A Merchant’s House Museum Wedding

Catherine and Wes’s Merchant’s House Museum wedding proved to be a whirlwind tour of downtown NYC. We started off at the Standard Hotel in Cooper Square, and ended up at Congee Village in Chinatown. The mix of cultures resulted in some fantastic photos, not to mention two outfit changes for the bride! Get all the details in today’s blog post.

Getting Ready

The day started out with Catherine getting ready at the Standard Hotel in Coopers Square.   She planned two dramatically different looks for her wedding: a fun, black cocktail dress for the pre-ceremony shindig, and then a traditional white qipao wedding dress for the ceremony.

Merchant’s House Museum Wedding Ceremony

Both the ceremony and the cocktail hour were held at the Merchant’s House Museum.  In case you have never visited, the Merchant’s House Museum is an oasis of old world charm in the middle of downtown Manhattan.  Keep in mind a few things: first, no flash is allowed, so it’s a particularly dark venue, photography-wise.  Also, no furniture can be moved, so what you see is what you get.  Second, the main room is very small, so it is only available for wedding parties of 60 or less.  The outside garden is great for cocktails (or for a ceremony if you wish), and the staff is wonderful.

Congee Village Reception

After taking a few photos in the back patio of the museum, we then moved on to Congee Village on the Bowery for a traditional multi-course feast.  Check out the small birds that were served along with the fruit and lobster salad!  During the meal, a traditional tea ceremony.  The ceremony involves the bride and groom showing respect to older family members by serving them cups of tea.  In exchange, the family members offer gifts of gold jewelry and money to the couple.  The dinner was capped off by a display of scrumptious cupcakes in such flavors as green tea and passion fruit.  Yum!

Want to see where it all began?  Check out photos from Catherine and Wes’s Brooklyn Bridge Park engagement shoot here.  Also, interested in seeing photos from another Merchant’s House Museum wedding I photographed?  Then check out images from Colleen and Sean’s wedding here.

Are you planning on throwing your own Attic Studios wedding?  Drop me a line and let’s talk about scheduling.

If you would like to see more images from my wedding photojournalism portfolio, then please visit my website — KellyWilliamsPhotographer.com.

Vendors

‘Getting ready’ hotel – Standard Hotel, Cooper Square

Ceremony & cocktail hour venue – Merchant’s House Museum

Reception venue – Congee Village

Cupcakes – Baked NYC