For real wedding couple Kristine and Justin, their goal for their wedding was to do something unusual. The NYC-based lovebirds wanted to keep things as fun and low-stress as possible, so decided on a secret elopement with just 6 guests, planned in as many days. The pair said 'I do'  in style on the rooftop of their neighbourhood hotel, The Maritime Hotel in downtown Manhattan, followed by a tropical-themed surprise celebration at 501 Union with their nearest and dearest a few months later. And with the help of a dream team of wedding suppliers, and Sylvie Rosokoff of Sylvie the Camera behind the lens, the double celebration went off without a hitch!

Bride Kristine hails from Huntington in New York, and Groom Justin from Stamford in Connecticut. The pair met in 2007 while at a 4th of July party in Huntington. Kristine fills us in, "I was playing wiffle ball (a variant of baseball played with a plastic perforated ball!) and apparently I hit a few bombs that caught Justin’s attention. Justin was there visiting his best friend from college, who is my friend’s older brother. We were friends for two years before we started dating officially."

For the ceremony, Kristine wore a dreamy, long-sleeved, floral dress by Cynthia Rowley. Kristine worked for Cynthia Rowley at the time and the designer made her a bespoke wedding dress for her elopement - how special!

This couple's engagement was anything but conventional. Kristine tells us, "We danced around the proposal topic but didn’t have frequent talks about the future, even though we dated for eight years. But then, we went to Greece and Justin casually popped the question, in his own way, which didn’t include a ring or an actual proposal. So yeah, I was a bit taken aback! I’ve never been the girl who dreamt about her wedding, but I suddenly thought about not dancing with my Dad and I started to tear up. After some back and forth (and a few drinks), he finally sold me on the idea of an elopement when said, 'I don’t want you to be my fiancé, I just want you to be my wife.' So, together, we decided we would have a secret elopement with just our parents as our witnesses, surprise all our family and friends, and throw a party later on."

Kristine adds, "while I was excited about our secret elopement plan, I didn’t know when or how it was going to happen and I surprisingly I didn’t spend much time planning it in my head. Then, on a completely random Saturday night, when my stomach was in knots and I felt like I might die from the Chinese food I ate, he turned to me and said, 'Do you want to get married this Saturday?' Since we planned it in 6 days, I set my expectations very low but somehow, it just all worked out. It also made it more fun and adventurous. People still thought we were insane, though. Justin conveniently left for a business trip the day after we decided, so we pretty much planned it over the phone.'

Kristine adds, "In a matter of two days, we assembled a dream team of people who were miraculously available and totally down with it. And while I convinced him on the ring, it wasn’t even finished in time for the elopement, so we bought matching rings outside of City Hall instead."

With no time to waste, the couple local venue The Maritime Hotel in downtown Manhattan for their wedding ceremony. "Justin and I had lived in the West Village for six years together, so picking The Maritime Hotel felt right," Kristine says. She adds, "I walked in five days before and asked if I could get married in a suite and they were down to make it happen. There was a Nor'easter (a storm along the East Coast of North America) the day before, so we were crossing our fingers and toes that it would clear up. And it did! It was a little chilly but it turned out to be a beautiful day. It was just the six of us. His parents, my parents and us."

Reminiscing on her favourite part of the day, Kristine says, "having just our parents there as our witnesses and sharing such an intimate day with them made it that much more special for us. There were no distractions and it was all about Justin and I."

Kristine's very sensible advice for engaged couples is, "don’t try to control and plan every single detail or you won’t enjoy the moment."

After the ceremony, the couple were able to spend time with their photographer, Sylvie, taking photos around the neighbourhood.

A few months later, Kristine and Justin held a surprise reception celebration for friends and family at 501 Union in Brooklyn, a cool event space in the heart of Brooklyn.

Their reception featured a pizza truck, an Affogato dessert station featuring RISE coffee and lots of dancing!

Kristine rocked a ruffle-sleeve lace dress from BHLDN for the reception celebration, and we love Justin's shoe change too!

After the celebrations, the couple headed to Africa for a (pre-Covid!) honeymoon, which they highly recommend. "We did a 10-day safari in two locations and then ended up in Zanzibar, and hung out on the beach for 5 days. It was epic," Kristine says.

Thanks so much to Kristine and Justin for sharing their epic secret elopement and surprise wedding celebrations wedding with us, and to Sylvie Rosokoff for providing the beautiful imagery! There are lots more photographs in the gallery below.