Andrea is a bride like no other. It won’t take you more than two seconds to see in these photos that she is bubbly and energetic and full of life. It is so common for brides to be swept up by their day but Andrea took it all in and enjoyed every single second of it! Justin is her perfect counterpart, a little more on the serious side but with a sense of humor and zest for life to keep right up with her. These two are truly a match made in heaven.
This couple started planning their wedding from Long Island but knew that their hearts and future wedding location would be in the Catskill Mountains they so loved. The Full Moon Resort was the perfect venue for their Catskills destination wedding – you are able to rent the property and all of the cabins and guest rooms from Friday through Sunday, so all of your friends and family can stay right on property with you and enjoy a relaxing and very special wedding weekend. The staff provides all of your meals and there is a performance space to play live music, fire pits to sit out and enjoy a warm night, and hiking trails galore to get you back in touch with nature. This location was perfect for Andrea and Justin except for one thing. Hurricane Irene. The devastating storm (which hit just three weeks before their big day) caused enormous destruction to the Catskills, and the small country road that Full Moon is located on was completely washed away in multiple areas. In the week leading up to Andrea and Justin’s wedding date we were not even sure we would be able to get there. That is not a situation any bride wants to deal with and nothing that I, her planner, could do anything to fix. Miraculously four days before their wedding day it was announced that the emergency bridges were in place and travel to and from Full Moon was once again possible. Andrea and Justin will probably tell you that in the end this was the best wedding present they received!
Now on to the details of their event, well let’s just say there were a lot of cool ones! From the groomsmen dressed in wool vests to the pink strawberry frosted cake to the use of a beautiful barn for cocktails, this bride and groom put a lot of thought and personality into their wedding details. Their overall theme was to have a Green Wedding but to do it on their terms, so they cut up Catskill Mountain magazines and pasted notes on them to create the pages of their ceremony programs. Their place cards were vintage post cards hung from twine and clothespins, and some of the cards were even of old resort areas in the Catskills. Their reception tables were decorated with brown antique bottles that Andrea spent months collecting, and the guest book they had guests sign was the topographic map of the area of Big Indian, exactly where the wedding was being held (to later be framed and displayed in their home). And the most impressive decorative detail was the hundreds of prayer flags that hung not only in the reception tent but also in the cocktail barn and the pathway to the ceremony space. Andrea and her friends collected vintage fabrics and old sheet sets and hand sewed every flag that was used in the wedding spaces. They even had a tiny version as the topper of their wedding cake. It was breathtakingly beautiful!
Helping to put all of this together was a team of fabulous vendors who came from as far as Connecticut and Albany to make Andrea and Justin’s day magic. My first thank you goes out to the wildly talented and all around super nice guy Jaymie Batoon of J Castro Photography. I had so much fun working with him and his assistant and so did the bride and groom – check out the energy given off by Andrea and Justin in these pics – it’s pretty obvious they were having fun with the guys behind the cameras! Jaymie did a phenomenal job with these photos, so much so that I had to supersize this post to get in all these awesome shots! Also on this wedding was my man DJ Greg Frasier of Frasier Entertainment. I can tell you that Greg definitely did his thing and the dance floor was super packed all night long. The flowers were from my favorite Catskills florist, Jim from Elderberry Florals. I love how he uses wheat sprigs and other unconventional items to make a statement with his designs. His looks are awesome. Thank you also to Hudson Valley Dessert Company for the beautiful pink wedding cake, to Rev Victoria Becker for officiating their wonderfully personal ceremony, and of course to Lindsay Kendrick and the staff at Full Moon for helping me with another magical wedding!
Not only did the guests get to stay on site for three days but so did I! And I was so welcomed by all of Andrea and Justin’s family and friends during my time with them. It was a spectacular weekend and a wedding – and a couple – I will never forget!
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