Reclaimed Wedding at The Green Building: Alison & Michael

Heidi Benjamin Photography

June 10, 2013

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Alison and Michael were married at The Green Building in Brooklyn. They got together after chance meeting at Kate’s Paperie in New York, a Craigslist ‘Lost Connection’ that actually worked and a long online relationship. After finally getting together and then getting engaged they planned the wedding in just three short months.

“When planning the wedding I became charmed by the idea of parlour weddings, the way folks used to do it before the Big Business of weddings”,  Alison explained. “So we wanted to create the look and feel of a living room for ours. We wanted to take items from each of our apartments and create a cozy and personal space where we could gather our nearest and dearest to watch us make this amazing commitment.”

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“I loved the fact that most of the décor was made up of items from our own homes and items we’ve collected over the years. We didn’t have a whole lot of time to plan the wedding so spending countless hours on Pinterest looking for ideas just wasn’t a possibility. I had to go with my instincts and make quick decisions. We first nailed down the venue and date and caterer, but then the rest of the details came together in the last month. I know most people may think we’re crazy to have done it so quickly, but we’re thrilled with how it turned out. We didn’t have time to over-think it. It was very much a reflection of who we are both as individuals and as a couple.”

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We actually never wanted a city wedding – we always talked about getting married out in the middle of a field in the county somewhere”, she continued. “Unfortunately, we were too impatient to get hitched and heated fields are hard to come by in February in Upstate New York, so… Brooklyn it was. Luckily, we were able to get a last-minute, off-season, week-day rate and that helped us afford it. And since we ended up having a blizzard on our wedding day, it was a good thing that we were in a location where public transit could assist our guests!”

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“In fact the blizzard wound up being amazing because everybody still made it. It was cold and blustery outside, but warm and festive inside. It was perfect. The other thing that I think defined our wedding was how we did it without hiring much help. It takes a village to throw a wedding – or at least very helpful and supportive friends and family! Truly. We could never have pulled off the wedding we had without the tireless and energetic help everyone gave us. It was amazing. I even had one of the out of town guests recently tell me, ‘We loved helping out for your wedding, because instead of looking around at dinner and knowing only two or three people, I could say, ‘Hey! We tied ribbon together this morning! Or, ‘We cut a gazillion flowers together! Let’s have a toast!'”

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