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When I visualize a Manhattan wedding, there are only a few small variations that come to  mind.  My default dream Manhattan wedding is sleek, modern, upscale, elegant, classic with a bit of art deco nod.  Ashley Rupeka & Patrick Mokros’s wedding is a beautiful package of exactly that.  Even more special is that fact that Ashley & Patrick are two very good friends of mine, and yes I had to good fortune to attend this gorgeous affair.  Small bit of back story first… I have known Patrick {& his lovely sister Molly} since 2001, watching the both of them blossom into this life.  It goes without saying, having known someone for such a period of time, I have seen Patrick in & out of a few relationships over this time period, none that I was particularly a fan of.  I note this only because of a fun fact {dont worry not trying to get Patrick in any hot water!} In 2009 a mutual good friend of ours got married.  As his guest for this wedding, Patrick brought along and I quote ‘A good friend from home’  I can’t exactly explain why, but I thought to myself, yeah ah ha…..   As I came to find out, Ashley & Patrick were actually high school sweethearts & as I watched them interact that night, I knew something was very different.  I liked Ashley right off the bat and really liked the way that Patrick just seemed to ‘hum’ around her.  He didn’t know it yet, but I did.  I actually told him so that night.  “You’re going to marry this girl some day” I told him.  He smiled at me in his cheshire way, explaining to me that it was strictly platonic & that he just needed a date for the wedding.   Riiiiiiight 🙂

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It feels weird for me to write out the ‘What Storyboard Likes’ portion of this feature {as I normally do for my wedding features} for my good friends.  Instead, I want to share with you an awesome moment that I can only enhance with  my personal account of what happened.  Allow me to explain one small thing to start off with, Patrick, is a mischievous lil bastard, love him, but if he is given the chance to, oh I don’t know…. get frosting on Ashley’s face, yeah, he’s that guy!  So here’s how it went down.  I honestly do not know if they before hand discussed the whole don’t you dare ruin my makeup by pushing my face in the cake thing, what I do know is that it all started off innocently enough.  Whether being a good boy got the better of Patrick, I am not sure, but next thing you know, there’s a giant dollop of frosting on Ashley’s nose.  Ashley { who by the way, is a good nature gal that can & will give it right back to Patrick, another reason I adore her and that she is so very perfect for him} took it all in stride only to have Patrick one up himself immediately, ah… going and getting the frosting if you will, hehe.  See my lil gif below 🙂

Believe it or not, this isn’t the end of the story!  Shortly after Ashley recovered from getting frosted, then slimed if you will, Patrick was laughing off to the side, discussing a bit with those around him.  I’ve got to be honest, I myself didn’t see what happened next coming & I think the photographer was equally caught off guard, figuring it was all over.  Well, Ashley got herself a nice piece of cake & introduced it to Patrick’s face &  let’s just say, the crowd went wild!!  It was such an amazing moment for a few reasons.  One, they really did start off all well behaved.  As guests, we pretty much accepted that it was going to be a no frills cake moment.  Much like any great horror film, the moment you settle in, relax, the sh*t hits the fan truly taking you by surprise.  It was such a fun moment, one made even better by how wonderfully each took it.  There was nothing but love & fun in that moment, much the way I imagine Ashley & Patrick see themselves together.

 

Novella of the Bride…

We are High school sweethearts that reconnected after 11 Years.  Our friend Jessie was the first to call that we were going to get married a few years ago at Andy’s {a mutual friend} wedding.  Now she is doing a write up on our wedding!  I think this was her scheme all along!  {*SBW Note: For the record, I did NOT make Ashley write this!  When I got their questionnaire back & saw this in the tell us about yourself section, I about spit out my water in laughter.  Trust me I got skills, but that would be some next level stuff!}

We really wanted our wedding day to be as intimate as possible.  With our wedding being a trip for most of our guests, we wanted everyone to experience NYC in a different way, not as tourists.  I have always said that if I could be alive at any different time, it would be in the 1920’s!  We didn’t want our wedding to look ‘themed’ & really didn’t want it to be a typical wedding, wedding. I think we really wanted our guests to feel like they were coming to a more elaborate dinner party, and we really wanted everyone to be as comfortable as possible!  We tried to have little antique/1920’s touches here in there, with the classic champagne glasses, longer dinner tables instead of round tables, and more candles than usual to make the mood romantic and cozy.  We really wanted it to be a different wedding experience that anyone has ever had.  The Harold Pratt House made us feel like it was an adventure, CLUE if you will, and transported us back in time to a page right out of an F. Scott Fitzgerald book.  We loved that we were able to use every room in the mansion, and the fact that it is absolutely beautiful didn’t hurt either. 😉

We hired Beth Harris, event coordinator, from The Harold Pratt House to coordinate and to take charge on our wedding day…we didn’t hire a wedding planner.  I don’t think our day would have been as perfect if she was not there.  She was seriously like Jesus reincarnated in a petite blonde…that girl parted the ocean that night…wait was that Jesus or Moses?

Bride’s Favorite Moment: “I don’t know if I have a favorite moment per se, for the entire 6 hours melted into one giant memory that went by far too quickly.  But, just having our closest friends and family in the same room with us, witnessing our vows, eating dinner together, and dancing the night away…is something that I will never forget and I will treasure for the rest of my life.”

Groom’s Favorite Moment: “There’s really no way that I could single out one thing that made the day.  Everything just came together so well.  We had all of the right people in the right place, eating the right things, dancing to the right music that was being performed by the right band.  Most importantly, I had the right girl in the right dress walking down the aisle to a very lucky me.”

A Final Note from Ashley: “Our wedding photographer, Laura Miller, is now known as ‘That ninja photographer’ to all of our guests.  I don’t know how she did it, but she happened to catch every moment…perfectly.  We think she multiplied herself before coming that night, to be able to be in at least 4 different places at once.  We have photos that tell a beautiful story…   I also want to say that Patrick is by far the most incredible man, he gave me {along with our respective parents} a wedding that I don’t think I could have ever dreamed of having.  I wouldn’t have changed a thing, because it was an absolutely perfect day…and he makes all of my days perfect.  I am one fucking lucky girl.

 

Vendor Love

Venue: The Harold Pratt House  | Wedding Dress: Reem Acra | Bridal Boutique: Gabriella Bridal | Bridesmaid Dress: Club Monaco | Shoes: Yves Saint Laurent  | Hair Stylist: Rita Hazan Salon  | Makeup Artist: Nam Vo | Groom’s Suit: Yves Saint Laurent  | Music: Naked Soul Band from Perrone Brothers  | Lighting: Glen Goldman Productions, inc | Rentals: Party Rental Ltd | Florist: Laura Remmert Events | Caterer: Benchmarc Events  | Baker: Momofuku Milk Bar | Photographer: Weddings by Two