Haven’s Kitchen New York City Wedding
A rustic elegant loft style wedding in Chelsea. The couple got ready at the Grammercy Park Hotel and did the first look in the room. After a few photos on the street, we headed to Haven’s Kitchen for family photos. It is a lovely space for a intimate wedding of less than 100 people. The couple opted the bring in lighting to spice up the white room where the ceremony was held for the reception. It is basically a blank canvas so the lighting really added to the ambiance and was a fun place for dancing!
Venue – Haven’s Kitchen
Flowers – Sprout Home
Cake – Momofuku Milk bar
Hair and Make-up – Izzy Ruiz
Dress – Nicole Miller
Shoes – Kate Spade
Music -Riley Muhaker Jazz Trio and DJ Scribe
Gramercy Park Hotel
Love the suite decor, but when I arrived the make-up was still everywhere and we were running short on time. I pushed a table out of the way and we drew the curtains to hide the make-up artists stuff. Thank goodness for those curtains, they really saved the day and made for a dramatic background for the first look!
Haven’s Kitchen
Haven’s Kitchen was a fantastic place to shoot. (and the also sell my favorite tea Bellocq in the cafe) I love the layout and the white walls make it easy to shoot in. (The light bounces around and illuminates subjects nicely) The food looked amazing and the staff seemed very responsive and were killer cocktail makers! The venue it set on 2 levels but the music is piped downstairs which is a nice touch. Is a great space for guests looking to sit or relax without feeling too far from the party. The decor was beautiful and made it easy to find vignette to shoot details on. All of that comes with the venue, including the mirrors at the ceremony site. The reception was cocktail style for about 100 guests. I think that was a perfect number for the venue, though they can accommodate up to 150 for cocktails and 80 seated.
DJ Scribe kept the party going with a nice variety of excellent dance music from Michael Jackson to the Killers to 80s hits.
When I met with the couple at the venue about a month before the wedding, they asked me about lighting during the reception. The DJ didn’t do lights, so they were wondering about adding some lights on their own to change the room once dancing started, but were concerned that they might be in the way during the ceremony. I suggested they order led DIY uplights. I had seen uprights transform rooms at events before and they are an inexpensive cordless way to alter the atmosphere of a room and in my opinion, were worth every penny. After the first dance they were turned on and the room glowed a lovely light blue and kicked the party into high gear. Had the walls not been white, it would have been more difficult and might have required a lighting pro. But for a relatively small space, DIY uplights are an excellent way to instantly change a room.
It was a pleasure documenting this wedding, so many excellent dancing photos I can’t post here. 🙂 But it was truly a well done event and I wish the couple many happy years together! They are blessed with wonderful families and friends who were all kind and cooperative with me and I appreciate that!
