Sofia and Ben’s awesomely, beautifully fun wedding is exactly what we all need on a Monday morning – not just the smiles of the bride and groom, the cheery yellow and white palette, and the boat rides, but also Sofia and Ben’s attitude about the whole thing. Like this little nugget of wisdom: “A wedding is a party, not a performance. If at the end of the day you are married to the one you love, then everything went perfectly.”
Brilliant.
Don’t you love this idea for bridesmaids! Sofia had yellow skirts made for them, and they each chose a white top to go with it.
From the couple: “We are both lucky enough to be close to our families. Sofia’s younger brother was ordained so that he could perform the ceremony and her grandmother wrote a poem to read, and Ben’s cousin played classical guitar and his other cousin Emily gave a reading. Our families live all over the country, so we may never again have the opportunity to have everyone in the same place at the same time. That alone was really special.” Guests had the chance to enjoy boat rides around the lagoon – “Probably people’s favorite part of the day,” say Sofia and Ben. Sofia and Ben collection vintage postcards of the Boathouse which they scanned and printed for a guest book alternative. Sofia and Ben are graphic designers, so they designed all of the stationery and favors, then had it printed by Studio On Fire. Favors were tote bags, folded inside of berry baskets and tied with twine. For centerpieces, Juliette and Sierra from Poppies and Posies (who, Sofia says, “are the nicest girls in Brooklyn, and possibly the planet”) arranged a variety of blooms in vintage yellow pitchers and Bulleit Bourbon bottles that Sofia and Ben collected throughout the year.
Friends helped to bring the day together, including one who made linen table runners for the tables, one who acted as DJ and MC, and two who helped to organize the day: “On they day of the wedding, two of our sweet friends and wedding guests art directed the setup – it was so nice to have people we trusted making last minute decisions.” And the music? “We spent a lot of time choosing music and dancing around our kitchen the year of our wedding. Then our cool friend and former neighbor who was our DJ/MC also picked a lot of great songs for the night.” How much do you love this wedding! And you’re going to love all these little tidbits that Ben and Sofia were sweet enough to share with us:
Why did you choose this for your wedding? I don’t think either of us thought we would have a wedding wedding but we are so happy we did. Choosing the Boathouse (which we live close to) was the first big decision we made. It was always a place that felt romantic to us. It is so iconically Brooklyn but still feels like an escape from the city – we are so glad our guests were able to enjoy Brooklyn in an unexpected way. And we loved that it wasn’t a huge space and we could have our medium sized wedding in a location that felt intimate.
What inspired you when you were planning your wedding? The boathouse itself. Brooklyn. Summertime. Blogs like Snippet & Ink!
Do you have any budget tips for other brides? Prioritize. You will have a million ideas at the onset (vintage taxi! photo booth! chuppah! and so on….), but choose what you can afford and what you actually have time to organize. A wedding doesn’t have to be a photoshoot. As much as we enjoyed creating personal details for the day it wasn’t worth it to us to go overboard with decorations and create things that would be thrown away after 5 hours of use. If you can’t eat it or take it home with you it may not be worth spending money on. I think all a successful party needs is good food and drinkables, good friends, good music. Everything else is just extras.
What was your favorite moment or part of the day? There were so many including waking up together in our home and having brunch just the two us, seeing my grandparents (who have been married 60 years) dance together. But our favorite moment without a doubt was running upstairs alone right after the ceremony and feeling this mixed sense of relief and joy about what had just happened. It was like the adrenaline had worn off and it felt…real.
Is there anything else that helps tell the story of the day? One anecdote about things not going smoothly but ending up fun: We decided just to take local car service to the wedding to save on an expensive car rental and driver. We took some photos in Grand Army Plaza before heading to the boathouse. When we finished we realized that the car had abandoned us! Anyone who has been to Grand Army knows it is not the easiest place to find a cab. A complete stranger noticed our distress, let us hop in his car and he drove us to the wedding. Thank you to him for rescuing us and to his friends for squishing all the way in the back to make room!
Summer Wedding Menu
Dinner Zucchini Fritters // Heirloom Tomato Salad // Fish Tacos // Pulled Pork with the Groom’s Grandmother’s Barbecue Sauce // Red Velvet Whoopie Pies // Miniature Key Lime Pies // Chocolate, Vanilla, Espresso Chip, and Coconut Ice Cream
Thank you so much to Oh, Darling! for sending over these beautiful photos, and to Sofia and Ben for sharing all these wonderful details. Best wishes to the two of you for a lifetime of happiness together!
See the full gallery here.
