Over the weekend Dallas and I travelled to New York for Tien and Shannan’s wedding at Benmar Winery in the gorgeous Hudson River Valley area. We arrived on Friday night and stayed at Yvan and Jeannette’s condo in Queens and then on Saturday we all drove up to Marlboro, NY, where the took place.
Shannan is a designer and her wedding showed it. Every detail was beautifully designed and executed. If you’ve ever planned a wedding, you could really appreciate how much work she and Tien put into it. No detail was overlooked and I know things always go wrong, but as far as the guests could tell, everything was pulled off without a hitch. Tien and Shannan had a lot of activities and elements that I’ve never seen anywhere else. Such great ideas. I’m not even going to try to top this one!
Take this, for example. When we arrived we first came across Tien and Shannan’s guest book. They had old-timey polaroid cameras. Written on a blackboard were instructions on what to do. Each guest took their photo and then used adhesive photo corners to stick their photo in the book. Guests could then use colorful pens to write notes to the bride and groom. What a great idea!
Nearby the guestbook there were some representations of Tien and Shannan. Could they be pinatas? They were pinata material. And mounds of tshirts that were the wedding giveaway. Since Tien and I were both planning a wedding at the same time, we sometimes checked in to see how things were going. I remember him mentioning tshirts for a giveaway, but I didn’t realize it was a “go”. So Tien. Probably 99% of the time he is wearing a tshirt.
It wouldn’t be enough just to have tshirts. .. they were packaged in custom-stamped drawstring bags and each one had custom labels with one of Tien and Shannan’s engagement photos and the size of the tshirt attached.
Before and during the ceremony there was iced tea and lemonade to drink. The weather wasn’t too hot, but the refreshments were still a nice touch. And the drinks were not just served in cups, they were served in mason jars with customized straws. One side of the straw said “08/21/2010,” their wedding date.
The other side of the straw tags said “mmmmmm.” So cute.
Since the chairs for the wedding ceremony were out in the open, it could have gotten quite hot. Luckily the day was a bit overcast and actually the temperature was just about perfect. Still, instead of having just fans or just programs for the ceremony, Shannan designed Frograms? Prans? Fan + Programs! 
I loved the cute people graphics that matched everything. And Tien’s always had his signature mole on them.
Here’s one of the Frograms in action.
The bride and groom after the short, but sweet, ceremony.
After the ceremony the bar opened up for cocktail hour. Here’s a custom swizzle stick that Yvan had in his drink.
Bag toss was played during cocktail hour.
Yvan, Dallas, Jeannette and I snagged a couple seats to relax. Since we were at a vineyard, the oldest in America, Jeannette and I decided to have wine. I loved the Slate Hill White and drank it all night. Jeannette had the Cabernet (I think) all night.
The weather was perfect. Not hot, not cold. And this was our view.
So serene.
Love these guys!
Claire and Adam joined us at our table and we talked and talked. I used to be friends with Adam when I lived in New York. We sometimes keep in touch online, but I hadn’t seen him for ages (2004, I think!). Adam and Claire have been married for only a month so we talked a lot about weddings and planning weddings.
Jeannette, Yvan, Dallas and I were seated at the Saugerties table.
I loved the candles and flowers. They went with the slightly country, natural theme of the wedding. I don’t think I have any photos, but there were also these cool hay bales laying around with colorful clothes and pillows on them for seating.
For dinner there were two stands. One had classic bbq: Cornbread, baked beans, pulled pork, a whole pig, etc. The other had some lighter options: Mussels, little meatballs, lots of veggies.
During dinner, Shannan and Tien came out and did their first dance to a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song. Tien told me they chose it because they had gone to a Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert years ago. Check out Tien’s kicks. He and all of the groomsmen and both Shannan and Tien’s dads all wore matching Nikes. If you didn’t know, Tien is a Nike hoarder and has a large collection.
Some of the bridesmaids and groomsmen made a few speeches during dinner.
We danced a bunch, but here were are on a break.
And with Dallas -
Tien and Shannan’s cake toppers didn’t really top their cake… more like cake decorations? It’s Tien, Shannan and their cat, Randolph.
The cake was chocolate with raspberry filling and was delicious.
Oh, remember the tshirts? Here’s me modeling one. It’s the nesting doll cake toppers!
Obligatory photo with the groom.
Ok. So, remember the beginning? Those were pinatas! Dallas met a girl at the wedding who was from Honolulu and we were talking to her for a long time when we realized that the entire wedding had moved over to the edge of the dance floor and something was going on out there. We all went over and people were hitting the pinatas!
Tien’s pinata had Chinese candy in it.
Shannan’s pinata had American candy in it.
Cute idea, but I did wince a bit when people threw such hard blows on the bride and groom!
At the end of the night we all lit sparklers around the bride and groom as they made their ceremonial exit. Beautiful!
What a fun wedding. So many unique activities and details. We had such a great time. Congratulations to Tien and Shannan!! See you in February!
PS. Tien and Shannan’s wedding was written up in Tien’s hometown paper: the New York Times!!!
