The bride carried a bouquet of white lilies and freesia with purple heather; to complement her 1920s-style do, she wore a silk flower in her hair.
Real Weddings
Vanessa and Ömer in Philadelphia, PA
Published on October 2, 2008
A wedding that melds love, art and family in one inspired location
When a textile artist marries a video-game producer, chances are the wedding locale will be eye-popping. So when Vanessa Golestaneh discovered that Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was available on July 14, the wedding date she and her fiancé, Ömer Baristiran, were considering, she rushed to put down a deposit—even though Ömer hadn't stepped foot inside the building. Her gamble paid off. “Luckily,” says Vanessa, “when he finally got there, he was really happy.”
Under a deep-blue vaulted ceiling painted with silver stars, Vanessa and Ömer, both 28, married on the landing of the museum's grand staircase, in front of a sculpture of a Persian angel—a happy coincidence for the bride, who's of Persian descent. After dinner and cocktails, everyone moved to the columned rotunda for the newlyweds' first dance, a rumba set to Pink Martini's “Amado Mio.” “I had never danced in anything as long as my wedding dress before that night,” says the bride, “but when it came time to do the big moves, like the dips and turns, I just went for it!” The rousing number prompted a lively dance-club ambience that lasted until one in the morning. “Everyone kept saying to the DJ, 'One more song! One more song!'” she says. “People just didn't want to leave—not even my grandmother!” —Yolanda Crous
Our Favorite Things
Designing Woman: The bride designed all of the stationery, from the invitations to the place cards.
Family Style: Instead of having bridesmaids and groomsmen, the couple asked their parents and siblings, plus the siblings' spouses, to stand with them on the museum's staircase during the ceremony.
Wrap Artists: To customize the disposable cameras on each table, Vanessa and Ömer covered them with decorative paper and attached a dragonfly-embossed tag that encouraged guests to “Snap a Shot.”
No Cutting In!: The female guests performed a traditional Persian knife dance. “It was so much fun. Even the men were trying to join!” says Vanessa.
Wedding Dress
Reva Mivasagar, revadesigns.com
Bride's Heels
Kate Spade, katespade.com
Bride's Flats
Steve Madden, stevemadden.com
Groom's Suit
Armani, emporioarmani.com
Caterer
Jimmy Duffy & Sons, jimmyduffy.com
Cake
Annie B's Confections, anniebs.com
Ceremony & Reception Site
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, pafa.org
Photographer
Di Bezi Photograpgy, dibezi.com
The wedding shoes: strappy Kate Spade heels for the ceremony and dance-friendly Steve Madden flats for the reception.
The couple walked down the museum's grand staircase.
After a nondenominational ceremony, their 120 guests—many of whom had flown in from the groom's native Turkey—spent the cocktail hour nibbling on pear-brie bruschetta and ginger tuna on rice crackers, and gazing at paintings by American masters like Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins.
Guests piled plates with pecan tarts and cream puffs.
Well-wishers scrawled notes in a book celebrating the museum's 100th anniversary.
Favor pouches held gold-dusted almonds, symbolizing health, wealth, happiness, fertility and longevity.
The wedding cake from Annie B's Confections stood in front of Joseph Mozier's The Prodigal Son.
Vanessa's gown goes for a whirl as her new husband lifts her high on a dance floor constructed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
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