I’m equally as excited to share part II of Tzo Ai and Ken’s lovely Wave Hill wedding with you. The bride has described the day so beautifully, there really isn’t much else for me to write. Take it away Tzo Ai!
“Wave Hill was the first venue that we looked at and we fell in love at first sight. In real life it looks even more beautiful than the pictures of it. We wanted a place that was not too far away from Manhattan, so that our guests from overseas would not have to travel too far. It is a 28-acre garden overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades Cliffs. Wave Hill House was built in 1843 and residents included Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain and Arturo Toscanini. In 1960, the Perkins and Freeman families gave the Wave Hill estate to the City of New York. We saw the Pergola on the Great Lawn, framing the view of the Hudson and the 500-foot high Palisades, and knew that it was where we wanted to say our vows. The gardens there are spectacular, especially in June, when we were getting married.”
“Before the guests arrived we had a Chinese tea ceremony with our close family members. Ken and I served tea to our parents to express our gratitude. Our parents gave us red envelopes which symbolize good luck.
We kept the decor at the ceremony minimal as we thought the spectacular view of the Hudson River and Palisades Cliffs spoke for themselves. We wanted to focus on the natural beauty of the surrounding gardens. We draped yellow and ivory pashminas over the chairs and provided ivory paper parasols to shade guests from the sun. Our guests enjoyed a (yellow) passion fruit lemonade pre-ceremony, which was then infused with vodka, triple sec and Rose’s Lime as a martini for the cocktail hour. It took everything in me to not cry while I was walking down the aisle. I was so overwhelmed with emotion and happiness to marry Ken and to be surrounded by all our loved ones.”
“The reception took place in Armor Hall which has a vaulted beam ceiling, flagstone flooring and cathedral windows. The long tables worked well with the rectangular room and was more of a contemporary set up. We used grey for the table linens and brought in the yellow accent with the florals, seating cards and menus. Each place setting had a yellow rose made from satin ribbon which I found on etsy.
We wanted the room to feel warm and inviting. Each of the nine cathedral windowsills had five pillar candles on them. The tables had tall ivory candlesticks which helped to show off the tall ceilings and flickered in such a romantic way all night long. We had two different types of votives to illuminate the florals. I wanted flowers with different textures, so we used roses, freesia, tulips and dahlias. Angelica from Magnolia gave them an elegant look with cleaned stems flared out in the glass containers. We had flowers in round glass cylinders, rectangular containers and silver bud vases, so there were different elements of interest to each table. We also had lemons arranged in silver bowls to provide a fresh yellow accent. Amber uplighting between the cathedral windows helped the room to glow when the sun went down. The tables were named with our favourite Manhattan restaurants. We had each of the escort cards say “You have a reservation at xxx” inside.“
“The wedding cake was an underwater scene of the ocean. We love to scuba dive. Our honeymoon was spent on a boat, scuba diving around Komodo. It showed different types of fish, coral and shellfish. The top of the cake was the surface of the ocean, with a red diving flag on a buoy, and two pairs of diving fins sticking out like we had just dived into the water. Blue fins for Ken and yellow fins for me. It brought a lot of laughter from the guests.
A late night hot dog cart was a popular spot as guests refueled after dancing the night away. The wedding favours which were presented to guests at the end of the night were cupcakes from our local Billys Bakery. Something sweet for the trip home. Ken really enjoyed our tasting of multiple cupcake bakeries in NYC to choose the best one to make our favours!
It was such a wonderful day for the both of us and we would not have changed a thing about it. All our vendors did an amazing job. Annie Lee from Daughter of Design made sure everything went smoothly that day and I did not worry about a thing. I cannot stop looking at the stunning pictures that Susan Stripling took. It was the perfect celebration to start our life together. I am so happy to be married to Ken and can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him.“
Details:
Gown Angel: Sanchez purchased at Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier
Make up: Nam Vo
Hair: Liam Carey
Jewelery: Leon Mege
Groom’s suit: Hugo Boss
Venue: Wave Hill
Photography: Susan Stripling
Cinematography: Pennylane Productions
Event Coordinator: Daughter of Design
Flowers: Magnolia Flowers and Events
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