1. Real Weddings

A Garden Wedding in Katonah, NY

Part of the same psychology graduate class, Jen and Marco started seeing each other when a group of classmates began a series of pick-up soccer games.

Part of the same psychology graduate class, Jen and Marco started seeing each other when a group of classmates began a series of pick-up soccer games. After four years of dating, Marco had planned to propose to Jen outside her house (where they had shared their first kiss), and then whisk her away in a limo ride for a romantic getaway in Manhattan. The Bride Jen Rosenblatt, 31, a post-doctoral fellow in child psychology The Groom Marco DiBonaventura, 29, a researcher for a healthcare research and consulting firm The Date June 6 Marco made an excuse to get Jen out of the house (so he could pop the question on the way back in), but when they returned, the limo was already there, 30 minutes early. Marco had to rush through the proposal on top of the limo driver obliviously, and loudly, chatting on his phone outside the car. Still, Jen says, “We were engaged, so to me, it was perfect.”

Garden urns provided a rustic vessel to hold the organic arrangements of roses and jasmine vines.
A quartet comprised of a cello, violin, flute, and guitar played traditional ceremony music such as Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.”
Raspberry lemonade was served to the guests as they arrived at the ceremony.
Jen’s mother once made cakes professionally and adorned the four tiers with almost 500 cascading ivory sugar flowers.
Jen’s maids got to pick their dress styles. The only rule: the dresses had to be in a crisp champagne color, which blended nicely with the bride’s ivory silk duchesse satin gown.
Jen’s cousin carried the rings down the aisle in a makeshift birds nest complete with a bed of moss, for an added touch of nature.
The two-bird motif was carried through from the invitations to the escort cards. Jen’s dad built a box out of old rough-hewn wood, her florist filled it with moss, her mom ordered twigs, and her aunt glued each card to a twig. The entire display looked like something plucked from a garden.
“I was a little obsessive,” admits Jen, who made a spreadsheet with every outdoor wedding venue in Westchester. Once she saw the Caramoor’s picturesque landscape, she and Marco knew it was the perfect spot.
A natural, garden-inspired bouquet of roses, sweet pea, jasmine vines, geraniums, viburnum, and Israeli ruscus was a beautiful complement to the outdoor wedding.