremony Location : West Village, NYC |

Real Wedding | Jenny + Simon

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