Tell us a little about yourselves!
Erik and I are two Wisconsin natives who were set up by a mutual friend over 8 years ago in New York City. I remember before we first met, my friend said “If you don’t date, you’ll be best friends,” and that that was the best endorsement I’d ever heard. We have called Greenpoint, Brooklyn our home for almost 7 years and actually moved around the corner from the restaurant where we had our first date. When it came to planning our wedding, we wanted to keep it small and personal - blending a stylish dinner party vibe with our woodsy Wisconsin setting.
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
One of the most important things we considered when planning our wedding was making sure my 95 year old grandfather could attend. Our family cabin is about a 45 minute drive from where my family lives in Wisconsin, so it’s a meaningful location as well as a convenient one for him. My grandparents bought the cabin nearly 40 years ago and my siblings and I practically grew up there. It is the beating heart at the center of my family. I also feel closest to my grandmother, who passed away three years ago, when I am swimming in the lake at the cabin. On top of all of the magic and importance of the cabin, it didn’t have any other bookings (lol) and we could have the wedding there free of charge and quickly!
How many guests did you have?
It was just our close families - 16 total guests including us.
What was your budget?
We chose to have two celebrations - our ceremony with family in Wisconsin and a party in October in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with family and friends. We knew the Brooklyn party would cost more between the two, so we wanted to keep the Wisconsin ceremony cost low. We are lucky that my mother is a florist and her wedding gift to us was doing all the beautiful flowers. We ended up spending about $8,500 all in for the wedding in Wisconsin - which was below our max budget for the day of $10,000.
Tell us about your outfits.
Haley : We got engaged in December 2022. In March of 2023 Erik and I decided we were going to have our wedding in August, giving us 5 months to get everything together. This narrowed my dress search considerably since I either needed to place a rush order or find something ready made. I did what I jokingly called a “sweeps week” in April where I had six different bridal dress appointments around the city after which I needed to pick a dress and be done with it.
I randomly decided to pop into Anthroplogie to try on their wedding dresses and that’s where I ended up finding my dress. I loved the impact of the a-line shape mixed with the lux simplicity of the pleated fabric. And I really do love a full sleeve. I could just immediately picture it at the cabin more than any other dress I tried on. And it shipped within a week!
For my shoes - I really had silver stuck in my head since I knew white shoes would get trashed at the cabin. So it was a choice of function disguised as style. For my earrings - I last-minute decided to wear a pair of Mejuri pearl earrings I already owned that were given to me as a birthday gift by my grandfather a few years ago. For my veil, I went with an extremely simple floor length veil from Etsy. I felt like it was missing something so at the last minute on our wedding day I took some ribbon and tied a bow and pinned it above my veil.
Erik: Erik’s style is extremely utilitarian in nature, but always comes together in a cool and focused way. He gravitated towards color for the wedding and chose a beautiful light blue suit from Suit Supply. He also chose to get a pair of brown shoes he already owned polished and resoled instead of buying a new pair.
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
We wanted the wedding to feel personal to us as a couple. Every step of the way we asked ourselves: Do we actually want/like this? Does it resonate with us as a couple on a personal level? It’s amazing how much falls away when you ask yourself these questions. For example, we didn’t sleep separately before the wedding. One of our most beloved traditions is having coffee together in the morning and we wanted to do just that on the morning of our wedding. It helped us start the day feeling like ourselves.
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
Erik and I are both proud vegans and it was important to us that everything around our wedding reflected our beliefs and lifestyle. We held our rehearsal dinner at The Immigrant Restaurant at the American Club in Kohler, WI where they offer a full vegan tasting menu. For the wedding dinner, we were incredibly lucky that my mother’s friend has a vegetarian and vegan friendly catering business locally in Sheboygan, WI, Wild Carrot Cuisine, and was able to provide a delicious summer vegan menu for us and our family to enjoy.
