Anita & Jose

New York

"Authentic, Natural, Cozy"

Jose would say, “We met in a bar,” but to me, fate was involved. I worked and lived in the city, but had a side job as a bar manager for fun. The back and forth was a lot, so I decided our Beer Fest event was going to be my last night. I was handing out drink bracelets at the door that night when in walked two grumpy looking men. I laughed, said most men would be thrilled to be here, and told them to smile if they wanted to get in. Jose proved to be charming enough to get me on a first date. We went for frozen yogurt. He loaded up the most elaborate, intricate fro-yo I’ve ever seen, and I loved how unabashedly himself he was.

We lived together for a year when Jose proposed. He planned a nice dinner to do it, but when I told him I’d invited our friends to join us, he couldn’t deviate from the plan of ending the night engaged. I was getting ready and asked him how an outfit looked. He dropped to one knee and said, “It looks beautiful, you look beautiful, but it would look better with this.” He gave me my ring and we began planning!

We had seen upwards of 15 venues before we saw The Garrison. I wanted something authentic, natural, cozy, and a little bit eclectic. When we walked through The Garrison, almost immediately we knew it was the right venue for us. It satisfied our criteria for food and size and the space sold itself. Overlooking the best things New York has to offer: the Hudson River, the Hudson Valley, the mountains; it is breathtaking. Meeting Annie Rozycki, the special events manager, sealed the deal. She perfected the balance of support, encouraging enthusiasm, and guiding expertise.

From start to finish our wedding was executed perfectly. For our ceremony, we had no bridal party. We carried our rings in our pockets, Jose’s best friend married us, and I sang myself down the aisle. We wanted our ceremony to be a true union of us. We felt we did everything our way, exactly as we wanted, and Annie’s go-for-it attitude helped make it a reality.

Our cocktail hour was the start to a night of delicious food. We had grilled cheese brioche in tomato soup, shrimp cocktail, chorizo empanadas, wild mushroom risotto, and more! Everyone was raving about the Italian antipasto. Another amazing thing about The Garrison is that it doesn’t need much added décor. With the view to the outdoors, little lights and candles go a long way. I wanted our flowers to look dark, moody, and romantic with rich, velvet-like colors, so we had plums, reds, and navy, with speckles of white, all dimly lit by candles. I wanted it to look edgy. Our florist listened to what we asked for and gave us arrangements set in driftwood that looked wild and free flowing. We loved how the authentic, natural-wood look complemented the beauty of the venue.

Dinner began with a baby kale salad. We offered guests boneless short ribs of beef or diver sea scallops as their entrée. Every plate was empty by the end! The diver sea scallops had a perfect texture, and the beef was very rich, perfect for winter. The Garrison provided our wedding cake. We chose an apple spice cake with vanilla butter cream topping to represent “The Big Apple.” The Garrison steered us in the right direction again with their DJ recommendation. Our DJ got to know me and Jose and our styles, and put together a fantastic blend of all genres. We wanted Beyoncé, country, and old-school tracks. He read the crowd and kept everyone on the dance floor. Jose and I had such a blast, we danced all night and felt our wedding thrived from our energy.

We’d love to thank our friends and family who came to support us and make our wedding everything we wanted it to be. Thank you to Annie and everyone else at The Garrison, as well as to our photographer and florist. We would work with all of you for years to come.