wedding albums

Real Wedding Album: A Nontraditional Production With a Hip-Hop Violinist and Rockette Choreography

Melissa and Ryan Vaughan.
Melissa and Ryan Vaughan. Photo: A Day of Bliss Photography

“We wanted every moment to be a performance,” says Melissa, 28, an online vintage boutique owner. She and Ryan, 34, an investment analyst, met three years ago after being introduced by mutual friends and were married in a Catholic ceremony at St. Anthony of Padua, to which the bride wore a black vintage headpiece with a feather and black lace-up boots. “Ryan wore a traditional suit,” Melissa says, “but it was crushed burgundy velvet.” The couple then walked to their reception at the Tribeca Rooftop (Melissa donned a Chanel navy and black coat), which featured a hip-hop violinist and a sit-down dinner of beef fillets and black cod. The meal was followed by a surprise dance routine courtesy of the groom and his men, which they’d been practicing for three months and was choreographed by Rockette Michiko Sasaki. Says Melissa, “I was blown away and in complete shock.”

The Details
Suit: J.Crew
Catering: Tribeca Rooftop
Invites: Intima Press
Rings: S.H. Zell  & Sons
Hip-hop violinist: Yut Chia
Photographs: A Day of Bliss Photography

*This article appears in the Summer 2016 issue of New York Weddings.

Photo: A Day of Bliss Photography

“I knew I wasn’t going to be an all-white bride. I wanted to create a dramatic look, something different.”

Photo: A Day of Bliss Photography
Photo: A Day of Bliss Photography
Photo: A Day of Bliss Photography
Photo: A Day of Bliss Photography

“I’m not much of a dancer, but I wanted to do something to surprise Melissa. Even though I really didn’t need to add additional stress, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Real Wedding Album: A Nontraditional Production