Julia and Phil // The Inn at West Settlement Wedding, Roxbury, NY // New York Wedding Planner

January 15, 2015 Katie Wannen

This wedding was incredibly special to me. I know Julia and Phil from my college days in NYC. Julia and I performed together, both dance and musical theatre, and Phil was our tech guru, making us look and sound our best. They got in touch with me all these years later asking if I’d help them find their venue and solidify their budget, as well as do month-of coordination. Julia and Phil wanted a full-on wedding weekend in the country, so we scoured the NYC region looking for great barns that could offer multiple venues for various events throughout the weekend.

They settled on the Inn at West Settlement in Roxbury, NY. I helped coordinate their rehearsal dinner and firepit hang the night before their wedding, their entire wedding day, and their morning-after brunch. It was an exhausting but exhilarating and wonderful weekend. I have to mention that despite all my hard work, none of it would have happened without their awesome family and friends who really pitched in to make this a community event. Plus, Julia and Phil are both my ex-theatre type-A dream clients and were organized beyond belief!

The weather cooperated and the whole weekend was fantastic. Julia and Phil started with a beautiful outdoor ceremony that included live music, some relatives as their officiants, readings from friends, and a handfasting. Their cocktail hour then extended into some wonderful Irish dancing out on the lawn with fabulous live music from a fiddle and pipe player. Family style dinner in the barn followed, along with toasts and a potluck pie station. And then there was the dancing. They hired a stellar band out of Brooklyn, The Blue Vipers, who KILLED it. Julia is a dancer. A legit, working artist - so she and Phil had a lovely choreographed first dance, followed by a crowd that couldn’t keep off the dance floor. The caterer and staff were based out of the downstairs level of the barn and I’m telling you, the stomping and hooting coming from the ceiling above made me think the barn might collapse!