Welcome Party at Red Hat on the River
With their wedding taking place at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Victoria and Fred wanted their Friday welcome party to feel like a departure from the formality ahead. The priority was simple: an outdoor setting, live music, and a relaxed atmosphere where guests could ease into the weekend. Red Hat on the River in Irvington was a natural fit.
We transformed the restaurant's outdoor terrace for the evening, removing the existing furniture and replacing it with comfy lounge seating and large farm tables to encourage guests to settle in and stay a while. Market umbrellas offered shade where needed, while the Hudson River and its bridges provided the kind of backdrop that requires very little else. Guests arrived to a cocktail reception with passed hors d'oeuvres and a chilled seafood station, with the band already playing on the terrace.
For the entrance, a vintage red truck was dressed with overflowing apple crates and seasonal flowers. It was a nod to fall and a preview of the farm-to-table aesthetic that would carry through to the wedding. A candy cart from Bonbon gave guests the chance to fill their own bags, a fun touch that consistently generates a lot of conversation.
Red Hat opened their rooftop for the evening, which allowed guests to move freely between the terrace, the indoor dining room, and the roof. Inside, we kept the design restrained: white linens and a white and green floral palette that complemented the venue's existing banquettes and artwork without competing with them.
For dinner, guests were treated to a robust buffet that felt fitting for the relaxed, convivial tone of the evening: Caesar salad, rigatoni, Maine lobster rolls, chicken Milanese, hanger steak, roasted potatoes, and broccoli rabe. It was the kind of spread that has something for everyone. The meal wrapped up with passed desserts, a nice finishing touch that kept guests mingling rather than anchored to their seats.
The welcome party is often treated as an afterthought in the larger scope of wedding planning. For Victoria and Fred, it was an opportunity to set an intention for the entire weekend, and it did exactly that.
