A Montauk Celebration That Blends Coastal Style With a Love Story Born by the Sea

By Kevin Harson2 September 2025

The essence of a seaside romance with a wedding color palette inspired by the natural beauty of the coast. Coastal blues reflect the tranquil ocean, while white and cream evoke soft seafoam and sandy shores. Sage adds a touch of organic greenery, and soft pink brings a delicate warmth, reminiscent of seashells at sunset. This serene and elegant combination creates a timeless, airy atmosphere perfect for a beachside or coastal-inspired celebration.

Vision: Montauk is where we met and fell in love, so we wanted to share our favorite place with our friends & family. Our vision for our wedding was to showcase the gorgeous landscape by bringing in the natural colors of the sand and sea. We strived for an effortless flow of events and prioritized outdoor venues for our loved ones to fully experience the coastal lifestyle.

I invited Michelle for a casual stroll through our Dumbo neighborhood, a regular activity for us. There, with the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline as our backdrop, I dropped to one knee and asked her to spend forever together. A photographer, discreetly positioned, captured the moment. It was a chilly December night, and right before the holidays, so we celebrated with family over the next few weeks.

Wedding Dress: Jenny Yoo
Groom: Custom Tuxedo from Alan David

Blue and flowy for comfort and laid laid-back look

Gurneys catered the wedding day, starting with cocktail hour offerings of mini lobster rolls, peekytoe crab cakes, and a seafood bar complete with a giant clamshell ice sculpture full of East Coast oysters. Signature cocktails were Dark N Stormy and a lighter grapefruit fizz. The rehearsal dinner was held at Crow’s Nest, which included mezze platters, organic grilled chicken kebabs, lemon bucatini, and rosé.

Ava Floral was our florist and beautifully designed everything from the floral arch for our ceremony to the hanging installation in the tent and fresh crowns for the flower girls. We chose garden roses, dahlias, ranunculus, and greenery as our main stems.

The wedding cake with Swiss meringue from Sugar Sugar Custom Cakes came in 3 flavors: Lemon mascarpone, chocolate truffle, and pistachio cream.

Readings, Ceremony Music, Reception Songs: We knew live music would be really important to all parts of our wedding weekend. Kim Sozzi with creations music seamlessly organized all of our performers. We had a string trio during the ceremony, a roaming saxophone during cocktail hour and Park Avenue 9-piece band rocked the reception. Our first dance was to Van Morrison’s Tupelo Honey. Our brother-in-law, Dane Warming, was a fantastic officiant. My best friend Leslie did a reading of 1 Corinthians 13, and my cousin Erika told our guests the story of our vows being exchanged.

The night after the wedding, all of the guests were invited to a Clambake held on the beach. This relaxed night was such a great send-off and a perfect way to spend more time with our guests and soak up the beautiful sunsets. The menu featured clam chowder, steamed lobsters, wood-grilled sirloin, local steamers and Mussels, grilled vegetables, homemade cornbread, butter n’ sugar corn on the cob, and hot peach and blueberry cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream. There were bonfires with s’mores, and Evan Kremin played live music on guitar.

One of our favorite decisions was to include a live painter at our wedding. Amanda Hawthorne from Live Well Paint Often painted a portrait of our ceremony and completed it during the reception. She was fabulous at interacting with guests, extremely talented, provided so much entertainment, and we got to take home the most beautiful keepsake piece.

We had custom name cards made by Beach and Meadow on lacquered oyster shells to add an elegant coastal feeling to the place settings. Our guests loved these as keepsakes!