An important part of summers at the cabin is taking wine cruises before sunset. Erik and I wanted to honor that tradition by taking a champagne cruise on The Queen Mary, our motorized rowboat, right after the ceremony. It felt like the perfect way to have a “just married” style send off while also getting some alone time before cocktail hour and dinner. One of our most cherished memories from the day was a group of kids from another cabin on the lake running down to a pier and yelling “Congratulations” to us while we were out on the boat.
Champagne and sabering bottles of champagne is a very big deal in my family and something that Erik’s family has adopted through the course of our relationship. We brought one of our sabers from home (and have been gifted two more since the wedding) and used it to saber our first bottle of champagne as a married couple off the side of the boat during our wine cruise.
Wine is my family’s drink of choice and something that we can all get a little snobby about. Erik and I are obsessed with our local wine shop in Greenpoint, Dandelion Wine, so we worked with them and purchased our wine for the wedding there and drove it all with us to Wisconsin. We had to have a little piece of Brooklyn with us in Wisconsin.
We wanted to use things that we already owned as much as possible throughout the day. Our utensils were a mix of pieces we use for family meals at the cabin along with my great grandmother’s silver. The champagne coups we used were a combination of cabin glasses and glasses from my mother’s house. It made small moments feel familiar and warmer than if we’d rented everything.
Any tips for couples getting married?
Do what you want and not what you think others expect. A friend of mine said “weddings are a portrait of a couple at that time” and that really stuck with me. Make it personal.
Don’t worry about your choices being timeless! I think people neutralize their taste or ideas to make them more classic and timeless. Do what you like, incorporate elements that light you up even if they’re trendy or niche. It may be out of style in 10 years, but it’ll probably be back in style in 30, so what difference does it make?!
Lastly, you’re not the hosts - you’re the guests of honor. Even if you’re planning your own wedding, do everything you can do to switch into guest mode once the wedding starts.
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
I am Mociun’s biggest fan! I never saw engagement rings I could imagine wearing until I stumbled across Caitlin Mociun’s work when I moved to Williamsburg 9 years ago. When it came time to try on rings, it was the only place I wanted to go and the only place I did go. Her designs are playful, geometric, and original. We ended up getting our wedding bands from Mociun as well as my engagement ring. I think her work is the epitome of bridal cool.
The stars aligned when I emailed Frankie Isabel Photograph four months before the wedding and she was available for our date (she wasn’t even taking 2023 inquiries anymore)! With such a small wedding celebration, it was important to us to have someone there who could capture the day with style but also feel like a part of the family and move around seamlessly with everyone. I knew after my first call with Frankie that she was a dream match for us and she did not disappoint.
I have to give my mother, Debra Kosup, extra praise for the flowers. She is an exceptionally talented creative (she sold a hat and gloves set to Prince back in the 80s when she had a shop on Canal Street in Manhattan) and everything she does is art. Even though we had a cabin wedding, I did not want any of the flowers to read as country wildflowers. She incorporated tropicals and color and made our wedding day feel luxurious and chic.
Photographer: Frankie Isabel Photography @frankieisabelphotography | Ceremony + Reception Location: Family Cabin in Campbellsport, WI | Celebrant: Bride’s best friend, Trevor Seefeldt | Styling + Planning: by the Bride | Hire: All Star Rentals | Flora: Bride’s Mother | Makeup: by the Bride ( online tutorial by Kelli Anne Sewell @makeupxka) | Hair: Bride with help from her sister | Catering + Beverages: Wild Carrot Cuisine @wildcarrotcuisine2 | Cake: Wild Flora Vegan Bakery @wild_flora_bakery| Stationery : Papier @papier | Decor: Amazon, Etsy, and thrifted locally | Bride’s Ceremony Dress: Anthroplogie @anthropologieweddings Reception Dress: Doen @shopdoen | Groom’s Suit + Tie: Suit Supply @suitsupply | Engagement + Wedding Rings: Mociun @mociun | Shoes: Larroude @larroude + Zara @zara | Earrings: Mejuri @mejuri | Bracelets: Dorsey @dorseyofficial | Veil: Etsy @etsy | Sunglasses: Crap Eyewear @crapeyewear