Some dates you have to earn. Dori and Ben married on Valentine’s Day at The Pierre, the black-tie New York hotel wedding in its purest form, a chuppah built from thousands of white and blush roses, an aisle of candlelight, and a dance floor that did not quiet down until well past midnight.

I’ve photographed a lot of rooms in this city. Very few carry themselves like The Pierre’s Rotunda, and very few couples carry a room like these two.

Getting Ready

The day started quietly on an upper floor of The Pierre, Dori with her gown hanging in the window light, Ben down the hall with his cufflinks and his groomsmen. Fifth Avenue was cold and gray outside; inside, everything was calm.

Dori in the bridal suite at The Pierre before her wedding
Dori in her robe beside her wedding gown at The Pierre
Dori reaching for her veil in the bridal suite
The groom’s tuxedo hanging in the suite at The Pierre
Ben getting ready in the mirror with his groomsman
Ben fastening his cufflinks
A detail of Ben’s watch and cufflinks
Ben getting ready, photographed in black and white
Dori’s heels, rings, and perfume at The Pierre
Dori in window light in her gown at The Pierre
Dori seated in her lace off-the-shoulder gown
A detail of the lace bodice of Dori’s gown
Dori at the window above Fifth Avenue in her wedding gown
Dori and Ben share a quiet embrace before the ceremony

Portraits Through The Pierre

If you have ever walked through The Pierre’s Rotunda, you know why photographers dream about it, a curved staircase wrapped in hand-painted murals, light that feels borrowed from another century. We had it to ourselves. Then a quick step out onto Fifth Avenue in February air, just long enough for the city to make its cameo.

Ben waiting for the first look in the lobby of The Pierre
Dori and Ben’s first look on the marble floor of The Pierre
Dori and Ben hand in hand in the lobby of The Pierre
Dori in her gown in a corridor of The Pierre
Dori and Ben in an archway at The Pierre
Ben kisses Dori beside the ceremony florals at The Pierre
Dori on the staircase of The Pierre’s Rotunda
Ben on the Rotunda staircase at The Pierre
Dori with her bouquet on the Rotunda staircase at The Pierre
Dori and Ben on the staircase of The Pierre’s Rotunda
Dori and Ben embrace on the Rotunda stairs
Dori’s gown trailing down the Rotunda staircase
Ben seated on the Rotunda stairs, in black and white
Dori and Ben on the Rotunda staircase in black and white
Dori beneath the hand-painted murals of The Pierre’s Rotunda
Dori in her full gown under the Rotunda’s painted ceiling
Dori and Ben embrace in a gilded hall at The Pierre
Dori walking with her cathedral veil at The Pierre
A detail of Dori’s veil and lace sleeves
Dori’s veil and bouquet, up close
Dori and Ben descending the stairs at The Pierre
Dori and Ben crossing Fifth Avenue in black and white
Dori and Ben on the sidewalk outside The Pierre
Ben kisses Dori outside The Pierre in February
Dori and Ben in the elevator at The Pierre, black and white
Dori and Ben hand in hand in a wood-paneled room at The Pierre
Dori seated with her train spread before the ceremony

The Ketubah & Bedeken

Before the aisle came the moments that give a Jewish wedding its weight, the ketubah signed in careful ink, the tisch, and the bedeken, where the whole room seemed to hold its breath at once.

Family and friends gathered before the ceremony at The Pierre
Ben signing the ketubah at The Pierre
Dori signing the ketubah
The tisch, photographed in black and white
The room during the signing, in black and white
Dori looks up at Ben during the bedeken
Dori and Ben’s hands, held tight, in black and white

The Ceremony

The Cotillion Room was transformed, a chuppah built entirely of white and blush roses, the aisle lined with candlelight and petals, the ketubah on an easel beside it. For a Valentine’s Day wedding it never once leaned on cliché; it just felt inevitable.

The rose chuppah and candlelit aisle in the Grand Ballroom of The Pierre
The processional down the candlelit aisle
Ben waiting under the rose chuppah
Dori walking down the aisle with her parents, black and white
Dori and Ben under the chuppah with their parents
The ring exchange under the chuppah
The rabbi’s blessing under the chuppah
Hands and tallit during the ceremony, black and white
Dori and Ben laughing under the chuppah, black and white
Dori and Ben under the chuppah, seen from behind
The chuppah of white and blush roses at The Pierre
The ceremony under the rose chuppah at The Pierre
The chuppah in candlelight
Dori and Ben’s first kiss under the chuppah
A just-married embrace
Dori and Ben walk back up the aisle as husband and wife
The recessional in black and white
Dori and Ben kiss in the aisle after the ceremony

The Reception

Then cocktails upstairs in the Regency, and the Ballroom let loose, a first dance to “Kiss Me,” color everywhere, a hora that went on and on, chairs in the air, a cake dressed in pink orchids, a midnight mazinka for Dori’s parents as their last child married, and Dori in a fringe dress and sneakers, dancing like the night might never end.

A centerpiece of roses and candlelight at the reception
Vivid florals and crystal in the ballroom at The Pierre
Dori and Ben in the Grand Ballroom of The Pierre
Dori and Ben’s first dance at The Pierre
Dori and Ben reach for each other on the dance floor
Dori and Ben dancing in the ballroom
The hora fills the dance floor at The Pierre
Dori and Ben lifted on chairs during the hora
Dori raised above the crowd during the hora
A spin on the dance floor
The father-daughter dance, in black and white
Ben dances with his mother
The wedding cake dressed in pink orchids
Dori and Ben cut the cake
Smiles at the cake cutting
A kiss at the cake table
Dori and Ben on the balcony under the painted ceiling
A quiet kiss away from the party at The Pierre
An embrace during the reception
Dori in her second look, a fringe dress
Dori swaps her heels for sneakers
Dori in her fringe dress and sneakers, ready to dance
The dance floor in motion at The Pierre
The energy of the dance floor
The late-night dance floor
Ben dips Dori on the dance floor
Dori and Ben in the blur of the last dances
The party in full swing at The Pierre

The Vendors

A day like this one is a team sport. Endless gratitude to the crew who built it.

  • Venue · The Pierre, A Taj Hotel
  • Planning · Lou Ann Reed
  • Photography & Film · Alex Knight Studio
  • Florals & Décor · Blossom Heath Florist & Event
  • Band · Hank Lane Music, Frank Simmons
  • Hair · Halli Bivona
  • Makeup · Anastasiia Lysenko
  • Lighting · Frost Lighting
  • Catering · Northern Valley Caterers
  • Officiants · Rabbi David Seth Kirshner & Cantor Israel Singer

Dori & Ben, thank you for trusting us with a day this beautiful. Happy anniversary every February 14th; you picked a date the whole world celebrates with you.

More Manhattan weddings: see Gotham Hall, the landmark Midtown ballroom, photographed in full.

Planning a wedding at The Pierre or another New York City hotel? I’d love to hear about it.