Emily Sundberg’s Wedding on a New York City Rooftop Felt Like “Heaven in the Clouds”

At the pre-wedding party, there were tropical drinks, some of the couple’s friends gave speeches, and the bride’s mom made peanut butter cookies for everyone to eat on their subway ride home. Most of the group made a second stop at Montero for a nightcap, but the bride and groom were sent to bed. “We heard the cookies helped the hangovers a little bit,” Emily jokes.

In the lead up to the wedding day itself, Emily realized that she'd never imagined herself as a bride before trying on her wedding dress. “I didn’t have a Pinterest board I wanted to replicate, or a saved folder of dresses,” she says. “But while scanning LA-based Tab Vintage one night, I saw a vintage Vera Wang gown. I was drawn to the texture which reminded me of the gills underneath a mushroom. It was the fourth dress I tried on, and if it didn’t work out, I would’ve been in trouble because Tab doesn’t take returns. I ordered it somewhat impulsively and it was a bit small, but when I unzipped it from the garment bag in front of my tailor Esin, she gasped and said she had worked on the dress back in 2006 when she worked for Vera Wang.”

The bride’s veil was by Danielle Frankel. “I had my heart set on this grosgrain-trimmed tulle veil, but at the time I was putting my wedding wardrobe together—about four weeks before my wedding—it was sold out,” she says. “I wore a shorter veil, and ended up keeping it on the whole night, which I couldn’t have done with a longer veil. Everything happens for a reason!” About a week before the wedding, Emily bought her after-party dress at Doen on a rainy day in the West Village, while her wedding shoes were from Macy’s in Herald Square.

The bride’s favorite jeweler in New York, Laura Lombardi, made her wedding accessories—a custom wedding set of earrings and a necklace. “They were my favorite part of my wedding look, and when Laura first showed the pieces to me in her studio, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the brilliant people in this city who make it a more beautiful, stranger, more interesting place,” Emily says. “I have been a customer of hers for years, and wearing her pieces made me feel like myself.” The bride’s sister made her a blue anklet with glass beads and Jake’s initials on it that served as her “something blue.” Lila Childs did Emily’s makeup both nights, and Natalie Rotger and Rawan Rofaiel from Jenna Perry did her wedding updo.

On Saturday, the wedding ceremony was held at The Angel Orensanz Foundation on the Lower East Side. Her dad was the officiant. “Recounting his sermon—there’s no better word for it—makes me cry,” Emily says. “Through his research leading up to the wedding, he learned that Jake’s great grandfather and my great grandmother grew up on the same East Village street.” Then, during the ceremony, Emily’s friend Jane stood up to sing. “I didn’t go to Kenyon with her, but for the last ten years I’ve been hearing about her college performances,” Emily says. “This was even better.”

After the ceremony, guests walked from Angel Orensanz Foundation to Nine Orchard for the party. The reception was on the roof there, and because it was an unusually warm April day, it was fully outdoors. “There were bowls of cigarettes; there were towers of butter; there was so much Champagne. It was heaven in the clouds,” the bride says. “High above New York City.”

Emily painted all the signage for her wedding reception and bought inexpensive frames from Amazon to place all the menus in. “Many of my guests have been recipients of my watercolors over the years in the form of a print, or birthday card, so I hoped that the illustrations I did for my wedding site, in addition to the paintings I did for the menus and signs at the actual party, created a consistent ‘Emily’ feeling.”

The couple’s friend Mo runs a focaccia pop-up called Primo, and made a spread—that Emily describes as “looking like a Dutch painting”—so that guests could snack when they first entered the reception. “We spent weeks texting back and forth about the fruits he imported and cheeses he procured,” Emily notes. “He even made gluten-free focaccia that my dad and grandma could eat.” The dinner itself was prepared by the Nine Orchard team. “They use seasonal ingredients, which made the whole evening feel like a sexy springtime soiree,” Emily says. “Pro tip: Leave out a bowl filled with ice and cans of Celsius. It was no-doubt a highlight of the wedding.”

The bride’s friend Gaby Scelzo made the wedding cake—almond and chocolate with raspberry and vanilla—plus a tiramisu in a sterling silver punchbowl, rainbow cookies, and boozy chocolate truffles. “I really wanted swan cake toppers, and I couldn’t find anywhere,” Emily says. “So two nights before our wedding I went to the art supply store and bought clay to sculpt them myself!”

The newlyweds first dance was to “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You,” which is also the first song Jake played Emily on his guitar. Then, Neal Rosenthal performed at the party—“My husband has known Neal forever, and he crushed,” Emily says. “Some of our friends like Jonah Reider also ended up jamming and singing with the band which was a blast.” Eventually, Alex Delany took over as DJ and spun vinyl, and those lingering late into the night migrated to Scarr’s for pizza and beers.

Reflecting on her wedding weekend, Emily remarks upon how lucky she and Jake got with the weather. “We were so blessed—it was the best Saturday for four Saturdays in either direction of the calendar,” she says. “Planning a wedding quickly came with temporary chaos, but the benefits outweighed any trouble, and I’m just so ecstatic and immensely grateful for New York City—and all of our talented friends and family who live in it.”