A Classic Ivory and Gold Wedding in New York

When Stephanie Siaw describes her path to marriage she gives this advice, “Things don’t always happen in our time, but they do happen in God’s time.” When she met her husband Kwaku Opoku-Ansah in Ghana they immediately hit it off. After dating they made plans to marry, but those plans were put on hold when they had a beautiful son, and Stephanie ended up having to return to the U.S. However, their love stayed strong through parenting and distance, and when their family was reunited, they had the wedding of their dreams with their son serving as the ring bearer.

Stephanie planned the wedding herself! She decided on a soft and classic color palette of ivory and gold, with pink accents. Their wedding was full of fun moments. The couple’s first dance started with an Anthony Hamilton ballad, and half way through they changed the tempo to a dance song that got everyone out onto the dance floor. The couple decided that their wedding favors should be a CD of Ghanaian music, because they wanted to share some of their culture with their guests, many of whom were not Ghanaian. Lash to Lens Photography beautifully captured the love and excitement that shined in every moment of Stephanie and Kwaku’s big day.

Quick Facts 

• Wedding Date: 02/22/2014
•  Wedding Location: The Riverview, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
• Wedding Flowers: My bouquet was a mix of ivory roses, white orchids, and white hydrangeas. the maid and matron of honor had a mix of ivory and sahara roses. The boutonnieres were ivory roses.
• First Dance Song:  Anthony Hamilton’s “Point of it All” and  ODGFuse “Million Pound Girl.”
• Wedding Cake Flavors: Our wedding cake was strawberry shortcake, but we also had a groom’s cake was which was red velvet.
• Wedding Menu Favorite: The groom’s cake.
• Bridesmaids Gifts: The bridesmaids received the jewelry they wore (earrings, bracelet and necklace) and ivory shawls as a gift.
• Groomsmen Gifts:  The groomsmen received pink socks, bow ties, cuff links and ivory pocket squares as their gifts.

How They Met/The Proposal

Kwaku and I were introduced by a mutual friend. Kwaku lived in Ghana and I was visiting for an extended stay. He was in graduate school and had just started a business while I was there taking a course to gain admission to the Ghana bar. We immediately hit it off. After completing my course, I returned to New York, where I lived but moved back to Ghana a few months later. We continued dating and made plans to marry. We had a knocking ceremony, a Ghanaian tradition, where Kwaku’s family visited my family and Kwaku’s intentions were made apparent. But our marriage plans were put on hold. We had a son and I ended up having to return to the States forcing our relationship to undergo a serious change: parenting and distance. We have accumulated thousands of sky miles, spent countless hours on Skype, whatsapp and email, but our family has finally been reunited and we had the wedding we dreamed of with our amazing son serving as the ring bearer. Things don’t always happen in our time, but they do happen in God’s time.

Wedding Theme

We loved the view at our wedding location and wanted that view to take center stage. I also wanted a classic color palette that would stand the test of time. Once I found my dress, which was ivory and gold I decided the colors should also be ivory and gold. I added some touches of soft pink for depth, the touches were seen in the flowers and in the men’s socks.

My husband is ban football fan and his favorite team is Liverpool. I wanted to surprise him with a Liverpool cake and I did just that. Weddings become all about the bride so I wanted to make sure he also felt special and thought what better way to make that happen than by giving him a cake celebrating his favorite team? He was overjoyed and actually gave me a high five when he saw it. Priceless!

 Our first dance was a medley. We started off dancing to Anthony Hamilton’s “Point of it All” but about halfway through the song we changed the tempo. We knew we wanted our reception to be a non-stop dance party and we got the party started by playing ODGFuse “Million Pound Girl.” ODGFuse is a Ghanaian artist based in the UK, we love his music and Kwaku thought the lyrics to that song were especially fitting. Also, the beat brought everyone out onto the dance floor.

Wedding Style 

My wedding dress was a strapless, lace dress in ivory and gold. It was a slight mermaid shape. I LOVED my gown. I tried on just five dresses and knew it was the one. It fit perfectly off the rack and needed no alterations. The only change made was to add a bustle.

Incorporation of Culture

My husband and I met in Ghana. I am first generation American, with my both my parents having been born and raised in Ghana. Kwaku was born and raised in Ghana and we met while I was there taking a course to gain admission to the Ghana bar. Though we were having our wedding in the US we wanted to incorporate some Ghanaian music into our wedding. We spent hours creating selecting songs for our reception and decided that our wedding favors should be a CD of Ghana music. Music is something we both enjoy and we wanted to share Ghanaian music with our wedding guests, many of whom were not Ghanaian. We labored over the favors, choosing songs, creating the labels, burning the CDs and then finally packing them in sleeves and tying them with gold ribbons. But it was well worth it.

Most Memorable Moment 

Seeing everyone’s smiling face, including my husband’s, as I walked down the aisle.

Wedding Advice

Stay calm and stick to your budget. We wanted a nice wedding but also wanted to be practical. We cut costs where we could and kept the ultimate goal in mind, to have our wedding but also to prepare ourselves for a lifetime together. I think we succeeded.

Vendors 

• Photography & Makeup: Lash to Lens
• DJ: DJ Au
• Flowers: Flowers by Janet King
• Cake: Fleetwood Pastry Shop
• Dress: Mori Lee 1903 Rkbridal.com
• Veil: J.L. Johnson
• Shoes: Jimmy Choo
• Earrings and necklace: Natori
• Fur shawl: Eliza J.
• Maid of honor dress: Chetta B
• Matron of honor dress: Adrianna Papell
• Groomsmen tuxes: Men’s Wearhouse
• Groom’s tux: T.M. Lewin
• Groom’s shoes: Hugo Boss
• Men’s socks: Alfani