Color and Joy Filled This Asbury Hotel Wedding in Asbury Park, New Jersey

Much like the vibrant murals that surrounded them at The Asbury Hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Lauren and Josh's wedding day was packed with joy, color and palpable emotion. "We got engaged in March of 2020, a mere week before the East Coast went in quarantine mode. So the months following set the precedent for wedding planning and how we pictured the day," explains Lauren. "There were a lot of plan pivots but when we ultimately landed on a date and location, the rest started to fall into place. Our relationship and individual personalities helped the wedding weekend take shape. We decided to get married at The Asbury Hotel, a hotel with a rooftop overlooking the ocean and an outdoor tented space in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The hotel itself has a funky vibe that fit our personality and the space allowed us to imagine how we would do a wedding in the world of COVID. It was also located in an area where guests would have the ability to come for the weekend and enjoy the beach, downtown stores and restaurants and have a weekend vacation after the long year of quarantine."

Lauren goes on to share that "once we had the location we had to pick a date and we finally settled on a date, June 13th (6/13). What is special about this date is the number, 613 which is specifically special for Jewish people as this is the number of mitzvahs (good deeds) found in the Torah. Getting married and starting a family are two of the 613 mitzvahs, so with that positive juju with us, we were off to planning! Overall, we wanted the wedding atmosphere to feel fun yet elegant. With this being the first event for our family and friends for a while, we wanted to make sure that our guests felt comfortable and just as excited as we were to have them there."

When it came to the design of their wedding day, Lauren and Joshua leaned into a "Greetings From Asbury Park" theme. "'Greetings From Asbury Park' is a commonly used tagline for the Jersey Shore beach town that has more of a downtown city vibe with a vibrant boardwalk. The tagline also is the album title’s for one of Asbury Park’s most celebrated musical artists, Bruce Springsteen. So we leaned into that theme." To start, their save-the-date showcased the tagline as part of their fun, retro design. On the wedding day, the couple further celebrated the "Greetings From Asbury Park" by having guests sign Bruce Springsteen's album by the same name as a guest book and Joshua even rocked custom Converse sneakers that included the phrase. The day's personalization wasn't limited to the inclusion of nods to "Greetings From Asbury Park," however. The couple served attendees Nutella pizza, had late-night bowling and even included a Mad Lib-inspired RSVP card as part of their invitation suite so guests could offer song recommendations. 

Looking back on the wedding day, Lauren shares that "one of the key highlights was when cocktail hour neared the end, three large garage doors owned to reveal the string lite tent. Since it was the summer, the golden hour sun shined into the space and through the clear top tent to reveal the garden greenery and wicker style lanterns that lined the tent's clear top. There was a mix of long rectangle and circle takes, that also had a mix of high and low flower bouquets of yellow, peach and white complements along with colored candles and antique goblets for drinking and gold silverware for eating. The inside space was a mirrored room that caught the reflection of a black and white checkered dance floor. The dance floor was met with hanging lanterns and guests were able to rest their dancing feet on velvet couches and chairs."