Real Wedding: Caroline & Michael

Have I already told you how one of my favorite parts of this job is getting to share wonderfully talented photographers with you? Well it really is, and today I get to share a new favorite - Bonnie Tsang! Her work is just lovely, and then on top of it, this is a beautiful wedding, at once classically timeless and modernly chic.

Caroline and Michael live in New York's East Village, and decided that they wanted a venue in their neighborhood. They narrowed it down to three hotels in the area, and even though it was only partially completed when they went to visit, they knew that the The Cooper Square Hotel was perfect for them as soon as they saw the view of the city from the top of the building. Their wedding was actually the first wedding to take place in the hotel! As Caroline says, "There's just something about the view from he top of the Cooper... we've seen a lot of different rooftops in NYC, but this one has the best view. We had a lot of people traveling from out of town, including Dubai, London, New Zealand, and all over the US, so we thought it would be perfect for them to have this view of our fair city. I think it is fair to say our inspiration was the Big Apple - our home."


Gown by Christos, purchased at Kleinfeld.


Shoes from Nine West.


Flowers by Elizabeth Ryan Floral Design. Caroline says, "It was important for us to keep everything in the East Village neighborhood. We wanted to support the local mom and pop type vendors."




Porcelain ring bowl by Paloma's Nest. Groom's custom suit from Michael Andrews Bespoke.


Caroline shares this story about the bridesmaid dresses: Originally I was only have on bridesmaid, and I told her she could wear whatever she wanted. She works as a fashion stylist at British Vogue and borrowed an incredible dress by Alexander McQueen. However, only three or four days prior to the wedding, I asked another best friend to also be my bridesmaid. So, the day before the wedding we had to go shopping to find them matching dresses. Luckily the dresses we found at J.Crew were perfect!








Some guests admire Caroline's something blue: At the end of the rehearsal dinner, my wonderful husband-to-be gave me a present. When we were at our jeweler a month or so ago, picking out our wedding rings, I was eying the most beautiful ring - a big sapphire with diamonds surrounding it. I told him that when we had our first child, he had to get me a ring like that - but then at the dinner, he gave me the ring. I was completely blown away!






Guests enjoyed a cocktail reception with hors d'oeuvres catered by The Cooper Square Hotel, including shrimp cocktail with gazpacho, steak tartar with quail egg, truffled macaroni and cheese, sliders, gougeres, and cheese platters. Dessert was cupcakes from Butter Lane, the couple's favorite New York cupcakes.


Goody bags were filled with things from Wisconsin (where the groom grew up), Australia (where the bride is from), and New York (their home together).




One of Caroline's favorite parts of the evening came after the reception ended: At the end of the night when we retired to our room, we were so exhausted and hungry, as we hadn't eaten all night, so we ordered a pizza from our favorite place, and sat on our hotel room floor and ate pizza and drank Champagne!

Congratulations Caroline and Michael - here's to a lifetime of happiness! And a big thank you to the talented Bonnie Tsang - I know we'll be seeing lots more from you. You can check out more of Bonnie's work on her blog.