“We went to ABOVE Weddings and instantly felt it was our venue. It was what we were looking for without ever knowing what that was. I’d always wanted a New Year’s Eve wedding and ABOVE was available and undoubtedly the best setting for a NYE wedding with its chic palette and views above the city!
“Jennifer Finch, the event planner, and I clicked from the second we met. She was amazing and walked me through everything, helping with the vendors, letting us set up the room the day in advance, and giving us incredible ideas.”
Their Vendors
Ceremony: Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church
Reception: The Above Ballroom
718.477.2400 x 2, www.eventabove.com
Gown: Pnina Tornai, at Kleinfeld, NYC
Overskirt: Glamour Closet, Alvina Valenta
Bridesmaids: Dessy
Tux: Men’s Wearhouse
Photographer & Cinematographer: Joey G’s Memories Video
Makeup: Gabby Rose MUA
Hair: Laura and Arba Barber & Beauty Salon
DJ: SPR Entertainment
Midnight DJ: DJ Sinatra
John and I worked for the same company, but were in different relationships when we met. It wasn’t until we both became single and I was working closely with his brother-in-law that we started dating. His brother-in-law thought it would be funny to text John from my phone pretending to be a girl he’d met at a club. When John was confused and gave the number a call, he saw my phone ring! He realized the joke and we started talking and went out for lunch. Next thing we knew, we were dating.
A few years later I was hanging out at my mom’s house. She was sick and John knew I wouldn’t want to leave her unless my brother came to be there. So John had my brother come by and we went out for ice cream. When we came back and were sitting on my front stoop, John said he wanted to talk to me. Then he was on his knee, I was in sweats, and in the most “us” way imaginable, we were engaged!
We went to ABOVE Weddings and instantly felt it was our venue. It was what we were looking for without ever knowing what that was. I’d always wanted a New Year’s Eve wedding and ABOVE was available and undoubtedly the best setting for a NYE wedding with its chic palette and views above the city! Jennifer Finch, the event planner, and I clicked from the second we met. She was amazing and walked me through everything, helping with the vendors, letting us set up the room the day in advance, and giving us incredible ideas.
Our ceremony was held at my childhood church where I’d always imagined getting married. The timing was perfect, as the church was decorated beautifully for Christmas, filled with trees and poinsettias. We walked to the church and took amazing photographs along the way. I wore a leopard bomber jacket and all the girls wore fur or leather jackets. The bouquets and boutonnières, made by my mother and me out of ornaments, sparkled and added to the New Year’s/Christmas theme.
For cocktail hour on the rooftop, John and I decided to be present the whole time and say hello to everyone. We knew the food would be amazing, too, and didn’t want to miss that! We selected oysters, lobster mac and cheese fritters, asiago cheese arancini, herb-crusted lamb chops, and more as our hors d’oeuvres, along with a modern harvest table and a campagnia antipasto station. We loved the chicken and waffles, the mac and cheese truffle station, and the rice balls, which were delicious.
For our reception, we did what we coined “pink-tie-formal.” Every one of our guests wore something pink and our signature drink was a pink lemonade cocktail with champagne. We used noisemakers in place of table cards and I did a lot of DIY with my Cricut. Our centerpieces were all individually unique, consisting of sparkles, garland, and winter florals, all in shades of pink, silver, gold, and rose gold. Our entrance into our reception room was tons of fun.
My dress had a pull off skirt to become a more danceable style, so I took that off before we went in. Our bridal party was also announced and had their entrances, one of the groomsmen wearing an authentic Irish kilt. We had a lot of fun with it! During the maid of honor speech, my cousin rode in on the pink vintage bike he’d gotten me for Christmas years before, which was an inside joke in my family!
Dinner options were a New York strip steak, a chicken wrapped in puff pastry, seared sea scallops with cauliflower purée, and gnocchi with squash and pancetta. Dessert was our wedding cake, mini sweets and cookies for each table, and passed bites. Everything was so delicious, our guests were raving about it! The s’mores shot was amazing. We mixed my preference for old school music with John’s taste in house music and everyone was on the dance floor all night. My cousin, DJ Sinatra, did the countdown for midnight and it was a great way to keep the end of the night going! After the wedding, we all went right down to the bar and kept partying.
It may sound cliché, but our entire day was perfect. Thank you to everyone at Above, to Jennifer Finch and my bridal attendant. I would love to work with you again! Thank you to my family who helped so much with setting everything up and transporting all the things we made. So many people helped and I couldn’t have done it without them! John and I are very lucky to have you all and to have chosen such an amazing venue!
ABOVE Weddings, Staten Island, NY, 718.477.2400 ext 2, eventabove.com
