A girl from the East Coast + a boy from the West Coast = meet Jaleese and Andrew!
Today we’re featuring this gorgeous New York City wedding complete with pictures including that perfect skyline, the most gorgeous bride ever and smiles so bright from the wedding party you’d think you were looking at a dentist office advertisement.
Jaleese is from New York and couldn’t think of a more perfect location for her wedding to Andrew.
I love New York City! I knew right away that I wanted all of my wedding photos to have the city in the background. My dad works for a property management company, so I already had picked one of his buildings as a venue because it had a rooftop with amazing skyline views. I remember standing on the rooftop when I was thinking about having the ceremony there and looking out at the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building and just thinking how beautiful it all was and how important the city is to me. I grew up here so I wanted it to be a part of my wedding — and what better was to display it than to have it as the backdrop to the ceremony! We had neighbors on their balconies watching the wedding and clapping afterwards. I didn’t realize until I was told afterwards that a man was doing yoga on a building across the street and it had all of the groomsman laughing during the ceremony but we’re all used to living in close quarters here in the city so you just laugh off those silly things and move on!
We love the bright, vivid colors Jaleese included in the bridal party through the Dainty Jewell’s bridesmaids dresses, the bouquets, and even the photograph locations. She says, “I went back and forth on my color for so long. I knew I wanted it simple but elegant. I love natural colors and jewel tones and I eventually decided on a deep purple and cream.
I knew what I wanted as far as the suits for the guys and how I wanted them to fit so I did all the arrangements through Men’s Warehouse since they had multiple locations throughout the U.S. Andrew and his groomsmen were able to go to their local store and get fitted and then pick up the suits at the location in the city a couple of days before the wedding.
My wedding dress was Couture De Bride by Tova Marc. She is Jewish wedding dress designer and is amazing! She can make a custom dress that you designed or any dress that you see in a magazine or elsewhere. I highly recommend her if you are looking for a modest designer gown that is seamless without any additional pieces needed for modesty. (She’s based in New Jersey but is worth traveling for!)
Even though the wedding was in the middle of the city, I wanted it to feel like a wooded outdoor wedding. We brought in as much wildflowers, tree trunk platforms, moss, and branches as we could. We DIY-ed everything. Every single centerpiece, floral arrangements (including our bouquets and boutonnières) and table setting was done ourselves. I really wanted the reception to be as relaxed and fun as possible. It turned out to be such a fun time of socializing and laughing and celebrating and I wouldn’t change anything about the ceremony or reception.”
My family and I are extremely close and I wanted them to enjoy every single moment of the wedding. Even though my dad is my pastor, I wanted him to experience my wedding as my daddy and he did. He walked me down the aisle — but I didn’t have him perform the ceremony — and then he sat down next to my mom and got teary eyed as he watched his daughter get married. My little sister was my maid of honor. My mom was everything. Decorator, planner, florist — you name it she did it! She was amazing and I couldn’t have done it without her.
The Jewish culture is very important to me and to my family, and so I definitely wanted to incorporate some of the Jewish traditions into my wedding ceremony. My dad built a chuppah, the canopy that the couple stands under during their ceremony. It is a symbol of the home that the couple will build together. Another way was through the wedding Kiddush cup which took the place of lighting a unity candle (or mixing the sand as in other wedding ceremonies). We had two cups of grape juice and it was combined into one cup that we each drank from to show the coming together of our two families.”
Since Andrew is from California and their entire dating relationship was spent long-distance, we asked Jaleese about the challenges they faced in that aspect and she gave some really great insight. Whether you’re single, in a relationship or already married, we’re pretty sure what she has to say is applicable to everyone:
Long distance relationships can be really difficult. It takes a lot of communication and patience — two of the most important skills you’ll need in a marriage! Thanks to FaceTime and texting it’s easy to talk to each other almost 24/7, except you’re still living two different lives in two different time zones.
I think the hardest part in the dating aspect was not being able to see each other in person whenever we wanted. We would visit back and forth every three months but it still didn’t feel like enough. It wasn’t easy because, for me, it’s very natural to talk and share my emotions and I really had to realize that Andrew was not one of my “girls” and I couldn’t expect him to react that same way as if I was talking to my other friends. When you’re living for the end of the day when you can talk to each other, it can be hard to remember that this is someone you’re going to spend forever with and what happens when you’re in the dating phase matters, so be patient and be loving and forgive quickly. It’s very easy for silly things to escalate over the phone or text messaging!”
“My favorite memory from the wedding was the very end of our reception. We didn’t have an official exit or anything, we just sat around and talked and laughed with our friends and family. We had guests leave before we did and it was really fun. Our friends and family are so important to us and we wanted to spend every single minute we could just celebrating with them. Laughing late into the night in my wedding dress surrounded by my husband, family and best friends is my absolute favorite wedding memory. That’s what the day is about: celebrating! You have your whole life ahead of you with your spouse and only have one wedding day so enjoy it!”
Images courtesy of Joe TickNow Photography