Sandra and Dustin were married at the historic Metropolitan Building in NYC. Their style, joy and love made for a very special wedding day.
Sandra and Dustin shared their first look on the third floor.
Sandra shares, “We chose our venue first and that inspired a lot of our style decisions like wedding colors, floral design, typography, etc. When we started looking at venues, we visited the Metropolitan Building first without knowing a lot about it. It impressed us right away. The light was perfect, we loved the ease of the layout, colorful walls and decor items, and the place had a timeless quality that felt right. We looked around, but the Metropolitan Building stuck in our minds and, when we made our choice, we knew it was the right one.
I was pretty obsessive about figuring out what our wedding style was going to be. I am an art director, so I wanted to design as much as I could without driving myself crazy. The goal was to keep everything cohesive, but not in a way that would become cumbersome or feel generic. The colors helped guide things at first, bright primary blue, aqua green, white and grey as main colors and deep red as a pop of contrast. I don’t know how much that came across in the end but it did at least make some graphic design choices easier later on down the line.
My dress and hair plans also helped me figure out how I wanted the invitations to look: evocative of the past, but contemporary and classic without being too traditional or expected. The main design inspiration comes from the Vienna Secession (Kolomon Moser, Gustav Klimt, Alfred Roller, etc.), and the palm leaves motif was inspired by our initial meeting with my wonderful friends and floral decor geniuses, Mikey and Darroch Putnam of Putnam & Putnam.
It was a really wonderful surprise to hear our officiant, the Reverend D, open the ceremony with a quote from Ann Druyan. Dustin and I had no idea what she had prepared and it was the perfect mix of funny, sweet and nerdy.
I also loved having our first look and couple photos before the ceremony. It gave us a moment together before the guests arrived and was a reminder that all of this fanfare was to celebrate the two of us and our relationship. Having all of our friends in our wedding party together to take group photos before the ceremony was also a really special moment. It felt like we were getting the party started and setting the mood for the rest of the festivities.
There were so many other things about the wedding that were amazing: the vine backdrop and flowers and the photo booth, the dancing and music was bananas! I loved looking out and seeing all the people I love together celebrating and having a blast. It was also so great to have my little nephew, Hercules, there wearing his stormtrooper mask running around and being hilarious. I am so glad he could be a part of our big day.”
You can just see the happiness on Dustin’s face! He shares one of his favorite moments from the day, “At the end of the ceremony, when we were walking out to The Throne Room (End Scene from A New Hope) by the London Symphony Orchestra with John Williams, it was so amazing seeing all our smiling friends and family.”
Sandra continues, “I knew a lot of the graphic design, decor and floral ideas were foreign to Dustin and hard for him to give an opinion on. To better reflect both our personalities, we found ways to work sci-fi (which we both love) into our wedding. One of Dustin’s groomsmen, Josh, is a super talented stop-motion animator, director and production designer (among other things) and we commissioned him to create a space-window diorama installation in a little stage space in the dining room. When I saw it I was really touched by how amazing it looked and how perfectly he had created all the elements, infusing it with little details like our names and the wedding date. It was a hit with our friends, but elicited much debate over whether or not the Enterprise D and Millennium Falcon could coexist in the same universe…. We also named our tables after sci-fi spaceships from movies, TV, and books. It was fun but exhausting to illustrate each one for the table cards, so I hope our guests liked them!”
One of Dustin’s favorite moments from the day was seeing Sandra and her dad dance together. He says, “Sandra‘s dad’s dancing was amazing and I’ve never seen him so happy.”
Congratulations Sandra and Dustin!
Check out their cherry blossom engagement session here.
Special thanks to the team:
Venue: Metropolitan Building
Coordinator: Ashley M Chamblin
Officiant: The Reverend D
Caterer: Sasha at the Metropolitan Building
DJ/Band: DJ Colleen Crumbcake
Florist: Putnam & Putnam
Invitations and Stationery: Designed by Sandra
Hair and Makeup: Mabel Pang
Engagement Ring: Wwake
Sandra’s Wedding Band: Laurie Flemming; Dustin’s Wedding Band: Yayoi Forest, Catbird
Bride’s Dress Designer/Shop: Carol Hannah
Bride’s Shoes: The Row
Earrings: AU Rate
Groom’s Suit Designer and Tie: Enzo Custom
Groomsmen Suit Designer/Shop: The Black Tux
Bomb Pins: Camopins
Skull Socks: Aland
Space Installation: Josh Mahan
Photography: Jessica Schmitt with Eric Swartz
