11 minute read
What’s New in the 518 Wedding World
2022
WHAT’S NEW IN THE 518 WEDDING WORLD
COVID-19 NOT ONLY DISRUPTED WEDDINGS THEMSELVES, BUT ALSO THEIR VENDORS, MANY OF WHOM WERE IN THEIR CRUCIAL FIRST YEARS IN BUSINESS. HERE ARE SIX NEW CAPITAL REGION WEDDING PROFESSIONALS THAT WEATHERED THEIR PANDEMIC-PLAGUED OPENINGS AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE. By Natalie Moore
PHOTOGRAPH BY Michelle Lange
Florist URBAN POPPY
Urban Poppy, a floral and design company based in Albany and owned by cousins Sarah Fox and Teresa Carmel, wasn’t just affected by COVID—it was born out of COVID. It all started when Carmel was planning her own COVID-era wedding. “The wedding went from location A to location B to eventually location C in a french’s kiss Urban Poppy owners Teresa Carmel matter of days,” Fox says. “Teresa and her husband (center) and Sarah made the decision to cancel their big event and change Fox (right) with bride the number of guests from 250 to 11. With all the last- Katie French; (top) minute COVID cancellations and only a couple days to French’s bouquet plan, we transformed their backyard into a venue in a at her elopement matter of 72 hours, and Urban Poppy was born.” on Lake George; Now, just to be clear, Fox and Carmel weren’t just any regular bride and cousin-of-the-bride thrust into planning a wedding. Carmel is a creative who dreamed of working in the wedding industry, and Fox had worked for another florist for three years right out of (opposite) a rowboat, rented from Little Row Boat Co., made the perfect vessel for an Urban Poppy arrangement. college. “We take the visions dreamt up by our couples and create a design around that vision,” Fox says. “We design pieces around the details, which can include flowers, candles, lanterns, backdrops—even boats.” (It’s true: one recent wedding featured a lantern- and flower-filled rowboat!)
Fox and Carmel’s combined wedding experiences—Fox’s with flowers and Carmel’s as a bride—have also made them sensitive to problems brides commonly have with other vendors. “We both quickly realized how impersonal and disconnected vendors could be,” Fox says. “That’s why, at Urban Poppy, we pride ourselves in making relationships. If a couple doesn’t see their personalities and dream brought to life in our work, then we consider our job a failure. So before talk of budget is even mentioned, we take the time to connect with each couple.”
Event Planner DAISY & LOLA EVENTS
Another local wedding business that sprouted from the ashes of the pandemic is Daisy & Lola, a Saratogabased, one-woman event planning show. “Since I was in high school I have been planning and organizing events,” says Katie Massie, the Britney Spears/dogs/coffee-fueled dynamo behind Daisy & Lola. “During the pandemic, I was laid off and my husband asked, ‘Why haven’t you started an event-planning business yet?’ And so I did.”
Since launching her biz in January 2021, Massie has planned and put on all sorts of events in addition to weddings, including a backyard engagement party, a “flannel fling before the ring” bachelorette party, and a bridal shower on the back deck of the bride’s mother’s home. “With dates shifting, my 2022 has weddings that were postponed,” she says. “But the pandemic also brought the industry back to what’s important: celebrating the love of two people. As a wedding planner and designer, that has allowed me to be even more creative.”
And where did the name Daisy & Lola come from? Massie’s two rescue pups, of course. “Their names made me think of different types of clients: Daisy being simple, timeless and fun, just like the flower, and Lola like the showgirl—wild, bold and untraditional. I love providing clients with whatever style they are looking for, so my pups’ names and personalities made perfect sense.”
massie production Before
launching Daisy & Lola, Katie Massie planned events through her work as membership director of the Capital District YMCA.
2022
Photographer SYDNEY K ANDREW PHOTOGRAPHY
While Sydney Doherty says her still-sorta-new wedding photography business hasn’t been too affected by the pandemic, the details of the first wedding she ever shot tell you all you need to know about the state of the world at the time of Sydney K Andrew Photography’s inception. (Doherty’s married name will be Andrew, but she and her husband-to-be haven’t tied the knot yet.) “It was a 10-person elopement at this gorgeous Airbnb right on the water in Huletts Landing,” Doherty says of the June 2021 event. “It was so laid back, but also so elegant.”
Besides traditional weddings and elopements, Doherty also specializes in family portraits, boudoir and engagements, the last of which is what got her into the professional photography game in the first place. “When I got my first ‘real camera’ it was pretty much love at first sight,” she says. “A friend of mine asked me if I could take her and her fiancé’s engagement photos, so of course I said yes. It felt so natural being behind the lens, and when I saw the candid camera As a photographer, Sydney Doherty “craves natural light and those candid moments”; images I created afterwards I said, ‘I finally (top) Doherty’s photo of the know what I want to be when I grow up!’” 2021 June Farms wedding
That was in October 2020, and while yes, of Taylor and Nate. Doherty was technically already a grownup at the time, her photography career has certainly “grown up” since then. Since June, she’s captured numerous engagement and couples sessions, plus 10 weddings, and already has 32 weddings on the books for 2022. “I thank my lucky stars that COVID hasn’t had as much of an effect on my business as I know it has on so many other small businesses,” she says. “The wedding industry took a huge hit, but I think 2022 and beyond are going to be the comeback years that everyone has been waiting for.”
Venue FORT TICONDEROGA
For being a brand-new wedding venue, Fort Ticonderoga is definitely the oldest vendor on this list. By a lot. “Fort Ticonderoga has a long history of hospitality dating to the 19th century,” says Julia Nittler, the Fort Ticonderoga Association’s event coordinator. “In 1820, wealthy merchant William Ferris Pell purchased the Fort lands and preserved the site. He built his family home known as the Pavilion in 1826, and in the second half of the 19th century, the Pavilion became a hotel welcoming visitors who were traveling the fashionable tour north on the lakes via steamboat.”
