The Location – The Links at Union Vale 
Our wedding was at The Links at Union Vale, August 14, 2009. The venue was elegant but not too stuffy or formal. Also, with so many out of town guests, it was a must that we had the ceremony and reception at the same place. The unexpected bonus is that we could have our ceremony outside on the lush grounds. To top it all off, Teri is just the best event planner ever! She went above and beyond to make our dream day everything we wanted.
The Music – The DJ Solution
I couldn't ask for a better DJ/Master of ceremony than The DJ Solution. Jeff also played acoustic guitar during the ceremony and I just loved the classic yet funky vibe it brought to the moment. He took "classic" wedding songs and made them modern.
The Colors – Shades of Purple
I've always been a purple girl so I selected shades of purple, lavender and lilac as my accent colors but I wanted to balance the color by keeping everything else sophisticated and neutral with a black and white palette. I absolutely loved my plum purple callas against my true white dress.
The Flowers – Apple Valley Flowers in Poughkeepsie, NY
The idea for my bouquet came from a bridal magazine (although we modified the accent flowers slightly to fit my taste better). We had white stephanotis to mitigate the darkness of the calla lilies. It's cool to be inspired by ideas from magazines, online and other resources, but changing things up to make them unique for you makes it special.
Another of my favorite decorating details was our centerpieces. We had tall cylinder vases and at the bottom put large purple pebbles. Inside the vases we placed two long stemmed callas and for extra drama when the lights went down, we buried one water submergeable light inside the pebbles and put one flower light inside each bloom. The idea came from my mom's best friend who had seen a similar effect done at an event she previously attended. We took that idea and updated it using our color palette. Apple Valley Florist in Poughkeepsie did a great job of bringing our vision to life.
The Signature Cocktail
Even our Signature drink followed our purple palate! After trials, errors and many fun evenings, we finally came up with the perfect Signature drink (aka. The Special or 1977). It is a twist on the cosmopolitan martini! In our drink, we added more lemon juice to balance the cranberry juice and lighten the color of the drink up. The result was tasty and refreshing, especially on a hot summer evening.
The Cake – Pastry Garden
Our wedding cake was another Pastry Garden masterpiece! Hazelnut cake with alternating filling of chocolate mousse and raspberry mousse. The decoration was also inspired from lots of bridal searches online and in magazines. It was simple yet elegant with a white on white swirl design accented with lilac callas to tie back in with our theme.
One of my favorite moments of the day was the "groom sweep". It's a tradition from my husband 's native country Austria. I'm ecstatic that we were able to add an Austrian tradition to our American celebration. Not only did my husband and I have a blast doing it, but the guests had a hoot, too.
The Photos – Myles Studio *Photos in this post from the Links wedding are courtesy of Myles Studio. 
Myles from Myles Studio did a great job of making sure everyone looked fresh in the photos even in the hot August heat.
The Menus & Programs – Prime Print Shop in Hyde Park, NY
Printer Daniel Clarke of Prime Print Shop had incredible attention to detail that made everything from our menu cards to our programs really fit with our vision.
Our 2nd Wedding!
In addition to our August 14th ceremony and reception, we had a September 12, 2009 ceremony and reception in my husband's hometown for his friends and family who where unable to make the trip abroad. Given the season and location change, we decided to go with a more traditional Austrian style.
I wore a traditional Austrian dress, Dirndl. While my husband wore a traditional jacket, Tracht. We also went for warm fall colors like red, brown, green and orange. My bouquet was stunning with the most amazing and unique arrangement of flowers that fit my dress and day perfectly.
It's much more customary to go with live music for a wedding in Austria. Therefore, we hired a three member band for our reception. They had everyone dancing all
night long with traditional Austrian tunes as well as classic music from the 50s, 60s. As the night progress, we opened up a "club" area away from the main hall and one of my husband's friends spun the whole night long for people who wanted more modern tracks.
One of the major differences between an Austrian and American wedding is that in Austria the space is rented out for the entire evening. Therefore, it's not unusual for the reception to go into the early hours of the morning. Our party was no different, we finally made it to our room around 6am when the sun was coming up!
Courtney's Advice
It's normal for brides to consider every detail of the wedding but once the wedding days arrives, I suggest brides let go and enjoy every moment of their day!