New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. New York is the 27th most extensive, the third most populous, and the seventh most densely populated of the 50 United States. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to  the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian Provinces of Ontario to the west and north, and Quebec to the north. The state of New York is often referred to as New York State, so as to distinguish it from New York City (New York).

New York is nicknamed The Empire State officially and New York City got it's nick name The Big Apple from John J. FitzGerald in the 1920's. For New York, I will do two weddings. The first wedding will revolve around the beautiful buildings and scenery in New York and the second one will revolve around New York City and apples. 

New York Wedding #1 - The City (White) Wedding

In New York there are a lot of beautiful landmark building that are huge tourist attractions. The buildings are beautiful at night all light up and added to the scenery of New York. They are defining features in the state and are the highlight of this wedding.

New York City Skyline at Dusk

Flowers:
New York's state flower is the rose, and what a perfect choice for the flowers of a wedding. With the theme for this wedding ultimately being the lights of the city, the obvious choice for rose colour would be white.

Wedding Bouquet

The Dress:
With this wedding highlighting the city and the buildings in it, the perfect dress would be one that shimmers and one with layers to represent the different floors of the skyscraper. Of course the wedding dress doesn't have to match the theme at all. A wedding dress has nothing to do with colour schemes or wedding themes it is about the bride feeling amazing and beautiful.

Tiered Princess Strapless Chapel Train Organza Satin Wedding Dress

The Shoes:

With a long dress the shoes barely get noticed. With this dress it barely touches the ground so with heels on the dress may not touch the ground at all and the shoes may be a little noticeable. Even if they aren't noticeable amazing shoes can help make the bride's day and she should love them. Matching the shimmer of the dress, the Damaris Shoes have beautiful diamond like designs on the front that would catch the light and shine. 

Make up, Hair, Nails and Accessories:

In the picture above of the wedding dress, the model has her hair up. Her shoulders and chest are left bare and without so much as a necklace even it is very noticeable. To above this, and still have and up do hairstyle the best thing to do is to wear a necklace. Hair style is always a personal choice, but with a strapless dress having the hair down or both up and down is a a good choice. When it comes to make up, white is usually associated with clowns and that's not what the bride wants to be remembered for. Natural make up is always the best, what the bride does normally is perfect and possibly a little added shine. For fingernails and toenails the best option is french tips.

The Bridal Party:
Even though the wedding colour is white, white should only be worn by the bride. An option for the bridal party would be black dresses with white in them. Black and white go well together and won't clash with the colour of the wedding. An Alexia Design Style 2610 would be a good choice, it is a chiffon A-line, spaghetti strap style dress and has a strip of white with detailing on the top. Another great choice would be Alexia Design Style 2100, it is a satin A-line spaghetti strap dress with a sweetheart neckline. It has a white section running from hip to floor and it has white designs around it.

The Invitations:
Perfect invitations for this wedding would be the Classic New York collection from MagnetStreet. It is a black and white type invitation highlighting the city and all it has to offer. The Classic New York invitation set also includes Enclosure Cards, and RSVP Cards.

Photographer and Videographer:
An amazing wedding photographer would be Ryan Brenizer. His portfolio speaks for itself and though his price is high he knows what he is doing and guarantees amazing pictures. Depending on the couple, if they are from New York they may know of other photographers and may want to go with them.

Sample of Ryan Brenizer's work

The Ceremony:
In New York, the couple does not have to be a resident of the state and they do not need to take blood tests to get their marriage certificate. This makes getting married their much easier and the process much simpler. City hall may not be an extravagant place to have a ceremony but it is a beautiful building and it fits the theme very well.

New York City Hall

The Rings:
This wedding is based on the lights of the city and the way they shine, perfect rings are diamond rings for this theme. The diamonds catch the light and twinkle. Of course wedding rings don't have to match the theme but it is always nice when they do.

Diamond Wedding Rings

The Reception:
The perfect place for a New York wedding that is centered around the city lights is Tribeca Rooftop. The view is amazing and the place is just as spectacular.

(Left: the inside part of the roof, Right: the roof top, Below: the view)

To go with the beautiful scenery a nice Glass Card Box would be perfect for the reception. It is see through and very much matches the theme of the wedding. Other options would be anything white, a simple box with a whole cut in the top wrapped in white paper or wall paper even would be beautiful. The perfect Guest Book for this wedding would be anything white but for a spectacular city, the wedding needs something spectacular like the Wedding Wishes Card and Envelope Guest Book.

Food:
The best way to start a New York wedding meal is with a Coney Island Clam Chowder (also known as Manhattan Clam Chowder). For the next course a great choice is New York Style Chicken Wings and/or Buffalo Style Chicken Wings. And the main course has to be Pizza!

Cake:
The cake for this wedding is a no brain-er it has to be New York Style Cheese Cake. The best part about cheese cake is that it is great by itself or it can be paired with any number of things and still work great. A perfect knife set for this wedding and cake would be WeddingMountain's Crystal Wedding Cake Serving Set and the perfect topper to match would have to be the Written in the Stars Bride and Groom Figure.

Cheesecake Wedding Cake

Centerpieces:
The best centerpieces for this wedding has to be Statues and Models of the city's most famous buildings. There could easily be a different one for each table and it is the theme of this wedding.
There is a whole site dedicated to such things called City Souvenirs and they even have a New York Collage type model with a few of the well know buildings and the Statue of Liberty. 

