Cultural Display - Egypt meets the Dominican Republic at The Tobacco Warehouse

We had a totally glorious wedding not to long ago at the fabulous Tobacco Warehouse. I love when we have the opportunity to really feel a part of the wedding and with unique venues I seem to feel this so much more. Let me take this opportunity to say something about a-typical venues (i.e. non-catering facilities.) They truly allow for a very customized kind of flow. Catering facilities have their plus points as they take care of many specific details that truly can be worthwhile for many. But they have a pretty standard time line that is dictated by their serving patterns. With independent catering and a varied serving style, the vibe of the whole event can be customized to really center on what the bride and groom want to focus on. And this is a great example of it.

They started with a unique procession...

The Egyptian wedding procession is called Zeffa/Zaffa. During this the bride and groom are brought to the wedding party in the evening, led by a music band. For this procession a particular, rather slowly played rhythm is used: Dum tata tak tak dum tak tak. The drums playing this rhythm will tell you from far away, where a wedding is taking place. So from the entrance of the park to the tobacco warehouse the drummers drew the attention of guests and park goers alike. Upon arriving at the tobacco warehouse Rob mixed traditional music with the player and guests gathered to dance a welcome.

From there the party had a natural flow with cocktail hour continuing and photos taken throughout.

Guest were invited into the main tent. Dinner was served continuously family style throughout the night, a combination of cold platters and hot platters of delicious ethnic variety. Catering was provided by the amazing Roquette Catering headed by Monica who also owns Tini Wine Bar in Brooklyn and I cannot say enough of not only her wonderful food and staff! Dinner included watermelon, feta and olive salad, babab ganoush, mahummarrah, stuffed grape leaves, grilled lamb chops, chicken skewers, skirt steak bruschettta and more. Totally lip smacking delicious!

And Rob DJ'd a perfect balance of Arabic and Spanish music along with everything from 80's to funk to club. I will say that the vibe of the guests was so celebratory, the dance floor was continuous flow of activity.

And let me not fail to mention the amazing details thought up by Randy & Sherien. Everything was thought out so wonderfully. From the table cards, to the color scheme to , the belly dancer, the flamenco dance troupe and the Dominican Wedding Cake I will admit to having had 4 pieces of.

Perfection!

And now that I've shared my meager photos, let me share with you the link to the AMAZING professional photos taken by Angelica Glass. Note Rob and me in the last shot of the post. Randy & Sherien on Angelica Glass' Blog.

Exquisitely Unique: Restaurant Wedding Receptions

Sometimes the best of wedding spaces are those that you don’t think of as ‘reception venues.’ I especially find pleasure in weddings and receptions that don’t follow traditional molds. The advent of many brides and grooms foregoing customary venues for restaurants, historic buildings and unique locations is refreshing.

Weddings such as these afford the couple to be totally in control of their time line and enable not only the most eclectic of designs and locations but the chance to really let the celebration take a life of it’s own. Such was the case in this highlighted wedding celebrated at Gigino at Wagner Park.

Overlooking the water where the Hudson and the East River meet, guests were invited to view the ceremony on the park building’s upper level followed by cocktails and then dinner under the tent with stunning views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

From the long tables arranges with low flower arrangements, to the hand written place cards and the individual ‘evil eye’ favors meant to shine luck and happiness on the guests, it was a truly magical evening.

But with such a space, what of the music? How do you integrate dancing? I will be honest, that dancing was kept to a minimum as the space did not afford for it. But it worked out in the most interesting of ways. Lack of a dance floor does in no way diminish the music's importance.

Rob attentively listened to the bride and groom's music interests. Their music selection was eclectic and varied. A mix of traditional and a-typical that reflective their tastes and in turn their guests. Being of Arabic background, we mixed Magharabi and Rai in and had the guests enjoying the music throughout the night. Rob received several compliments about the assortment and diversity of the music and how much it was enjoyed. This kind of integration is truly what Colorblind Productions masters.

On top of that, this group was a collection of scholars and speakers and the night was intermixed with good food, good music and what’s best – stories of life and love as guests took the microphone several times to recant memories of the bride and groom in their youth, current stories and stories of life lessons they could take with them. I left that wedding knowing far more about the guests then I have ever known at any other wedding and wishing that I myself were their friends as they were such an amazingly diverse and interesting group. So whose to say that you need to dance at every wedding. Sometimes things are best left to the way life flows.

And as the sun set over the water, fireworks illuminated the sky in the distance. Events like this make you realize that the perfection in a celebration happens when a couple embraces their surroundings as a reflection of themselves and have everything culminate into the materialization of what they have now become.