From Torrisi to Blue Hill: A Late September Wedding at Stone Barns with a Secret Supper Club twist
The night before, our couple's rehearsal dinner at Torrisi set the tone: warm, lively, and full of the people they love most. The next morning, we were headed north to Blue Hill at Stone Barns for a late September wedding of 115 guests.
The couple's vision for the wedding was rooted in the farm and garden setting, and it showed in every detail, starting with the flowers from Stonekelly, who also handled the event design.
The bride wore Danielle Frankel, and her bouquet was petite and full of movement. Stonekelly built it from white and cream blooms with touches of green, and the texture and looseness made it feel gathered from a garden. The groomsmen wore different brooches, each with a small sprig of greenery, a tailored detail that echoed the palette without competing with it.
Guests gathered in the courtyard for the ceremony facing the restaurant. The wedding party made their entrance through the archway, a dramatic moment! Stonekelly designed a growing aisle, with no visible vessels or containers and seemed to sprout from the ground, wispy and wild, taking their cues from the plantings already in the courtyard. They undulated down the entire length of the aisle and made a place that already felt alive feel even more so.
The chuppah felt like an extension of that aisle. It was covered in flowers but not heavy or bulky. Two of their grandparent’s tallits were hung from it, a quiet and meaningful touch. Underneath it all, the chuppah, the aisle, and every row of chairs, sat one huge sisal rug that grounded the ceremony.
The programmes were a favourite detail of mine. They were designed by Tinypine Press and carried a small illustration of Frog and Toad sitting together on a rock, a sweet, personal nod to the couple's story.
After the ceremony, guests moved into the restaurant for cocktail hour. With the beautiful weather, many spilled out onto the terrace to enjoy the early evening. Together with the team at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, we added a bakery experience and a grill station. Passed hors d'oeuvres kept arriving: vegetables straight from the farm, oyster with sweet pepper, fish croquette, a Donko donut, and a chickpea tart with kale and Sarvecchio. There was also a flax seed cracker with Badger Flame beet, chicken with upland rice, and a potato blini with smoked trout. The signature cocktails were a Peach Fashioned and a Golden Harvest, and a jazz trio with upright bass, keys, and sax gave the hour the right kind of ease.
For dinner, guests arrived to the upper hayloft, where Stonekelly paired bare wooden rectangular farm tables with cross-back chairs and natural cotton cushions. Each table was dressed with a wheat toned linen runner, which grounded the tablescape, and crisp white hemstitch napkins. The couple also chose a beautiful charger and a gently fluted water glass, small details that made the tables feel personal. Down the center of each table, the flowers undulated in a variety of vases and bottles, mostly clear glass with a few amber and brown-tinted pieces. Some held mixed florals, but most held a single type of bloom. Everything stayed low, with an up and down rhythm that kept the arrangements lively. Tucked among the flowers were little fruit moments: Bosc pears, small pomegranates, purple figs, champagne grapes, and lady apples, evoking Dutch still-life paintings. Cafe coloured taper candles in brass holders rose above the blooms in glass hurricanes with a scattering of cut glass and antique votives.
Tinypine Press also designed our menus, and they were one of my favourite touches at each place setting. Gold letterpress ink on a chocolate brown card was wrapped with a velvet ribbon embroidered with each guest's name, and a pheasant feather added a finishing accent that felt right at home on a farm table.
The menu from Blue Hill at Stone Barns was as seasonal as the tables. It opened with a Midnight Roma tomato, prepared in the style of a tartare with horseradish and capers, paired with the Clos Ste. Magdeleine 'Méditerranée Blanc' from Provence, 2023. Next came a lobster cannelloni with leeks and fennel, served with the Château de Pierreclos 'Au Grand Bussière' Saint-Véran from Burgundy, 2022. The main course was grass-fed beef with summer beans and tarragon, poured with the Château Brane-Cantenac 'Margaux de Brane' from Bordeaux, 2020. Dessert was the Blue Hill wedding cake, made with einkorn chiffon, hazelnuts, and Stone Barns honey, followed by passed sweets of buckwheat brownie, burnt honey panna cotta with berries, and s'more semifreddo. The band TNM from On The Move kept the energy up throughout dinner.
For the after party, the couple had something special in mind. They were inspired by The Nines, a timeless supper club and piano bar in downtown New York, and Stonekelly transformed the lower haybarn into a place that felt like a different world.
Cheetah-print carpeting covered the floors, and dramatic burgundy draping and faux burgundy-painted wall panels lined the walls, complete with mirrors and working sconces. Custom bars with red velvet upholstered panels and stools sat beside glossy black back bars with arches, lights, antiqued mirrors, and glass shelves. Maroon velvet sofas, chairs, and banquettes were scattered among occasional and cocktail tables, all lit by candlelight. Just outside, the giant sisal rug from the ceremony was relocated to anchor the outdoor portion of the party, a lovely way to carry the day's design full circle. I have never seen the haybarn transformed like this!
The Chris Norton Ensemble took the room over the top with a five-piece arrangement featuring Chris on lead vocals and trumpet, plus double bass, drums, guitar, and keys. Late-night bites from Blue Hill kept guests going, including fries with ketchup and mayo, chicken "nuggets" with honey mustard, and mac and cheese, along with espresso martinis and more Peach Fashioneds.
It was a day that honoured the place it happened: natural, warm, and a little wild, and then, after dark, unabashedly glamorous.
“We started working with Tzo Ai about a year before our wedding, and from the very beginning, she was calm, organized, and incredibly professional. It felt like our wedding was the only one Tzo Ai was planning given her attentiveness and care.
Tzo Ai allowed us to be involved in all the fun aspects of planning our wedding while dealing with the not so fun parts behind the scenes. She also recommended fantastic vendors for each part of the wedding and it was clear that working with those vendors was so great because they loved working with Tzo Ai! We loved that her opinions and recommendations weren’t about what was the most expensive / shiny, but what was genuinely the best for us as a couple. ”
venue: Blue Hill at Stone Barns | planning: Ang Weddings and Events | photography: Jenny Fu | videography: Tom Leung | flowers and design: Stonekelly Events | music: On The Move | hair: Marissa Molnar | makeup: Lisa Aharon | day of paperie: Tinypine Press | gown: Danielle Frankel | lighting staging: Pegasus