A Wedding at the Castle, and a Night with Trump

One of my very oldest friends married this weekend at Oheka Castle on Long Island. Bill and I were so glad we got to go, since the week started off waiting to see if he could travel. The weather was absolutely perfect the entire time. Thanks so VERY, VERY much to Aunt Susan and Naney for taking such good care of the girls while we were away. We didn't get much rest, but we had such a great time with friends and each other!
I'll begin with pictures of the castle. (www.oheka.com - check it out to see the history of the home!) I took these on Friday night at the wedding, and then Saturday morning, for the 'day-after' breakfast. You can see the weather was just spectacular.

The front entrance to the castle. When we arrived Friday night, there were no cars outside, just valets!

More from the front.

That's the driveway where we came in. Quite an entrance.

Gardens along the entrance way.

Helipad. You can't really see, but it has the castle logo painted on it.

Not sure if you can tell, but the roof, with it's very cool shingles, was sinking. 

We assume that is not on purpose. 

Here's some wedding pictures!

The back of the castle. Heading to the ceremony site. Our friend Erin (wonderful girlfriend of our friend Andrew) flew from London, and walked all over the place on crutches on a very bad knee recovering from surgery! What a trooper she was. 

Ceremony took place at end of these gardens.

Reflecting pools.

The tree-lined paths lined either side of the garden, and served as aisles (one for groom and one for bride) leading up to the ceremony.

My friend Andy, the groom, is Korean, and the goose is a symbol of fidelity in Korean culture.

The ceremony site. Andy made the 150 origami geese that are hanging from the top. 

I have a thing about taking pictures during a wedding ceremony. So I have none to share.

Everyone was given an egg (again with the geese symbol) - this was our table card. Inside was a rock with our table number on it. Andy, again!

You'd never know the week we'd just had! What perfect timing - we really needed to escape the chaos!

Libby and Suzanne wait for the ceremony to begin. 

Walking back to the castle for cocktail hour. Which included some absolutely amazing food - just appetizers! We ate, and ate and ate! 

I spent the greater part of middle school with Suzanne, and then high school and times at home during college with both these ladies. It was so fun to spend the weekend catching up - and picking right up where we left off the last time we were together!

The best man, our friend Andrew, and his fabulously fabulous, the aforementioned Erin.

After cocktail hour, we were seated on the other side of the castle at four long tables for dinner.

Dinner music.

The dinner side of the castle had a gorgeous view of the river.

The seating assigment card and menu.

Having fun.

Such an amazing setting!

The big long tables.

Mr & Mrs Kwon!

After dinner there was dancing. My camera was not cooperating!

What I should have taken a picture of, but was too preoccupied, was the dessert room that opened during dancing. They had at least 7 tables of everything you could imagine. Sorbet, Mousse, creme brulee, baked alaska, cheesecakes, pies, cookies, pastries, and the wedding cake. It was out of this world. The room smelled like chocolate. By far my favorite part of the night. I almost cried when a waiter, while my back was turned, took my mousse away before I was done.

When we went back Saturday morning I took a few more pictures. This is the library (champagne was served here prior to the ceremony.) 

That's Otto Kahn Hermann, who was the original owner of the Castle. (His name makes up OHEKA).

The main entrance entry way. I liked the ceiling.

Taking it all  in one last time...

That was the wedding ... Saturday after the breakfast we all traveled by train and car to New York City and arrived here, where we stayed Saturday night.

Yep. That says Trump Tower. Suzanne's husband Chuck's aunt was so gracious and gave us use of her family's four bedroom suite at Trump Tower. It was absolutely perfect (of course!) and we had the best time getting to all hang out. Had we stayed in a hotel we would not have had near as much time together to just be relaxed and catch up. It was so lucky! 

One of the many amazing views. In this building we (sadly and obsessively) watched a young guy work in his office alone all weekend. When Suzanne got there Thursday night he was working, in the same clothes Friday morning, and then he was back all day Saturday and then still there when we left Sunday. We were so obsessed with this poor fellow. What on EARTH was he working on? We'll never know.

This is the view from our room. 

From the living room. 

We also had a view of the flagship store of Abercrombie and Fitch, where there was a line to get in the entire weekend. What were they selling? Oh the mysteries of NYC.

The sitting room, where we made ourselves comfortable for the remainder of the weekend.Thank you Aunt Cindy!

Heading out to dinner (after 6 pm and with no kids! What a treat!!!)

Suzanne and Chuck chose a very cool and delicious Chinese restaurant.

Interesting to have Chinese restaurants in New York and Mexico City.

What a fun group to spend a fantastic weekend with - thanks to all of you! 

We went into the American Girl store for a minute and I got Lily a little something. When I told her about the store and that I'd take her there, she said "Can we go tomorrow?" And asked me again today. Apparently I'm making a trip to NYC again soon - hoping Suzanne and her daughter can meet us! 

Whew, what a weekend!