Early this morning, I met with Capitale’s Director of Catering, Larry Goldfarb and Amanda Len to chat about the upcoming year.  For those of you who may not know, Capitale is a wonderful event space in the old Bowery Savings Bank building on… you guessed it… Bowery Street on the Lower East Side.  If you want a grand Beaux Arts space that’ll fit between 200 and 400 people or so you can’t do much better than Stanford White’s stunning 1895 space.

I thought I would share some images from a wedding we photographed at Capitale in the fall.

They’ve got this great old mirrored brass elevator.

And there’s so much great culture to work with in the neighborhood!

Mike’s wonderful sense of humor…

They had such a great time working with Julie and Ian – they were all smiles telling us about the fun that everyone had that day.  Julie looked absolutely radiant.

In this shot, she awaits the moment for her father to walk her down the aisle.

And a tour of the meatpacking district turned up lots of great spaces.

See what i mean by radiant.

The reception space – Studio 450 – such a great place at sunset.  Now with a view of the Highline.

A great event design by Elizabeth Ryan.  And food by Creative Edge Caterers.  They are one of the best.

Please sign our Dunny!

Now this is what I’m talking about… take a close look at this party shot Ron took.  Now that’s a great image!  I smile every time i look at it.  That’s how I want to remember my parties.

Julie and Ian  – classic photobooth moment.

Many thanks to Peggy Calabrese for doing such a great job planning and coordinating the event.

Recently, I’ve seen a number of hora accidents – including one bride getting tipped over and dumped head first right out of her chair from 7 feet up.  And we’re talking landing on her head.  Nothing kills a good hora like dumping a bride.  She was a real trooper and got right back in that chair and went up again.  But it had the possibility of being really ugly.

So in an effort to save everyone from the pain and embarrassment of dumping their honoree – here are the rules of lifting someone in a chair during the hora.

1.  Lend a hand.  Guys, it’s your responsibility.  You don’t have to be Jewish to pick up the chair.  And you don’t have to be a bodybuilder.   Don’t stand around  wondering if you’re going to get called on to participate – help.  You need at least six or eight guys of average strength per chair.  Preferably two per leg.

2.  Get a decent chair.  Never use a folding chair.  It really should be a chair with with arms.  If there are no arms, consider having your honoree straddling the chair and hold the back.  Note:  Moms don’t want to straddle chairs nor do most brides.  Go look harder for an arm chair.  Hopefully someone thought this through before the music started…

3.  Keep the chair tilted back slightly at all times.  Never let the chair tip forward or to the side.  This means that the people holding the rear legs can’t lift the chair as high as the guys in the front.  Pretty simple concept but pay attention to it.

4. Don’t overbounce.  It’s a celebration, not a mosh pit.  This is not an opportunity to show off your strength.  Don’t let a couple of cocktails make you an overeager bouncer.

5. Watch out for overhead items.  Don’t put the chair in the center of the dance floor if there’s a low hanging chandelier there.  Ouch.

6.  Slowly put down the back legs of the chair first keeping the same level of tilt that you had above.  Guys, be sure you don’t let the chair leg snag your jacket or pants pocket on the way down.

7.  Jew or gentile, if you’re not helping with the chair then you must sing.  It doesn’t matter that you don’t really know the words.  Few do in this country.  But there’s only 14 words in the entire song.   Learn to fake them with confidence.  They are:

hava nagila

The digraph ch is pronounced like the German ch after a back vowel, as in Bach.

OK, now let’s rejoice!

case in point is this shot from liliana and jeff’s wedding.

in this shot liliana is pinning her “something blue” inside her dress and her bridesmaids, sitting on the bed, are reflected in the mirror.  this looks like some painfully crafted set up – with each bridesmaid being told precisely where and how to sit when in fact, this is exactly how the scene presented itself.  the world does magical things on its own if you just keep your eyes open and react quickly enough to capture it.

below, the flower girl is trying unsuccessfully to make jeff disappear.

ok, for this one I told people where to stand…

The wonderful invitations: which are so cool not only because they’re simply beautiful, but also because nowhere do they mention the words wedding or marriage – it’s all about love.

Lynda worked as an Art Director for many years for such prestigious publications as Vogue. And you can tell she brought her AD’s style eye to everything.

Of course, none of that happens without and awesome event planner/florist behind it all. The fabulous Claire Bean did all the work for Lynda’s wedding. Claire is one of the best in the Hamptons. She’s does flowers like nobody else. She shared with us this time how she flys overseas to develop relationships directly with the growers and has her flowers shipped directly to her – so they end up a couple of day’s fresher than if she went through the NY flower markets. The difference shows.

Wolffer Vineyards has this wonderful little gazebo in the middle of their vineyard. How cute is that?

Michael’s son played a song on the guitar and everyone joined in the fun.

But Claire’s flowers were the show stealers.

I mean, if you’re going to have a meal in a vineyard, this is really the way to do it.

Stunning, right?

And of course, the self-portrait studio was a HUGE hit!

We even jumped in for a shot:

That’s Kacy and Matt (our associates), Claire Bean (florist extraordinaire), Celeste (our producer and my better half) and some guy laughing like an idiot.

Is it too late in the season to show pictures wearing linen?

She had on one of the most amazing dresses I had ever seen.

It had so much wonderful detailing.

It’s great to have a suite like those at the Waldorf when you’re getting ready. There’s enough room to find some great angles on what’s going on.

They looked so good that I thought I’d take a cover shot on spec. Just in case…

These guys are so great and they are fellow Tribecans. (is that a word?)

Didn’t Kim look beautiful?

Kim and her mom wait in the limo before entering the church. Isn’t the anticipation palpable?

And a celebration it was… Kim’s entry with Aaron – with a flourish!
Look at the expression of their friends in the background. Priceless.