Wedding | Emma & Alex
- The Anti-Bride
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Tell us a little about yourselves!
We're two Aussies living in NYC. Alex is a documentary filmmaker and Emma is a copywriter. We met over here in 2018 through mutual friends during Emma's first week living the city. It took a few years of friendship before we went on a date, but once we did, we fell in love over movies at the Nitehawk, citi-biking on summer nights, cocktails at Diamond Lil, and international trips (mostly for other people's weddings).
Now we share a big beautiful life in a small Brooklyn apartment. To our family's delight, we also now have twice the reason to go home to Australia to visit!
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
We aren't religious or particularly traditional, so the NYC courthouse looked like the most fun. Taking a number and waiting with all the other brides and grooms was really cool. Our parents came in with us and Alex's mum, Annette, was our witness. Both of our parents have been married for over 30 years so that felt like a good omen. Emma's dad, David, wore his Collingwood Football Club scarf, which may have been a courthouse first.
For our post-courthouse dinner, we chose our favourite local restaurant, Huda. It's such a beautiful space and the thought of eating their incredible homemade pita bread at the end of the day was a very comforting one.
How many guests did you have?
42.
What was your budget?
It ended up being just under $25,000.
Tell us about your outfits.
We planned the whole thing in 5 weeks so we didn't have time to get anything custom made. Emma's friends took her shopping in Soho one Saturday morning and they had the suit picked out by lunch time. She got it tailored at their local dry cleaner. The veil was from Etsy. Alex rented a Vera Wang tux.
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
We wanted our guests to feel like they were joining us on a big NYC adventure. Our relationship has been a series of NYC adventures and our families had flown all the way from Australia so we wanted to give them a fun experience.
Given it was December, we knew we had to get everyone together before the sun went down (at 4pm!). Shepherding 42 people through the city was going to be a challenge, so our friend Simmo made an ALEX + EMMA sign that everyone could follow from location to location. It was delightfully makeshift and miraculously kept everyone together.
We hired a big yellow school bus to get everyone from drinks by the courthouse in Manhattan to dinner in Brooklyn. We didn't have the yellow buses in Australia so it was a fun novelty for us but turned out to be very practical. We brought our own Esky on board and drank champagne out of bodega cups.
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
We stood by the bar to do our vows just before dinner. We didn't have a lot of the traditional wedding elements however, it was important for us to take a moment to share our love in front of our favourite people. Our best friends followed with short speeches. It was very intimate and special.
Alex's late Grandma left him her beautiful sapphire engagement ring and he had it resized for Emma to wear.
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
We'd like to extend our gratitude to Huda. It was the perfect spot for our intimate wedding (I guess you'd call it a micro-wedding?). We did a full buyout which was perfect. We ate all together in the dining room then had access to the back room where we pulled the tables back so we could dance to our wedding playlist after dinner. The Huda team were so helpful in the very short planning period and just so kind and so much fun on the night. Everyone felt like friends by the end.
And a huge thank you to our photographer, Molly Adams. She was super efficient and knew all the good spots around the courthouse which got us some iconic shots. She kept things moving quickly which we all very much appreciated because it was a very cold December day!
Photographer: Molly Adams @mollymeetsmagic | Planning: by the couple | Florals: Courthouse Gift Shop | Ceremony Location: NYC Courthouse | Reception Location: Huda, Levantine Bistro @huda
brooklyn | After Party: Goldies Greenpoint | Hire: Big Yellow School Bus | Makeup Artist: Lucy Letz
@lucie_hair_mua | Hair Stylist: (Emma) Lucy Letz @lucie_hair_mua & (Alex) Enrico at Land of Barbers
@landofbarbers | Catering & Beverages: Little More & Huda @hudabrooklyn | Cake: Red Gate Bakery
@redgatebakery | Place Cards: Huda @hudabrooklyn | Emma's Ceremony Suit: Veronica Beard
