Some weddings announce their palette the second you walk in. Emma and Adam’s was pink — peony pink, garden-rose pink, blush draping and sage green — carried from the invitation suite all the way to a chuppah built entirely of flowers. They married at Glen Island Harbour Club in New Rochelle on a soft May afternoon, with more than 350 guests, fifteen bridesmaids, fifteen groomsmen, and Long Island Sound on every side.

Getting Ready

Emma got ready downstairs in the Paradise Suite, Adam upstairs in the Rose Suite — the two of them trading letters before they saw each other. Hers she read at the foot of the club’s curved staircase, gown pooled across the marble, in the kind of quiet that only exists in the hour before everything starts.

Flat lay of the invitation suite with gold Hebrew and English lettering, blush peonies, pink buckle heels, and the rings.
Pale pink bridal shoes resting on the embroidered gown before the bride dresses.
The bride has her makeup finished in the Paradise Suite on the morning of the wedding.
The bride sits at the foot of the curved staircase at Glen Island Harbour Club reading a letter from the groom, her gown spread across the marble.
The groom fastens his bow tie and suspenders while getting ready in the Rose Suite upstairs.
The groom in a black tuxedo and kippah reads a letter from the bride before the first look.
Bridal portrait in an off-the-shoulder ivory gown holding a full bouquet of blush peonies.

A First Look on the Staircase

They did their first look on the grand staircase, which is exactly the right place for one here — Adam waiting at the bottom, Emma coming down through all that gold and marble, and then the part where nobody says anything for a second. From there we had the whole afternoon for portraits.

The groom waits at the bottom of the grand staircase as the bride comes down for their first look.
The groom turns to see the bride for the first time on the grand staircase at Glen Island Harbour Club.
The bride and groom reach for each other at the foot of the staircase during their first look.
The couple embrace beneath the gold banister after seeing each other for the first time.
The groom holds the bride close during their first look, her blush peony bouquet at her side.

Portraits Around the Island

Glen Island is one of the few venues we shoot where you can walk out the door and be at the water in under a minute. We took the long way: the doorway, the seawall, the garden path with the fountain behind it, and a weeping willow that has been quietly making photographers look good for decades. May had the dogwoods going and the whole place green.

The groom kisses the bride's hand in the doorway of the club, her train sweeping the threshold.
Black and white portrait of the bride and groom together in the light of the club windows.
The bride and groom stand forehead to forehead along the stone seawall with Long Island Sound behind them.
The bride and groom walk a garden path on the Glen Island grounds with the fountain behind them and dogwoods in bloom.
Black and white photo of the couple walking the curved seawall path, the bride's long train sweeping behind her.
Black and white portrait of the couple beneath a weeping willow, her hand resting on his cheek.

Kabbalat Panim

Guests arrived to a kabbalat panim that felt like its own event — Emma seated beneath blush draping and walls of peonies, her bridesmaids dancing in around her while the room filled.

The bride walks the club hallway surrounded by her bridesmaids in blush gowns.
Bridesmaids cheer and dance around the seated bride during the kabbalat panim.
The bride is seated beneath blush draping and banks of pink and white peonies during the kabbalat panim as guests dance around her.

The Tisch, the Ketubah & the Bedeken

Upstairs, Adam held his tisch — the ketubah signed, the singing loud, the room packed shoulder to shoulder. Then the doors opened and he was danced down to Emma for the bedeken. There is no moment at a wedding quite like it: a few hundred people pressed in, singing, and the two of them completely still in the middle of it.

The groom signs the ketubah surrounded by family and friends at the tisch.
Men sing and celebrate around the groom at the tisch before the bedeken.
The groom leans in to the bride at the bedeken, surrounded by family and bridesmaids in sage green and blush.
The groom in his white kittel stands beside the newly veiled bride, who holds her peony bouquet.
The veiled bride smiles beside the groom in his kittel just after the bedeken.

A Chuppah Made of Flowers

The ceremony room at Glen Island is wrapped in windows on three sides, which meant the chuppah — peonies, garden roses, and hydrangea packed from floor to canopy with amaranthus trailing down — had the Sound behind it the whole time. Emma came down the aisle at early evening with her veil filling the room behind her. Adam wore a white kittel. The glass broke, the room came up off its feet, and they were danced out.

Guests rise as the processional begins down the white aisle toward the floral chuppah.
The bride walks the aisle with her veil sweeping behind her toward the pink and white floral chuppah.
The groom in his kittel walks with the veiled bride beneath hanging greenery and blooms.
The bride leans in to a pink peony on the floral chuppah, her veil falling over her shoulder.
The bride beneath the floral arch, her veil catching the light from the windows.
The couple embrace beneath a chuppah built entirely of pink and white peonies, roses, and hydrangea, with the water visible through the windows behind them.
The full ceremony beneath the floral chuppah with guests filling the windowed room.
The ceremony seen through a wooden window frame: gold chiavari chairs, a full room of guests, and the floral chuppah beneath the domed ceiling.
Close-up of the ring being placed on the bride's finger beneath the chuppah.
Black and white photo of the ring ceremony beneath the chuppah, the groom in his kittel.
The bride and groom kiss beneath the pink floral chuppah as guests look on.
The bride and groom embrace under the chuppah as guests applaud around them.

The Reception

Emma changed into a short embroidered dress for the dancing, which turned out to be the correct decision — the band played, then the DJ took over, then the dessert stations opened and nobody sat down again. Her parents spoke. There was cake, a candy bar that did serious business, and a last dance where Adam picked her clean up off the floor. The party ran late into the night.

The reception tables set with tall crystal candelabras and pink and white florals.
The hora in full swing, the bride's veil sweeping through a crowd of dancing guests.
Guests crowd around the bride and groom on the dance floor, arms raised mid-celebration.
The couple cut a white tiered cake trimmed with pink garden roses and peonies, the bride now in a short embroidered floral dress.
The groom feeds the bride a candy at the late-night sweets station on the dance floor.
Black and white photo of the groom lifting the bride off the floor at the end of the night.

The Vendor Team

Planning a Wedding at Glen Island?

We’ve photographed this venue in nearly every season — where the light lands on the seawall, how long the walk to the lagoon really takes, which room holds a chuppah best. Start with our Glen Island Harbour Club venue guide, browse more recent weddings, or inquire about your date.