Of course, the fort was around long before that: its capture in 1775 marked the first offensive victory for American forces in the Revolutionary War. These days, the site is home to a museum that offers programs, boat cruises, tours, demonstrations and exhibits at its location on the southern end of Lake Champlain. And now, after the fort’s Pavilion underwent $9 million in restoration in 2021, it’s also a wedding venue.
“Couples are so enthusiastic to learn about the opportunity to make their own history at one of North America’s most beautiful and historic locations,” Nittler says. Plus, the fort, which offers multiple ceremony and reception sites, is great for COVID-era ceremonies. “We are a prime location for micro-weddings, as well as larger-scale outdoor gatherings,” Nittler says. “And, since we are a new venue, we still have some availability for 2022 and 2023, which is welcome news for couples who are having a hard time finding venues due to the high demand.” model magic Heather Thompson (who also happens to be saratoga living’s new fashion editor), Brett
Ferri and flower girl Charlee modeled for a styled wedding shoot that shows off Fort Ticonderoga’s many locations for ceremonies, cocktail hours, after-parties and photo ops.
2022
Venue THE BARN AT HANSEN HILL
Hansen Hill is another historic property-turned-wedding venue that began booking weddings in 2021, this one with a country chic bent. “My goal was always to keep the farm in the family,” says Norman Hansen, Hansen Hill’s current owner. “It’s a fifth-generation farm that was established in 1908. Today, we operate as both The Barn at Hansen Hill, the venue, and as a 200-acre hay farm supplying hay for horses, sheep and other livestock.”
So how, exactly, did a 100-year-old hay farm in Johnsonville come to offer elegant country weddings for up to 300 guests? It took a friend in the catering business to open Hansen’s eyes to the bridal gold mine he was sitting on. But once he had the idea to turn his property into a wedding venue, Hansen dove head-first into building a nearly-6,000square-foot barn, finishing up construction in spring 2021. “Thankfully, the pandemic didn’t affect us at all,” he says. “We were building during the worst part of it”—i.e. before lumber prices shot through the roof last year—“and were able to open in tandem with much of the world opening back up.”
The Barn at Hansen Hill was also able to open up in a way that has made couples concerned about COVID feel safe. “You can get married outside overlooking the rolling hills with a mountainous backdrop or inside our spacious barn,” Hansen says of his social distancing-friendly venue with customizable packages. “If you want to ride in on a horse and buggy, come by hot air balloon, or put on a spectacular fireworks show, we can make it all happen.”
barn or yard (from top)
At Johnsonville farm Hansen Hill, couples can get married in the brand-new, 6,000-square-foot barn; or outside amid Rensselaer County’s rolling hills. A customizable gourmet gift box
Celebrated Wedding Florist Samantha Nass Goes Retail
After helping couples design the details of their big day in Saratoga and beyond since 2014, Samantha Nass Floral Design is expanding its European-inspired offerings to include retail. “We decided to switch gears a little bit, partly because of the pandemic and partly because we were ready to change our business model,” says Nass. “We’re going to continue the wedding business, because that’s really our passion—getting to know our clients, working on their special and happy event—but also offer retail based on our style.” Those retail offerings, which will be sold at a storefront located at 61 Lawrence Street, as well as online at snfloraldesign. com, will include candles, tableware, gift boxes, planters, succulents and more—essentially a curated collection of everything you need for the ultimate Saratoga dinner party, and then some.
While Nass is thrilled about all the new products, which include gourmet Sugarfina candies and LAFCO New York candles, both of which aren’t sold anywhere else in Saratoga, it’s the face-to-face connection with customers she’s most excited about. “We’ve been by appointment only for the last seven years,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to having more of a dialogue with our client base and also the general public of Saratoga.” At press time, the new shop was scheduled to open just before Christmas. As for the company’s wedding clients? They’ll still be able to meet with Nass for consultations, right in the Lawrence Street location—and maybe pick up a whimsical grey cat candle, while they’re at it.
Mobile Bar CRAFT ON WHEELS
The beauty of a side hustle—especially a wedding industry side hustle—is that when something like, oh, a global pandemic comes around, effectively decimating your business prospects, you can continue working your full-time job and pick up operations when the coast is clear. That’s exactly what the owners of Craft on Wheels, a mobile bartending service that operates out of the back of a 1957 Ford pickup, did. “We launched in late 2019 and got a lot of publicity, which created a fair amount of bookings,” says Craft on Wheels co-owner Jim Murphy, who is also the director of marketing and corporate relations at Proctors. “Most of those dried up for 2020, though we had a few events as summer turned into fall. We didn’t pivot as much as ride out the storm.”
And after the storm, calm. “When things did open back up, the events had to be small for a time,” Murphy says. “They were memorable mostly because we got to spend more time with those attending. With meals being served and structured activities such as toasts and dancing, we get less face time with the couples who hire us.”
Little did Murphy and his partners know at the time of their launch, but their vintage truck, which has six taps for beer, cider or wine, was perfectly suited for the impending pandemic (i.e. for outdoor events). “The emergence of wedding barns has been a huge trend in Upstate New York for the past several years,” Murphy says, “and most do not have a liquor permit.” (Craft on Wheels offers full bar service for clients who want it.) “A vintage truck with six taps and a cooler,” he continues, “pairs very nicely with the less formal, country vibe of wedding barns.”
wheels of fortune Craft on
Wheels co-owners Erin Murphy (center) and Connor Neal, with Ania Kostek (left) and Cali Brown.
