Photography: Valerie Kasinski Photography | Venue: Hayloft in the Grove | Flowers & Planning: Costamagna Design | Hair & Makeup: Salon Elizabeth | Caterer: Private Knives Catering | Calligraphy: Shalini Saycocie | Officiant: Yellowbird Weddings | Wedding Dress: Victoria’s Bridal Shoppe
“Patrick and I first met our senior year of college at Rochester Institute of Technology. He was a film student and I was in the design program taking film classes as electives. He was on the film crew of a mutual friend’s student film that I was acting in. We hit it off but it wasn’t until later in the year when Patrick asked me to be his partner in a partner-based film Sound Design class, that we became serious. He asked me to be his partner in front of the whole class! In that moment, it was as if time had stopped. We have been partners ever since, and 7 years, 4 apartments, 2 cats and a few tattoos later, he asked for my hand in marriage on a serene & snowy night on a tree-lined street in Brooklyn, where we live. The proposal was simple and perfectly sweet. Patrick and I share a love for film, music, the outdoors, gardening and great food. So, of course, we wanted our wedding day to be filled with our favorite things. East Aurora was a lovely setting to do this. The town has such a unique charm to it. My bridal party was able to stay in a gorgeous apartment a block away from downtown Buffalo, and it created a great backdrop for getting ready for the big day. I surprised Patrick by having our first look in front of the movie theater marquee in East Aurora. We were able to take photos inside the theater and also across the street at Vidler’s 5 & 10 Store, which were some of our favorites from the day!”
“Our ceremony was my absolute favorite part of the day. We wrote our own vows and had each other in tears by the end of it. The love & happiness we felt was like no other. I also love how our invites turned out. I designed the invite and my good friend did the calligraphy. I was able to find vintage stamps of Buffalo, Alabama (where I spent part of my childhood) and my husband’s home state of Indiana to stamp the envelopes. Our food menu also had a fun nod to our hometowns. From Buffalo-spiced popcorn to Southern ham & biscuits to Indiana pork loin to & “Brooklyn Kale.” Tt was fun integrating all of our hometown roots into our menu. My aunt, who taught me how to bake, baked our wedding cake and cookies. This is especially sentimental to us now as she unexpectedly passed away this past summer. I also love how beautiful our flowers and decorations were. Our wedding planner painted flowers onto big rolls of paper and hung them along the walls of the Hayloft- the paintings mixed with flowers were gorgeous. For a nod to our favorite band, The Grateful Dead, we had calligraphic Grateful Dead lyrics painted onto watercolor throughout the space.
“Our wedding day was one of the happiest days of our lives. Having all of our favorite people gathered together to celebrate our love for one another was an incredible feeling- there was just so much love everywhere! We are forever grateful for their love and support and for all of our vendors that helped create our favorite day ever.”
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