Upstate NY Wedding

Andrea + Tristan

I am so excited to share this upstate NY wedding!

Andrea, Tristan and family did SO much for this wedding including landscaping, decorations and the flowers. Not just arrangements but they actually grew their own. They had buckets for me to choose from for flat lay flowers! I can’t even tell you the excitement that emanated from me when I saw what I had to work with. Some florists can be stingy with their flat lay flowers (100% understandable because flowers are NOT cheap!) so having buckets at my disposal was SUCH a gift.

There are a lot of vendors who will try to talk you out of DIY’ing your wedding but I would say, if you have the mental and emotional stamina, as well as the ambition and drive to do so, you should absolutely DIY your wedding. Andrea and Tristan’s wedding is proof of just how gorgeous the details can be if you have an eye for it and a team of family members who can help bring your vision to life.

Side note – Andrea and Tristan did hire Lily Moon Weddings to do their day of coordination so they didn’t have to really worry about anything on the actual day of. Definitely a good idea for ANY wedding whether you DIY it or not.

The wedding took place in Greene, NY at Andrea’s parent’s house. Greene is a darling little town that sits perfectly in between the Catskills, Fingerlakes region and the Adirondacks. It’s also my hometown and I’m a big fan of this place. I’m pretty sure I went to daycare with Andrea and her brother back in the day too. We’re talking elementary school so my memories are mostly of the tire swing and digging in the dirt, but I’m almost positive. Who knew that one day I would be a part of their lives in this way. Such a cool thing, being a part of small town life.

Andrea and Tristan opted to not do a first look but they wanted to do a “first touch” as well as read their personal vows to one another. We chose a field nearby and I’m grateful the rain held off and we had a light breeze to counter the temperature.

The ceremony space had spectacular views. It was a well planned spot to tie the knot where you could see for miles over the town of Greene. The wedding arbor boasted sunflowers, dahlias and other little charming springs of flowers. Honestly, the Day family could probably run a nice little wedding venue up here if they really wanted to.

To enter the ceremony space you had to walk through two antique doors that were also decorated with flowers. I LOVED this idea. Select guests were given confetti rockets to shoot off at the end of the ceremony. Also a great idea but if you’re reading this as a bride/groom to be, it would be best to educate these guests beforehand on which way to aim the rocket. If you scroll to the series of photographs at the end of the ceremony you see Andrea’s face light up in amused shock as she realizes a family member has the confetti rocket pointed in the wrong direction. I had no idea what was going on since I was walking backwards and capturing their exit but after she explained what happened and I went through the photos, I was crying laughing. (I’m assuming no one was seriously injured.) It definitely made for a memorable exit.

The wedding party and close family members met at the nearby wood shed for a Champagne toast and to sign the marriage license. We then went into my most favorite part of the day – pictures of the bride and groom.

There was so much to work with here. The gorgeous field with the views for days, the forest and lots of leftover confetti to play with. All those pops of color make me SO happy.

I want to give a huge shoutout to Andrea’s brother, Mark. He did so much alongside our Lily Moon coordinator to keep everything running smoothly and he also made sure Andrea’s dress was perfection. ALSO! He did the bouquets. AMAZING.

The reception was held in a tent up on the hill and I couldn’t get enough of all the details. You kind of expect lots of detail shots when you’re at a busy wedding venue but for Andrea and Tristan to have done all of this with the help of their family is wild in the best of ways. There was SO much thought and creativity and love that went into creating this space.

The wedding reception was so much fun. There was lots of toasts and LOTS of dancing.

I had so much fun at this wedding and I’m so grateful I was there to document the day! A huge shoutout to these vendors as well as Andrea’s friends and family for helping to make the day so special.

Photographer: Jen Pecka Photography

Wedding planner/coordinator: Lily Moon Weddings

Dress: Dress Your Fancy

DJ: DJ Dave Ali

Rings: Etsy & McNeil Jewelers

Invitations: Minted

Bouquet/Flowers: Mark Day

Cake: Angie Say

Catering: Gances Catering

Hair: Traci (family friend)

MUA: Holly (Bliss – Oxford, NY)

Officiant: Max (family friend)