We love weddings with chic and darling details, but when the bride and groom give back in the process? Well, that’s just divine! Emma and Kareem’s wedding took place at the beautiful Brooklyn Botanic Garden , where they honored their guests with a donation to The Hunger Project . In addition to this lovely gesture, the couple designed a beautiful event rivaled only my their oh-so-obvious love for each other… Take a peek at it all, compliments of Suzi Q. Varin , photographer of Q Weddings .
Emma, the bride, wore a stunning sweetheart, silk taffeta gown by Oscar De La Renta with a tiered, ruffled train. “I liked it because it looked like a flamenco dancer’s dress. I wanted to wear something I could imagine dancing all night in,” said Emma.
Emma paired her Oscar de la Renta dress with Jimmy Choo glittery peep-toe shoes and Miriam Haskell chandelier earrings made of yellow gold and pearls. We love the gold accents to her attire… they are so fresh and fashionable!
Kareem proposed to Emma right before leaving on a trip to Egypt. He took her out to one of her favorite Japanese restaurants {and actually to the place he first told her he loved her} to pop the question. And as you guessed, she said yes!
Kareem wore a silk and cotton Christian Dior grey suit, paired with a sharp, stripped tie and snazzy black shoes.
Emma and Kareem actually met on a blind date! “A friend of mine met Kareem at a party and put us in touch. We met a week later at a Vietnamese restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn called Silent H, which sadly doesn’t exist anymore! We talked nonstop for the next three hours,” Emma said.
The flowers were primarily peonies and garden roses in pinks and whites. They looked fresh, and very elegant against the mostly white backdrop of the Botanical Garden.
The humanist ceremony was led by Catherine Bordeau of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture . Guests were then lead to the Palm House for cocktail hour, followed by dinner and dancing.
Joshua Levine and Itai Kriss performed the music for Emma and Kareem’s ceremony.
“We didn’t have a defined color scheme, but the Palm House (the venue at the Garden where the wedding reception is held) is a metal and glass structure and I imagined it filled with light, like a lantern, at night. I wanted to be true to the location of a botanic garden and to the season, so we kept with white as our backdrop for everything, and then accented it with pinks,” explained Emma. Stunning!
The couple’s exquisite cake was actually two flavors: Vanilla cake with passion fruit curd as a filling, as well as chocolate cake with salted caramel and chocolate Swiss buttercream filling. The cake was five tiers high with three pink sugar garden roses on a white wood pedestal cake stand.
“Our first song was our only ‘song’ – it was ‘ Por Una Cabeza ‘ by The Tango Project.” Emma said. “Kareem and I had been taking tango lessons before we got engaged and decided we really wanted to dance a tango for the wedding.”
“Kareem is Egyptian, so we had an amazing Egyptian dance processional, called a zaffa, to begin the dancing. {For this tradition} a belly dancer and other musicians lead the bride and groom into the main reception room. It is almost like an introduction or presentation of the bride and groom to those at the wedding,” said Emma.
Best Wishes and cheers to Emma and Kareem!
Vendors:
Ceremony: Brooklyn Botanic Gardens
Reception: Palm House
Photography: Q Weddings
Hair Stylist: Song Isabel Hee
Gown: Oscar De La Renta
Shoes: Jimmy Choo , Christian Dior
DJ: 74 Events
Groom: Dior
Invitations: Arthurs Invitations & Calligrapher for addresses: Mary Anne Wolfe
Flowers: Denise Fasanello Floral Desig n
Linens & Coverings: NY Linen Rentals
Catering: CharlesSallyCharles
Cake: One Girl Cookies
Music: Josua Levine & Itai Kriss & Shusmo
Favors: Donations to The Hunger Project
Make up artist: Samantha Lau Makeup
Dance Instructor: Nourhan Sharif
