How I Planned a Wedding in Two Months

As a wedding planner in the Hudson Valley, I’ve had the privilege of orchestrating many beautiful weddings in the area, but none quite like David and Don’s. David and Don came to me two months before their wedding date. When I first met with them, they had only secured the raw venue (a farm in Warwick, NY), a caterer, a DJ, and a tent for their wedding day. That meant we had to work quickly to book all the remaining vendors. The venue is raw, meaning it is literally only the space. The remaining vendors included a photographer, videographer, florist, transportation, catering, tableware rentals, linens, restroom trailer, dumpster, stationary, and late-night food.

With David’s demanding role as a NYC Council Member in Staten Island and Don’s career as a Dental Hygienist in Manhattan, they led such busy lives that they needed a professional to take over the planning process. They entrusted me to make their dream wedding come true, and I was up for the challenge.

We started by having our Initial Wedding Planning Session, which we have with all of our couples when they book so we can get to know each other better, understand the clients’ likes and dislikes, their vision for their wedding, and talk about what vendors still need to be booked.

Once I got an idea of their vision, we got to work on recommending the remaining vendors. David was my main point of contact throughout the process and he truly trusted me and my vision. What I loved about calls was that he would call me about every other day or so and I would answer the phone “Hi David!” and we’d talk about what we needed to book next, what I needed him to make a decision on, and I would provide my recommendations based on any questions he had, and his response was always “Ok!”. That’s how I knew he trusted me. He knew what I knew needed to get done, I understood their design vision, and all he had to do was make the final decision.

Once I secured some of the remaining vendors and adjusted their current order with their tent company, it was on to the fun stuff. Design! I recommended a phenomenal florist, House of Bernal. Jenn is such a talented woman and her design was exactly what Don was looking for.

David and Don really didn’t have time to come up to the Hudson Valley from Staten Island to have a full design meeting at the showroom of the tableware rental company, Columbia Tent, as we would normally do. So I delivered their moodboard with my suggested rental items and linens based on Don’s vision. They loved it! I think we nailed it, right?

hudson valley wedding planner

We chose textured dinnerware with modern stemware but added a bit of vintage texture to the coupe glass to make it pop. We stuck with that vintage them with the flatware as well and opted for silver, vintage pieces. If anyone knows me, they know I love to mix styles.

One of the standout design elements was the floral hoop above the dance floor from the florist. It stole the show, adorned with lush and elegant flowers, including beautiful pops of blue.

Once we have the design nailed down, we moved on to stationary. We wanted to keep that elegant vibe and also tie in more of those peach colors we were playing around with in the linens Don chose. We found a wonderful wedding stationary company called Cain and Co Stationary for the menus, bar signs, table numbers, etc. She provided us with these really elegant yet still rustic (to tie into the farm venue) deckled edge pieces. We loved the idea of a horizontal menu because it felt a little different but still offered a sense of elegance. For the seating chart, we kept with the white theme but still a rustic vibe with the dark wood easel and went with an awesome calligrapher, Sweet Caroline Calligraphy.

So we have the big pieces done. But about three weeks before the wedding day, we decided to add a food truck for late-night snacks for the after-party. And boy did we find a good one! We hired Stuf’d, out of Brooklyn, NY. I’m telling you this was the best food from a food truck I have ever had! We had mac and cheese bites, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, buffalo chicken bites. It was all so so good.

The last pressing item on the list was to hope that Don’s family was able to get their visas approved to come to the States. Don is from Thailand and his family still lives there. The week leading up to the wedding was filled with anticipation and uncertainty. But, thankfully, his mom and sister’s visas were approved, allowing them to join in the celebration and making it an even more joyous and emotional occasion. His sister made the most heartfelt, warm speech I think I may have ever heard. The entire room was silent and applauded her strength and kind words at the end of her toast. One for the books, for sure.

So that’s basically how I planned a wedding in two months in the Hudson Valley! Oh, the day was spectacular. The ceremony took place at a church on a Saturday morning. The couple and guests shuttled themselves up from Staten Island to the hotels and our transportation shuttles took them to the venue where we had an extended cocktail hour and into the reception where the guests danced all night long!

The 20×20 dance floor was seriously packed. The food, expertly cooked by Grounded, was a highlight of the evening. Guests savored filet mignon, lamb, and crab and shrimp-stuffed sole. Delicious. We had breathtaking sunset views of the Hudson Valley serving as the backdrop and took some really wonderful golden hour photos. Ending the night with that delicious food truck was such a fun way to round out the evening!

David and Don’s wedding was a testament to love, dedication, and the power of collaboration. Despite the tight timeline, we pulled off a flawless and memorable event. It was a joy to be part of their planning process, and I couldn’t be happier for this incredible couple.

Thank you, David and Don, for trusting me with your special day! David, you know you can call me anytime and I’ll always answer “Hi David!”. That’s our thing now.

Emily