Thank You Cards:
Thank you cards don't always have to match, some couples choose to send photos of their wedding with a thank you note on the back or just a plain simple card. Anything is fine really, it's the gesture that counts. With an invitation set usually the Thank You Card will match the invitations like in this New York one.

Classic New York

Places to See:
There are a lot of beautiful places and things to see in New York. The most common tourist attractions would be the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Empire State Building, and Time Square. Other great things to see are the Brooklyn Bridge, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grand Central Terminal, Madison Square Garden, Bronx Zoo, and the New York Harbor. There are many museums including Whitney Museum of American Art, for music lovers Metropolitan Opera House, also Radio City Music Hall and for sports fans Yankee Stadium.

Flatiron Building

New York Wedding #2 - The Big Apple (Red and Black) Wedding

New York City, The Big Apple, is the heart of New York state. Though it may be a little cheesy a perfect theme for this second New York wedding has to be Apples.

Big Apple

Flowers:
The perfect flowers are right red roses, but any bright red flower will do. Another option would be to go with a green theme since apples can be green also or yellow. Making all three colours the colour theme for an apple wedding would be fine also too.

Red Roses

The Dress:
As with any wedding, the dress doesn't have to match the theme or colour scheme, white goes with everything and any dress is perfectly fine. The wedding dress is something special just for the bride to make her day just that much more magical, so whatever dress speaks to her should be the one she chooses. For this wedding a nice dress that would match the theme would be anything with red accents in it.

Vintage Sweetheart Wedding Dress

The Shoes:
With a long dress, shoes don't play a big part in the bride's look. Every bride has their preference in shoes, if the bride is comfortable in flip-flops and doesn't think anyone will see them or doesn't care if they do than flip-flops would be perfectly fine. For the bride that likes sandals but wants a heel a Red Santino Wedge shoe would be a nice option.

The Bridal Party:
If the couple chooses to have a wedding party, big or small a great option would be the Alfred Angelo Bridal Style 7166 for Bridesmaids. It is a beautiful dress and it matches the shades of red in this wedding. For the groom and his groom's men a regular tuxedo is fine with a nice Red and Black tie.

The Invitations:
Candy Apple Red and Black go well together, that is why they are the colour scheme for this wedding, any invitation that uses them together would be perfectly fine. The invitations below are great examples of how they can accompany each other without over powering each other. 

 (Red and Black Wedding Invitation)

Photographer and Videographer:
An amazing wedding photographer would be Ryan Brenizer. His portfolio speaks for itself and though his price is high he knows what he is doing and guarantees amazing pictures. Depending on the couple, if they are from New York they may know of other photographers and may want to go with them.

Sample of Ryan Brenizer's work

The Rings:
Rubies are a beautiful bright red and would match the theme perfectly in this wedding. But of course wedding rings don't have to match any thing. Rings are about the perfect fit, the perfect match and falling in love.

Miadora Sterling Silver Created Ruby

The Food:
A great finger food to start off the reception with would be Caramel Apple Shots (made by simply cutting an apple in half, coring it and pouring caramel into the hole, than cut into apple slices) and Apple Pie Bites (recipe below).

Apple Pie Bites

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pkg (14.1 oz) refrigerated pie pastry (or make your own)
3 Tbsp butter, melted, divided
2-3 medium tart apples, peeled and cut into medium sized wedges (about 10 wedges per apple)

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Set aside 1 Tbsp. On a lightly floured surface, unroll the pastry. Brush with 2 Tbsp of melted butter, and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture.

Cut the pastry into thin strips. Wrap each strip around one apple wedge, placing the sugared side of the pastry against the apple. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush the tops with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with the reserved cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake at 425 for 13-15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Serve warm.

To start the meal a nice Apple Walnut Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette. It is a quick and easy salad to make and it highlights apples well. A nice follow up to the salad would be Pork Chops with Apple Sauce on the side. For dessert the traditional apple pie would be a good choice and to make it even better using a Cinnamon Bun Crust would be amazing, or if the couples wants to get creative Apple Nachos is a good choice also.

The Cake:
A smart idea for this wedding would be a cupcake tower cake with Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes, and Apple Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting.

Great ideas for a cake topper instead of having the traditional bride and groom couple would be Chocolate Apple Bride and Groom. They are made in California so shipping may be costly but shipping to anywhere in the USA should be doable by the company. Asking them to make the apple match the bride's dress is always a good idea and is usually an option.

The Guest Favours:
The perfect guest favour for this wedding would hands down be Caramel Apples. The couple can choose to try and make them themselves or they can buy them from certain online websites. Also a great option if the couple chooses to buy the apples their is also Chocolate Covered Apples.

The Centerpieces:
A beautiful idea that is not often done is using fruit as the centerpieces. Getting any hurricane from the dollar store and simply adding red apples to it would be a nice centerpiece. Many fruits make great centerpieces like apples, oranges, lemons, limes, and even cherries.

Replacing Flowers

Thank You Cards:
Thank you cards don't always have to match, some couples choose to send photos of their wedding with a thank you note on the back or just a plain simple card. Anything is fine really, it's the gesture that counts.

Black and Red Thank You Card

Places to See:
There are a lot of beautiful places and things to see in New York. The most common tourist attractions would be the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Empire State Building, and Time Square. Other great things to see are the Brooklyn Bridge, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grand Central Terminal, Madison Square Garden, Bronx Zoo, and the New York Harbor. There are many museums including Whitney Museum of American Art, for music lovers Metropolitan Opera House, also Radio City Music Hall and for sports fans Yankee Stadium.