Wedding | Ali & Jack

The Anti-Bride
1 day ago
7 min read

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We met in our first year of university, at arguably the worst nightclub in town. The very first message Jack sent Ali after that night was simply “Yooooo”,. and somehow that was the start of a decade-plus long love story. Since then, we have been together through school and a study abroad semester, our first jobs and a couple years of long-distance, and living together in both New York City and Toronto.

We now live in the West Village with our yellow lab, Fitz. Jack proposed in November 2023 just down the block from our apartment on our usual morning dog walk to get a cup of coffee in the neighborhood.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

We wanted our wedding to feel fun, intimate, and a reflection of us. A big traditional ceremony never really resonated with us, and we loved the idea of a civil ceremony at city hall.

New York has always been a special place to us, and we wanted to make our wedding feel like the most fun version of a weekend in the city, but with all of our loved ones. Starting it off with our civil ceremony on Friday afternoon let us exhale a little bit and spend the rest of the weekend focused on enjoying all the celebrations.

How many guests did you have?

We had 75 guests.

Tell us about your outfits.

For the restaurant reception, I was after something timeless and elevated but not overdone. I did the rounds - appointments with friends, champagne, a bit of spiralling - and of course, the dress I ended up choosing was the one I found solo, thanks to an appointment cancellation. It was the Danielle Frankel River dress, and it felt like me in every way. I wore it with vintage-looking nude Saint Laurent heels I fully plan to keep in rotation (white shoes were never in the running).

For the courthouse, I had been looking for a suit to wear but everything I tried on felt too corporate - only a couple months before our date, I stumbled upon a pop-up in the West Village and found a vintage skirt suit sourced by Studio Dorothy. For our welcome dinner, I wore a Magda Butrym dress I’d bought online on a whim (final sale, naturally) and paired it with crystal Gucci slingbacks I’d been stalking for months. With two weeks to go, I found the matching Magda evening bag on the Real Real and wore it both evenings. It was big enough for two lip glosses and nothing more. Every look felt personal, intentional, and completely mine.

Jack wanted to wear a classic tux, and went to P. Johnson in Soho to have one custom built. He was looking for something timeless that he could wear again, but at the same time specially-made for the occasion. Over a few visits to the store he also worked with them to create the olive green suit he wore to city hall. His inspiration was a suit and tie that would look nothing like the navy and grey suits he wore to past jobs. The oxblood WH Bass Weejuns were a day-of addition.

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

The most important aspect for us was to create a weekend that reflected us and was a fun experience for our guests. We were focused on keeping the guest list small-ish so that we could spend time with everyone there - we’re lucky that so many of our closest friends also know each other well. It made our wedding feel like a dinner party with a bunch of old friends. We considered every detail of the weekend and tried to make decisions based on what we most wanted to do down to picking a dive bar, The Ear Inn, a couple blocks from our venue to send everyone to for the after-party.

More specifically, finding a photographer was a top priority for us. After picking our venue, this was the first thing we focused on. We wanted candid photography that displayed our guests’ personalities and experiences at our wedding. We found Kindred and when we had our first Zoom call with Elle, we felt like we were old friends. Elle and Zach made us feel comfortable and relaxed, which showed in the photos. Prior to our wedding, we didn’t realize how much of the weekend we would be spending with them, so it was awesome that we clicked so well and had so much fun together.

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

We wanted to have an intimate welcome dinner to kick off the weekend. We were recommended Frank's House which is an incredible space in Brooklyn, which we rented out on Friday evening. It was like hosting a dinner party in the parlour of the brownstone you dream of living in one day.

For our reception, we kept coming back to the idea of having a fun dinner party with our loved ones, so we were focused on finding a venue where we loved the food, drinks & music. Port Sa’id was the perfect mix of all three - we had always loved going there for dinner and thought it would be such a fun wedding venue. They have an incredible soundsystem and we brought in a vinyl DJ, Turbo Virgo, which was a cool addition to the overall atmosphere. We really wanted to find a restaurant venue in New York where we could have a dance party, which was hard given how small restaurants tend to be in the city.

The venue was awesome - great drinks, tons of amazing food, a dance party with disco ball, vintage photo booth by Majestic Photobooth, and we have to shout out their whole team who were not only so attentive and great to work with, but also were having so much fun themselves and brought such a good energy to the night (they might have snuck a few pics in the photobooth too).

Any tips for couples getting married?

Focus on prioritizing the parts of a wedding you’re most excited about, and not being afraid to do things untraditionally. We didn’t really have a template for what our wedding should look like, which meant we simply made each decision based on what we felt like doing. We were a little nervous that it might not all hang together, but in the end, it did. If each piece is true to you, the whole thing will be, too.

Second - Find joy in the mundane. Planning takes a lot of time and we cared a lot about all the little details (picking the wine, perfecting the seating chart, designing the menus), but we tried to constantly remind ourselves that this was the whole point, and to take joy in the whole process of planning a wedding and getting married.

And finally: when the wedding day comes, relax and enjoy it. Some things won’t go according to plan, and most guests won’t even notice - what they will remember is the energy you bring and how much fun you had.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

We loved them all so much, but a few standouts that deserve a special shout-out

Frank’s House & Grand Cook - Gina made everything so easy at Frank’s House and welcomed us (and our dog) with open arms. The Grand Cook team was so much fun to work with, and super nice people who made an amazing meal I still dream about.

Studio Jones - Lindsay designed all of our florals throughout the weekend and we loved how everything came together. We put our full trust in her (literally asked her to surprise me with my bouquet) and it all turned out so gorgeous. She was incredibly thoughtful down to the smallest detail; she included garlic scapes, a favorite of my dad’s, to honor him.

The Privilege is Mine - Chanler and the TPIM team were amazing through the entire planning process and helped make sure we had thought of absolutely everything. As a result, we went into the weekend stress-free, and having her there day-of meant we (nor any of our friends & family) had to spend a moment thinking about anything other than having a good time.

Mudari Creative - Olivia designed all of our stationery, and we loved how it all tied together from our invites through place cards and menus. She does everything original and we had so much fun working with her on how to incorporate different elements we wanted to feature, like our dog and the disco ball at the venue.

Social Romances - A few months ahead of our wedding, we panicked that we wouldn’t have much captured on video as we hadn’t booked a videographer. Hannah did an amazing job filming behind the scenes and she really captured the vibe of the whole day. The reels are such an amazing keepsake.

And finally, Port Sa’id - for creating an unforgettable guest experience and letting us turn their restaurant into the best party ever.

Photographer: Kindred @kindredweddings | Planning: The Privilege is Mine @tpimweddings | Flora: Studio Jones @studiojoness | Content / Videography: Social Romances @socialromances | Ceremony Location: NYC City Hall | Welcome Dinner Venue: Frank’s House @thisisfrankshouse | Welcome Dinner Catering: Grand Cook @grandcook | Reception Location: Port Sa’id @port_said_nyc | HMUA: Willow House Beauty @willowhouse.beauty | Cake: Lael Cakes @laelcakes | Stationery: Mudari Creative

@mudaricreative | Vinyl DJ: Willie Nedrow @turbovirgo_| Reception Dress: Danielle Frankel

@daniellefrankelstudio | Courthouse Suit: Studio Dorothy @studiodorothy.nyc | Post- Courthouse Dinner Dress: Magda Butrym @magdabutrym | Suit: P Johnson @pjohnsontailors | Wedding Rings: Cartier