Lara and Ryan were married on a lovely September day at Our Lady of the Rosary with a reception at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe.
The ceremony was held at Our Lady of the Rosary in downtown Manhattan.
After the ceremony, we crossed the street to the beautiful area around Battery Park and we walked by the amazing new SeaGlass Carousel.
Family and friends rode together to some favorite spots in lower Manhattan including Rockefeller Park and the Highline.
Lara shares, “One of our favorite parts of the day was when we were at the Highline taking wedding pictures. It started raining when we got there, which actually worked out in our favor since it helped clear out the crowds. We had planned on taking a group picture at one of the stadium seating areas on the Highline that overlooks 10th Avenue. We ended up having this great New York moment because all the tourists cleared out from the seating area when they saw us dressed up and we were able to take our group shot alone while passersby watched from above.
To have all of our family and closest friends there to celebrate over the weekend was truly amazing. All the planning was worth it–some things didn’t work out as planned, but at the end of the day it all worked out! All we remember is that we got to dance with our best friends and family, had an amazing afternoon with our closest friends riding a party bus along the west side of NYC to our photo locations, and just laughed and created so many amazing memories that day. It really was the best day of our lives and we couldn’t be happier.”
Lara shares, “We chose Housing Works Bookstore as our reception venue because we wanted to celebrate in a space that was non-traditional, unique, and really expressed our personalities. The traditional side of the day was saved for our wedding ceremony where we got married in a Catholic church earlier in the day.”
The Opera Collective performed three songs during cocktail hour. They were amazing!
Ryan shares. “One of our favorite projects that we worked on together was our guestbook. Jessica actually helped us put this together as part of our engagement photo session. We put together “Then and Now” re-creation photos of us when we were younger with our grandparents, parents, and siblings. The guestbook showed side-by-side picture comparisons and was a tribute to our family that showed the impact they had on our lives and how their guidance, love, and friendship helped make us the people we are today. It’s a keepsake that we will treasure forever!
For our first dance, we did something different. We sampled three songs and mashed them together to create something new and different. As simple as our pad-performed, mash-up song was, it took about four weeks to put together. It was really fun bouncing ideas off one another in creating it and getting a chance to feel cool performing it together. We feel grateful for everyone’s response to the performance and for all the lovely kazooing our family and friends contributed. Apologies to Kendrick Lamar, Sisyphus, and Bleachers if they’d like their song snippets back. They are ours now.”
After mixing the songs, they danced together for the last few notes. Everyone loved it!
Congratulations Lara and Ryan!
Church: Our Lady of the Rosary
Reception Venue: Housing Works Bookstore
Coordinator: Modern Rebel, Gina Jurlando
Caterer: Comparti
Cake: The Good Batch
DJ/Band: Scratch Weddings
Entertainment: The Opera Collective
Florist: Wyld
Invitations: DIY
Makeup: Amy Klewitz
Hair: Micky Nkabori
Photographer: Jessica Schmitt Photography
