How To Perfectly Incorporate Your Hometown Into Your Wedding
When you are all about the place you live and how it charts your daily life, your hometown can become as beloved to you as a an old friend. Ashley and Brian feel this way about Queens, New York as they work, live and eat there. So when planning their big day of course they knew Queens would be on the top of their guest list.
You can find out just how this cute couple managed to give their wedding day a distinct Queens vibe below and don't miss any of the fun, there is a full gallery to see thanks to the photography talents of Ayenia Nour.
Inspired By The City
Ashley & Brian are the faces of Queens Eats, social media influencers dedicated to showcasing the best restaurants and restaurant entrepreneurs in Queens, New York. It is no mistake that they held their wedding at the historical Metropolitan Building in Long Island City where they shared their love story amongst all of their friends and family. The bright red color added the perfect accent of color to this historic and unique venue while keeping it soft and romantic.
The couple was very focused of course on how their friends and family would enjoy the food so they opted for family style dinner with not one, but two cakes for dessert!
The ceremony was by far my favorite part of the night, where every single person cried during their tear-filled vows. The couple enlisted their mutual college friend as their officiant which made their ceremony that much more personal. Their personalities were celebrated everywhere. From the groom's red bow tie to the bride's charms on her bouquet, moments of their lives filled their wedding with so much color and life.
From the Bride
My husband and I in our spare time run a Queens, NYC food blog called QueensEats (@QueensEats on IG) and so we wanted to buy local/use local to honor all the wonderful small businesses and vendors in our borough, which may be reflected in our final budgeting, as we spent more money to support local businesses- just a disclaimer.
We also talked about planning a wedding in Queens and documented the whole journey live on our Instagram page so that locals had another resource to use for planning their own Queens-based weddings.
Wedding Advice
Hire a planner! If you want to enjoy the planning together and then enjoy the wedding, it will be the best money you spend. Brian really wanted to be very involved in wedding planning and I wanted to enjoy the day, but he’s a medical student and I’m a teacher which makes us unavailable all day to answer calls and troubleshoot. Hiring our planner, Ashley, was the best money we spent and now we also have a new friend in her as we got along so well!
Nailed It
I broke my nail right before I started getting ready and was immediately sent by my sister to the nearest salon in an Uber that she called for me. It felt like a blur and was so early in the day, that is felt like and still feels like a blip on the radar of that day. We also ran out of whiskey at some point during the night but luckily never knew because our wonderful planner ordered more via fresh direct and had it delivered! Otherwise, it was smooth sailing after all the nerves faded away from the morning!
Planned Budget: 40,000
Our final budget was around $45,000, which was covered by us, my parents, and Brian’s father.
Number of Guests: 135
- Accessories & Lingerie: Bella Belle Shoes
- Cakes & Catering: Aloria Cakes and Gourmet Sweets
- Dress & Apparel: Pronovias
- Bridal Boutiques: Paisley Bridal
- DJs: 74 Events
- Event Planning & Design: Ashley Espinal
- Favors & Gifts: Silk Cakes
- Flowers: Petals & Roots
- Groom & His Men: Suit Supply
- Hair, Makeup & Beauty: Eden Di Bianco
- Paper Goods & Calligraphy: Designing Moments
- Photographers: Ayenia Nour
- Rentals: Broadway Party Rentals
- Seating Chart & Signage: Amanda Newman Art
- Venues: Metropolitan Building