Maria & Gus | Dyker Beach Golf Course | Brooklyn, NY

A Brooklyn Celebration

Gus and I met when my family was renovating our house and our electrician needed some help. Our contractor knew Gus was knowledgeable, so he asked for his help. While at our house he asked me about my work and as it turned out we had a lot in common. I work in an architectural firm that does primarily exterior restoration and as it turns out, the building that Gus was working in was in the middle of an exterior restoration project, so I gave him my card in case he had any “work-related” questions. He ended up calling me several weeks later and we went on our first date.

I accidentally messed up Gus’s proposal! He had made a snowman and was going to put the ring on it, but by the time we came home from dinner I was too tired to go back outside, so Gus improvised. He lit candles throughout the house and got on one knee and proposed.

We wanted to have our reception in Brooklyn because we were both born and raised there. We wanted a scenic venue where we could take great landscape photos, but we also wanted a feel of the urban Brooklyn we had grown up in. We chose Dyker Beach Golf Course because it was the perfect mixture of urban and natural. At Dyker we worked with Carlo Lenzi, senior sales executive, who treated us like family and was very knowledgeable about the art of planning a wedding.

Our ceremony was in the church I was baptized in and at which I attended elementary school. Needless to say, this church holds a special place in my heart, not only as a place of worship but also as an architectural gem built in the Byzantine style. Gus has been welcomed by our church members and enjoys being part of our wonderful community there.

For our seating cards we had chocolate truffles that, like us, were made in Brooklyn. During the cocktail hour we had a seafood station with raw clams, gulf shrimp, oysters, stone crab claws, and lobster. We also had a carving station with leg of lamb and pork tenderloin, and a steakhouse station. Our passed hors d’oeuvres included lamb chops, sushi, prosciutto-wrapped melon, stuffed mushrooms, lobster salad, mini crab cakes, and peppercorn-crusted beef tenderloin.

The ballroom was transformed into our own secret garden, decorated with alternating centerpieces of chocolate roses and white hydrangeas and tall green trees.

The first course was organic mesculin greens with sliced poached pear, goat cheese, and candied pecans in a champagne vinaigrette, followed by jumbo cheese tortellini with tomato basil sauce. For the entrée guests had a choice of grilled center-cut filet mignon with a port wine demi-glace and roasted potatoes, stuffed French-cut chicken with a country apple stuffing served with mashed potatoes, and horseradish herb-crusted Atlantic salmon served with a Dijon beurre blanc with risotto.

For dessert, we had a full Venetian hour with an omelet station, ice cream, cakes, and a chocolate fountain. My mother had made platters of Greek pastries for our guests to enjoy.
We danced all night to Greek music and our DJ played American music.

Our wedding could not have been special without our amazing florist, our talented photographers and videographers, our wonderful band and DJ that kept our guests dancing all night long, and the amazing staff at Dyker who did a masterful job. We received rave reviews for the menu. A big thank you to you all!

Dyker Beach Golf Course
1030 86th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11228
718.836.9722, www.dykerbeachgc.com/weddings