Before the Guests Arrive: A Hudson House Wedding, Unedited
UNVEILED · BJÖRN VW EVENTS
Before the Guests Arrive: A Hudson House Wedding, Unedited
Some productions you remember for the flowers. This one I remember for the boots.It was my first wedding at Hudson House in Jersey City, which was still fairly new at the time, and I'd been looking forward to working there. The setting sells itself: open water, the skyline across the river, a lawn that practically asks for a ceremony.The Set Up - Watch Video
I'd stayed overnight in a Hoboken suite to skip the morning commute, and I was at the venue by 6:45 am. The doors were still locked. There was no coffee. And my sneakers, it turned out, were sitting in my assistant's car from the night before. So I spent the day in dress boots, which is not how I work and not how anyone should work a fourteen-hour event. I was annoyed for about five minutes, then decided it was funny.
Once we were in, the ceremony setup went smoothly. The stage and aisle runner went up on the lawn under a clear sky, and from there the day moved fast: up and down stairwells, in and out of elevators, flipping the space from outdoor ceremony to indoor reception, keeping a large team moving in the same direction. That's the part of the job people don't see. When something needs solving, it lands with the planner, and the goal is to solve it before anyone else notices there was a problem.
The detail I'm proudest of came late. A week before the wedding, we decided to add trees to select tables. It was a big swing that close to the date, but the design called for something lush and generous, and the trees delivered it. That only worked because every vendor on the team committed to it without hesitation.
I left that night tired, sore-footed, and genuinely grateful. It's rare for a team to come together that cleanly, and it's the kind of day I'd happily do again. In sneakers.
The Final Reveal - Watch Video
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