A gospel choir and a moss portal for Victoria and Fred at Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Blue Hill at Stone Barns is one of those venues that already does most of the work for you. It's a working farm, a restaurant, and a beautiful event space. The design conversation with Victoria and Fred started less with "what do we want to build" and more with "what do we want to bring out." Their brief was clear: and a day that felt warm and unfussy from start to finish. No stiff formality. They wanted every guest to feel genuinely welcomed, not managed through a program.
You could see that intention before the wedding day even arrived. Their save the dates were hand calligraphed by Paperfinger, with each guest's name written individually rather than printed, which meant every piece of mail felt like it had actually been made for the person opening it. The invitations followed, designed by Linden Illustration and bordered in flowers, fruit, beetles, and ladybugs, with a die-cut artichoke insert tucked inside for a bit of personality. It was a small thing, but it told guests exactly what kind of day to expect: detailed, a little playful, not precious about being perfect.
Normally wedding couples are permitted to arrive 3 hours before invite time at Blue Hill at Stone Barns for pre-ceremony portraits and the ceremony rehearsal. We arranged for an early arrival time so that Victoria and her closest friends could have their hair and makeup done in the private dining room with views of the herb garden. The ladies even wandered up to the vegetable fields in their casual getting ready attire and took a peek at the event spaces while vendors were loading in and setting up. It made for some really cute candids!
Ceremony
Victoria had always wanted a gospel choir at her ceremony, and we made it happen! Sourced through 45 Riots, who provided all the music entertainment throughout the wedding. The ceremony itself took place outdoors in the courtyard, on a gorgeous fall day. It ended up being a standout moment of the entire weekend. She walked down the aisle to the gospel choir performing “Make You Feel My Love”, and the whole courtyard went completely still in this magical moment. For the joyful recessional song “All You Need Is Love”, the guests really got into it and stayed to enjoy the full performance.
Bourgeon designed the flowers and built an English garden style installation running the length of the aisle, made up of grasses, plants, foliage and seasonal blooms. Victoria and Fred stood on a custom platform with flowers that grew up out of the ground to form the ceremony's focal point. Those same arrangements were later reworked into the upper hallway for dinner and the lower haybarn for the after party, so the flowers could be enjoyed for longer.
Cocktail Reception
From the ceremony, guests moved into the restaurant and out onto the terrace overlooking the vegetable fields at Stone Barns, which is about as good a setting as a cocktail hour gets. There was a grill station serving beet dogs (mini sausages made of beets and pork), a full bakery spread, and passing trays of hors d'oeuvres. These included chickpea tart, savoury donko donut (my favourite), buckwheat burger with tomato, potato and habanada, seeded cracker with charred cheese, whole wheat cracker with summer squash, polenta and pastrami, and vegetables from the farm. Two signature cocktails rounded things out. It was a lot of food, but none of it felt fussy, just genuinely good bites that kept people talking and moving.
Dinner
Guests were welcomed into the dining room through a moss and wisteria installation Bourgeon built around the upper hayloft doorway, mounded moss and tangled bare wisteria in a mix of green and dark foliage. We also brought in chairs for both the ceremony and dinner, which sounds like a small swap on paper but changed the character of both spaces dramatically.
The setup was all long tables decorated with centerpieces built from less expected flowers: clematis, alliums, begonia leaves, berries, scabiosa and moss. Watercolour beet place cards and custom menus sat on green napkins at each setting.
Dinner ran four courses, each paired with wine. First, a summer fruit and vegetable course with smoked farmer's cheese, paired with a Provence white. Then Maine halibut with corn and clam chowder, followed by grass-fed beef with ratatouille alongside a Margaux. Dessert was Blue Hill wedding cake of einkorn chiffon with stone fruits and Stone Barns honey. Later on mini desserts were passed including a buckwheat brownie, burnt honey panna cotta with berries and the all time favourite s’mores. A twelve-piece band from 45 Riots played throughout, which is exactly the energy Victoria and Fred asked for from the start: full of music, never stiff, never a lull in music except for the dinner toasts.
After Party
Once dinner wrapped, guests were invited downstairs to the lower Haybarn for an after party. A DJ took over under a disco ball, and late-night savory snacks like a fried chicken sandwich kept people going well past dinner. We brought in lounge furniture both inside the haybarn and out in the courtyard, so guests could keep dancing or peel off for a quieter conversation under the night sky. It was the loosest, most unbuttoned stretch of the night by design, and it was the right way to close out a wedding.
Looking back, what made this wedding work wasn't any single big gesture. It was that every layer, from a calligraphed name on a save the date card, to a gospel choir for the ceremony, to a moss portal into dinner, was chosen because it actually meant something to Victoria and Fred, not because it was expected. That's the version of “elegant” we're often chasing: a day that feels considered without ever feeling too formal.
“We cannot thank Tzo Ai and her team enough for the exceptional service & support she provided throughout our wedding planning journey. From the moment we started working together until our wedding day (a whopping 2 year planning process!), she went above and beyond in every aspect.
Tzo Ai’s communication was outstanding. No email was left unanswered for over 12 hours. She eased our numerous questions with grace, patience, and expertise, and had extensive knowledge of the greater New York vendor & venue landscape. One of the many things we appreciated about Tzo Ai was her extremely flexible approach to vendor selection - as long as she was able to vet them properly, she was completely open to working with vendors we suggested.
On the wedding day, her presence was invaluable. A few of our friends even commented on how on top of it she was and how put together she looked with her headset! She managed the timeline flawlessly, ensuring that everything ran smoothly while we enjoyed every moment with our loved ones. It was a relief to know that everything was in her hands, and we wholeheartedly recommend their services to any couple looking for a dedicated and talented planner.”
planning: Ang Weddings and Events | venue: Blue Hill at Stone Barns | photo: Heather Waraksa | video: Mike Zhu Films | flowers: Bourgeon | save the date: Paperfinger | invitation and day of paperie: Linden Illustration | music: 45 Riots | hair: Liam Carey | makeup: Alexa Rae | lighting: Pegasus | stylist: Gabrielle Hurwitz | gowns: Danielle Frankel, One of | Rentals: Highstyle Event Rentals, Party Rental Ltd, Patina | transport: Leros