Long Island City Rooftop Wedding at The Bordone

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Jeremiah + Mabelle

Let me just start by saying I LOVE WEEKDAY WEDDINGS!! And this one did not disappoint.

Weekday gigs have become increasingly normalized over the span of my career and the pandemic put them into full throttle. It used to be that Saturdays were the only real day to have a wedding, then Fridays and Sundays started entering the scene, but with the backlog of postponed events and craziness of trying to shuffle everything, a lot of couples have been flexible and had to be open to alternate days of the week. But I don’t see it as a compromise, in many ways.

A weekday wedding can oftentimes mean that you get the pick of the litter in terms of venue and vendors. I am MUCH more likely to be open on a Monday-Thursday than I am on a weekend. Particularly during peak seasons (think, May-June; September-October) when we tend to book out two years in advance. For Jeremiah and Mabelle, they threw their wedding on a rooftop at The Bordone in LIC on a Monday. They couldn’t have picked a better day, too!

Up on the rooftop of The Bordone in Long Island City, it felt as though they had the whole place to themselves. The NYC was absolutely showing off that day and we had golden hour coming off the buildings right behind them during the entire ceremony! We were able to get family formals and romantics done right after to take advantage of that gorgeous light and backdrop, which was an absolute dream for me! And then they partied the whole rest of the night with their closest friends and fam. A Monday VERY well spent, in my opinion!!

VENDORS

Venue: The Bordone LIC
Photography: Apollo Fields
DJ / Band : Primovelli
Cake / Bakery : Diana Rolón
Decor / Party Rentals : Rentquest & Broadway Party Rentals
Dress : BHLDN
Suit: Handmade barong tagalog from Pineapple Industries, pants from Biasa
Rings : BVLGARI

Gantry Plaza Elopement in Long Island City

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Dan & Alexis

We first met Alexis and Dan when Covid first hit in February. We met at an open, work-friendly cafe on the Upper East Side when hand sanitizer on every countertop was just becoming a thing. We sipped on some lattes and gameplanned their intimate ceremony at Gantry Plaza in Long Island City and the reception to follow at a bier garten in Astoria. As you might expect, the reception will have to wait until 2021 but Alexis and Dan still popped some champagne with a few family and friends on a gorgeous Saturday in November.

A light fall breeze accompanied by the warmth of unimpeded sunshine created a whimsicality to the afternoon. Alexis and Dan picked a shaded spot beneath a tree for a ceremony site and joggers and picnickers congratulated them in passing or at a distance. A slip-up or two in their vows and a maintenance truck added humor and levity to those precious moments; I think a ceremony for them sans silliness or laughter would be out of place. They are both such joyous souls.

Upon the conclusion of the ceremony, Alexis and Dan busted out some park-friendly personal 375ml bottles of Moët with some of the best desserts we’ve ever had. The ‘cake jars’ as they are called were from a local Astoria bakery, Cakes by Nerwan, and they blew us away with their lightness and flavor. Who needs hor d'oeuvres when you can have dessert first? Alexis and Dan 100% knew what they were doing. 

From there we waited for some shifting cloud cover to get some family formals to commemorate the day. With the skyline of Manhattan in the background, this intimate ceremony turned epic pretty quick. I had no idea the view from Long Island City was so beautiful. We then borrowed Alexis and Dan to snap a few shots of just the two of them up and down Gantry Plaza. When it comes to hosting a wedding, Alexis and Dan showed that if you host it, the vibes will come.

It’s wild to think about the places we were in those short pre-Covid 2020 days and even crazier to think about all we’ve endured since then. Sandwiched between the unpredictable events were the couples like Alexis and Dan who planned an epic day to celebrate their marriage. Most rescheduled, others pared down plans, and some cancelled altogether. Heather and I are honestly so grateful that Alexis and Dan and many others chose to host something this year because it delivered us so much joy. People like to poke fun at “smiling with your eyes” when you’re wearing a mask but Heather and I took in all the happiness that we could. 

When I look back on 2020 I will remember how trying it all was, how I experienced anxiety for the first time, and how we managed to work while Heather was pregnant with our first child; but perhaps most importantly, I will remember the moments of levity, the slip-ups doing vows, and all of the maintenance truck moments that kept us smiling with our eyes behind the mask behind the lens.

Enjoy these pics from Alexis & Dan’s Long Island City Wedding:

Long Island City Elopement Photography

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Lauren & Jayram