Summer weddings on the East Coast are all about being outdoors. It's just the perfect way to escape the hustle and bustle of NYC and Beth and Adam's Cedar Lakes Estate wedding was a magnificent example of how it should be. I'm a huge fan of the Hudson Valley and what a complete change of scenery it is from the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn, so I was excited from Beth's very first email.
Cedar Lakes Estate is by far one of the most incredible wedding venues in the region, with sweeping views of the Hudson Valley, a pond for swimming, hiking trails, cabins for guests to stay and locally sourced food and drinks on the menu. Imagine a super stylish Summer camp made for you and your crew. Amazing, right?
Because a lot of Beth and Adam's guests stayed in cottages on the Cedar Lakes Estate property the night before, the wedding day started with friends swimming in the pond, playing lawn games, hiking and eating lunch at picnic tables before officially getting ready for the day. Beth got ready in a cabin on one side of the Cedar Lakes Estate property with her bridesmaids and wore a stunning Monique Lhuillier dress with Loeffler Randall shoes. Adam got ready in a separate cabin with his groomsmen and wore a custom blue tuxedo with a black lapel.
Guests arrived to the Cedar Lakes Estate wedding and were escorted up a path to the mountain top wedding ceremony. The stunning floral chuppah was designed by Faye + Renee and guests were greeted with champagne upon arrival. The view from the mountain top is magical - it's the Hudson Valley, but it feels like you have 360 degrees of visibility, unlike venues like Onteora Mountain House or Boscobel, where the views are also stunning but you're only looking out one direction.
After the ceremony, guests made their way down to the pool area for cocktail hour, while I stole Beth and Adam away for 15 minutes of sunset portraits by the pond. I love shooting portraits after the ceremony if we have the opportunity - the light always looks great and all the nerves are gone so couples tend to have way more fun.
Expertly planned and executed by Kelly and her team at SociaLife Events, the wedding day went off without a hitch and there was a moment during the hora what I said to myself - "the wedding just got turned up to 11."
It was epic.
This wedding was published on Over the Moon.
Here's a bit of what I captured that day...
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