Chelsea + Michael’s Wedding at City Winery Hudson Valley

Written By Caitlinn Mahar-Daniels

Gather around folks, it’s time to admire Chelsea + Michael, their love, and their magical June wedding at City Winery Hudson Valley. Chelsea and Michael are some of the sweetest and most beautiful human beings inside and out. I was so so so excited to shoot their wedding day because I was lucky enough to shoot Chelsea’s twin sister, Melanie’s, wedding at Westchester Country Club, that you can find HERE, AND her older sister Jenna’s micro-wedding, also at Westchester Country Club, that you can find HERE.

Being that this would be the third wedding for Chelsea’s family that I would have the honor to document, I already knew that they are ALL wonderful people. Her parents are by far some of the coolest people you could ever meet, they are FUN, supportive, and know how to have a good time. It is always a joy to be around them. Sometimes the mystery of the families and their dynamics on a wedding day can cause a bit of anxiety, but if you know the couple is wonderful, AND their families are wonderful as well (Michael’s family are ALSO absolute treasures), it allows anxiety to settle, and excitement to simply take over.

Chelsea got ready in the barn at City Winery and Michael got ready in the Boiler Bar. They were both perfect spaces with plenty of room, which is always a plus when it comes to documenting the getting ready process. Their first look took place in front of the Wallkill River. From their first look we began their wedding portraits and got to explore all over - from the waterfront, to the vineyard, to the woods, and outdoor ceremony location. It was a dream.

RIGHT before their ceremony began (the florals and seating were all set up and ready to go), it began to downpour and at the very very very last minute, while guests were arriving, they had to flip the reception space into the ceremony space as fast as they could. Chelsea and Michael, being the angels that they are, were just excited to be getting married, and did not let the weather dampen their spirits.

Their ceremony was heartfelt and beautiful. Their personal vows had the room laughing and crying, and made it so apparent why they are such a good team. After their ceremony guests enjoyed food and drinks inside, mingling, and warming up for the amazing party they all knew was about to begin. (This family knows how to throw an AMAZING party.)

Their first dance, toasts, and parent dances were all visually and emotionally beautiful, with a raging horah before the party really took off. Cafe Wha (the band) led one of the most epic wedding receptions I have ever had the opportunity to photograph and people had a raging good time. The night ended with Chelsea and Michael enjoying their last song up on the stage with the band, while their guests screamed alongside them while smiling ear to ear.

To read about their love story, planning process, advice, and favorite memories from their wedding day (in their own words), keep scrolling.

You can find the wedding vendors at the very bottom of the blog post.

How you met: We met through a dating app but the better part of the story is our first date. We started off with drinks (didn't want to commit to too much in case things didn't go well) and many hours later, that evolved into dinner and meeting back up that night at one of Michael's favorite bars - so we ended up having a multi-hour date across three locations. The cocktail lounge and italian restaurant are still two of our favorite spots in NYC!  

How you got engaged: Michael used the facade of brunch with my friends to get me downtown to the westside, where there is a great view of the river and lower Manhattan. He proposed at the waterfront (and we got a gorgeous summer day). My sister and best friend were hiding to surprise us right after and he followed up with a brunch with our entire families, and a surprise party with all of our friends later that night. Celebrating with our loved ones the entire day was really special! 

How you decided to get married at City Winery Hudson Valley : decisions you hope to share: We knew we wanted something outside of NYC, but within driving distance given most of our friends and family are in the tristate area. Michael taught me how to ski over the course of our relationship, so we always envisioned something rustic and outdoors - but the few ski mountains we had in mind were a bit too far away. We found City Winery through our wonderful planners and immediately knew it was the venue for us. We loved the outdoor space, and the reception room was the perfect space for the band and party we were envisioning.

How you decided on your wedding size :

We had close to 200 people at our wedding, and it was always more important to us that our loved ones could join vs. trying to keep a smaller wedding. Plus, City Winery was well equipped to comfortably fit our wedding guests, so it was an easy choice!    

Any other planning advice you would like to share :

We had some visions for what we wanted but having an excellent wedding planner was extremely helpful as they helped us pick all the great vendors we worked with from florals, to music, to photobooth and videographer, and everything else that goes into a great wedding. We were most focused on having an amazing band so we could spend our reception dancing and enjoying the party, and were so excited when we picked Cafe Wha as we also had seen them perform in NYC before!  

Fun Fact on our vendors: Caitlinn has now photographed three weddings with my family and we have loved working with her! My older sister Jenna initially had her photograph her wedding, and we all loved her work and amazing energy so it was an easy choice to work with her for both my and my other sister's wedding!  

-Your favorite memories from the day:

I have such fond memories of the entire weekend and enjoying all the moments with Michael, family, and friends. A few key moments: our vows during the ceremony, the few minutes Michael and I had solo while our guests were getting seated for the reception, getting ready with the bridal party, all the dancing at our reception - highlights include the Horah and getting on stage with Cafe Wha, and enjoying some late night bites with Michael following the after party and debriefing on all the amazing memories.  

Advice: It rained on our wedding day, and the rain started ~1 hour before our ceremony so we had to quickly pivot our ceremony and cocktail hour plans. You always have these visions of how you want the day to run but something will go wrong, and that's fine! It's best to just be flexible and go with the flow as it 's most important to enjoy this day you planned for so long! You'll be much happier to have good memories :) Plus, we were able to take photos outside before the rain so have some amazing pictures in the vineyard! 

WEDDING VENDORS

Caitlinn Mahar-Daniels https://letsgetweirdstudio.com
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