A Contemporary, Classic Wedding at Garner Arts Center in West Haverstraw, New York
For their late fall nuptials, Lindsay Puchalsky and Joseph Buxbaum planned an elegant yet understated affair that played up their venue’s unique rustic-industrial aesthetic and artistic flair. The pair chose the Garner Arts Center to host the event, a 19th-century mill turned nonprofit interdisciplinary arts center complete with art galleries, studios, warehouses and a brewery. “The gallery where our ceremony and reception took place is a loft-style warehouse with a ton of exposed brick and wood joist ceilings that we absolutely loved, so we didn’t feel it necessary to dress the space up much beyond what already existed,” Lindsay says. The pair kicked things off with a traditional Jewish ceremony. To put a personal twist on the day, they wore their grandparents’ wedding bands and did the breaking of the glass together to represent their mutual respect for one another. “Traditionally, Jewish ceremonies happen under a chuppah, which is a canopy with a covered top and no walls to signify a home that is open on all sides for hospitality,” Lindsay says. “The chuppah that we used was borrowed from our best friends who had gotten married several months before us. It was so special to share the same ‘home’ with our closest friends on our wedding day.” After the “I dos,” the newlyweds treated their guests to a feast of their favorite foods: tacos, dumplings, bánh mì and pasta. The fully stocked bar also featured beer from Industrial Arts Brewery, a local brewery housed within the Garner Arts Center complex. In lieu of a traditional wedding cake, the couple served up a selection of apple pie pops, cake shooters and cake pops. Long reception tables created an intimate, family-dinner-inspired ambience, with string light and bouquets of seasonal and local florals delivering the sophisticated and subtle look the couple was after.