Moody Valentine's Day Styled Shoot at The Penrose UES

Feb 7

This is the first of hopefully many more shoots to come! The goal of this shoot is to give you some ideas for wedding color combinations, floral arrangements, and non-traditional cakes and wedding venues that you wouldn't necessarily think of at first.

For this inspiration shoot, I partnered with some of my favorite NYC wedding vendors to bring you a nontraditional take on Valentine's day. We went with a darker, more sophisticated color palette, rather than the traditional light pink, white and red heart-filled, cheesy stuff we're all used to seeing this time of year. This color palette filled with rich, ruby, emerald and sapphire jewel tones would be perfect for a winter wedding, or with a couple of tweaks, could be used for a wedding any season of the year.

Venue: The Penrose, Florals + Styling: Doe + Jay Studio, Antique Jewelry: Leigh Jay Nacht, Cake: Clementine Bakery, Video: by my husband, Dom of Simple Love Films

The Penrose, one of my favorite restaurants on the upper east side, was gracious enough to let us take over their space. The atmosphere is cozy and welcoming with its vintage accents, and the cocktail menu and food menus are equally impressive. Dom and I actually attended a friend's wedding at The Penrose a couple of years ago and it was so much fun. I love when couples pick one of their favorite restaurants to host their intimate wedding. One major bonus in doing this: you know the food and drinks will be on point, which can either be a hit or miss at traditional catering halls.

Maybe I'm a little biased because my own engagement ring came from Leigh Jay Nacht, but Leigh's vintage engagement rings and antique replicas are amazing. Click over to his website and tell me you don't get sucked into his amazing collection. When I went to pick out rings for this shoot, I may have asked him to hold a couple of wedding bands for me...😁

Who says you have to have a white wedding cake? I'm obsessed with this red-frosted (vegan and gluten free) chocolate cake from Clementine Bakery in Brooklyn!

A nice Valentine's Day gift doesn't have to set you back. Leigh Jay Nacht has many replica and antique inspired earrings like these starting under $200.

Doe + Jay never ceases to amaze me with her centerpieces, and I love how she made this tablescape look like a Baroque still life.

I immediately fell in love with this Leigh Jay Nacht antique engagement ring, circa 1900! Oh, the stories it could tell...

Skye of Doe + Jay designed this gorgeous bouquet that includes soft pink secret garden roses, hot pink ranunculus, white peonies, deep purple and white and pink anemones, eucalyptus, jasmine, ferns, privet berries, dried protea and sultry, dark red spray roses as a very subtle nod to your traditional Valentine's bouquet. Skye says "it's hard to use red roses these days because everyone wants to hate them, but I think there are no bad flowers." I'll be honest, I'm the first to hate on roses, especially red ones. But Skye has a way of incorporating them into her arrangements that makes me fall in love with them.

If you need to grab flowers last minute next week, Doe + Jay will have Love on The Run small arrangements for sale for $25 at Dandelion Wine in Greenpoint on February 13th and 14th (while supplies last).