Brooklyn Wedding at Wythe Hotel – Claire + Anthony

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Small wedding at the Wythe Hotel

“We were supposed to get married in the South of France, near Cannes, on July 4, 2020. And then there was COVID and all its consequences.

It was very complicated, even impossible, for us to return to France between 2020 and 2022, because at the time, we were both hospital doctors and we were taking care of seriously ill COVID 19 patients.  We tried to come back between the waves, but it was not possible, nor reasonable as doctors, to leave New York with all this crisis and all these patients who needed us.

The financial consequences and losses due to the cancellation of our wedding in the South of France, did not allow us to return and have a Destination Wedding as originally planned.

So we decided to celebrate our wedding in petit committee, at our place, at New York and more precisely in Brooklyn. We changed the format of our wedding, for one day instead of three days initially planned in France.

Le Wythe Hotel is an iconic address of Brooklyn. We are very often on the rooftop, for a drink and we love the French restaurant. the crocodile who is in the hotel.

So we were at home and we also had a bit of France.” 

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Wedding Planning in Brooklyn

"The second version of the wedding, the one in New York,  has been organized about 4 months in advance. We didn't have much visibility between the successive waves of COVID, the openings and closings of places, the health restrictions...

During all these crises and all these worries, we have developed strong bonds with Geraldine Benech, Founder and Artistic Director of the agency The Great Moments. And even though she is based in France, in Paris, we wanted her to be our wedding planner.

We asked her if she was up for the challenge, and she said YES!

With Géraldine, we all three looked for places in New York. I think that now, Géraldine has a nice database ;) Then finally we chose the Wythe Hotel. 

Then Géraldine managed the sourcing of the service providers. She found us the photographer, the florist, the service providers for the tableware, the live band, and the stationery was created and made by her French service provider. CMO Studio and we are very happy about it.

On our side, we also participated a lot in the planning. We discovered the behind the scenes of the wedding, and it's a real job!

We have trained a real Franco-American team and it was great. 

Then we had more difficulties:

Géraldine and her assistant were supposed to come for 1 week to meet all the selected service providers and finalize the details on site as well as the design. Everything was well planned, we had taken her plane tickets, booked her hotel, the schedule of all the technical visits was ready. But the borders remained closed.

First very big difficulty and disappointment too. We managed. We did the visits and meetings by WhatsApp video, Zoom… It was very difficult but we managed to overcome this first difficulty.

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

In the meantime, Géraldine is taking steps to obtain a new special entry permit to New York, we help her administratively, we support her request, fill out the file and at the same time we continue planning the wedding while remaining confident.

Géraldine had told us that at some point we would have to make a difficult decision if the authorization did not arrive. She had to anticipate and delegate the on-site coordination to a local planner.

But we kept putting it off, we couldn't, we wouldn't, believe it. Not after everything we've been through together.

And then at the beginning of August, Géraldine had no choice, she had to make this decision. She told us that we had pushed back the deadline as much as possible and that now we had to book a planner for on-site coordination. All the while knowing that up until the day before the big day, she and her assistant Maeva could take a flight and arrive on time.

So Géraldine found us a local coordinator. Until the last moment we all hoped that the borders would reopen in time. But no. It was terrible, for us and for her. Heartbreaking.

The local planner coordinated the day of and Géraldine was there by phone and video from 6:00 am Paris time to 2:00 am Paris time (until the dinner starter was served for us). Géraldine was in contact with my mom, Monica. They both get along really well and are quite close.

There were of course some minor setbacks on the big day, but honestly, Anthony and I had a wonderful wedding. Beautiful, happy, full of love, it was a wonderful day and evening.

We really lived a Great Moment"

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Wedding decoration at the Wythe Hotel

I am passionate about flowers. And floral decoration was very important to me. Anthuriums are my favorite flowers and I also really like orchids.

I am rather modern In my approach, I share with Géraldine this passion for the Australian floral style. I chose a color palette composed of white, peach blush.

For ceremony, the purity of a arch a gypsophila.

For the art of the table, I loved it the table that Géraldine had created at Mas de Chabran in Provence. So she recreated it for me. I wanted a touch of black but I was still a little afraid. Géraldine reassured me, I listened to her and I am very happy about it. We chose to bring the touch of black with the cutlery and in the typography of the menus. Lots of candles and clouds of gypsophila hanging in the ballroom of the diner.

We also made some personalized chocolate bars.

What a challenge, we absolutely wanted a chocolate with gold paper. Impossible to find in France, whereas in New York, it is easy to find. So, with Anthony, we bought more than 100 chocolate bars downstairs from the house, in Brooklyn. And Géraldine and CMO Studio took care of the packaging.

Then, with my mother, we wrapped the tablets in NY. Another great example of this Franco-American teamwork. 

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Brooklyn Wedding at the Wythe Hotel © Kate Edwards Weddings

Their best choice in wedding planning

“Our wedding planner. We became real friends.” 

Advice from the newlyweds

"Love is never cancelled"