The Modern, Elegant,and Casual Wedding with 193 Guests and 1 Lucky Dog
Matt and Meredith’s long-awaited celebration—decades in the making since their first-love days at Horace Mann—unfolded as a stunning, high-spirited weekend at Hutton Brickyards. Surrounded by nearly 200 guests, they exchanged emotional vows on the lawn under a chuppah. The reception, under the covered pavilion, featured a nine-piece band with an extended hora and crowd surfing. Their dog trotted in and out of the festivities, friends spilled between beautifully varied spaces, and family-style dishes gave the night a warm, convivial glow.
Name of Bride and Groom
Matt Cott and Meredith Ruskin
Date of Wedding
September 20, 2025
Location
River Pavilion
Number of Guests
193
First Steps
How did you two meet, and how long have you been together before getting married?
Matt and I met in high school. We were 14 in ninth grade. Both grew up in New York City, so we attended a high school called Horace Mann up in the Bronx. We were friendly, but not best friends. And then we dated our senior year of high school. We were first loves, all that. And then we were prom dates. We decided not to continue dating when we went to college; he was going to Virginia, I was going to Brown. And then, after college, we kind of started talking and then got back together in 2019. So we've now been dating like seven years.
Is there a story behind the proposal?
It was a little sneaky. On President's Day weekend, I was thinking about proposing. Meredith's family has a house out in Long Island and nobody was gonna be out there. It was winter and we were watching two dogs. We've done Rover in the past, where you sort of watch different dogs for people, make a little bit of money on the side. And we wanted practice before getting a dog of our own. So for that President's Day weekend, I was like, let's go out to the beach, it'll be great for the dogs. It'll be fun to be out there, just the two of us. And then, as soon as we were getting in the car to go out there, I saw that her fingernails were not painted. And I knew that was a sign. She probably wasn't thinking the proposal was coming yet. There wouldn't be pictures of her hands.
How observant! Wow.
Meredith: I know. I was like, what made you think that?
Matthew: Heard it before from other people that women like to…
Meredith: Oh, he was right. I had no idea.
Matthew: On that Sunday, it was 30 degrees and windy and I was like: Let's go to the beach… it'll be beautiful. And she's like: Eh. We get out to the beach and there's nobody there. I wasn't nervous until I stepped on the beach. And then I was like, what do I do with my hands? Where are we going? Eventually, I got on my knee with two dogs on one hand and the ring in my other hand. That's right. And she said, yes.
Meredith: I was so shocked. I dropped my phone and then as we were getting in the car, I was like, I don't have my phone. So we went back and I had just dropped my phone in the sand when I got so excited. We had to search the whole beach for it. We took a couple of hours to just enjoy it, just us. And then started FaceTiming friends and family.
Venue & Planning
Why did you pick Hutton Brickyards?
We got engaged in February. We started looking at venues in early spring. We were debating whether we wanted to be in the city or out of the city. We live in Brooklyn, so we were looking at some places in Brooklyn. A lot of our guests are in the area, so we didn't want anywhere too far away from New York. But we've always really loved the Hudson Valley area. So we made bookings to tour a bunch of different places in the Hudson Valley and, ironically, I forget why, but we weren't able to get a tour of Hutton that weekend. Still, we needed somewhere to stay when we were doing the tourism.
So we stayed at Hutton, in one of the cabins, and my parents did too. And then we did a bunch of other tours. We saw a lot of places we liked, but both Matt and I actually kind of liked it here better than anywhere we're actually going on tours. And we had a moment too, I remember that night where we walked around the grounds at Hutton and took a picture in the place where our ceremony ended up being. And we were like, this could be where we get married. And we weren't sure yet at the time, we were still looking at other places, but that did end up being the place we got married.
We loved the idea of having a place where people could stay on site especially our closest friends and family and really be part of the entire weekend. And then we just loved the uniqueness of the space and that balance between the more rustic kind of classic Hudson Valley feel, but then also the industrial touches and it felt kind of similar to our place in Brooklyn, which has some of those elements coming together. We loved our stay and then basically booked it without ever having gotten a formal tour. But a mutual friend had gotten married there, so I was able to call her and kind of get her perspective to feel confident.
How many people did you have at your wedding?
Our wedding ended up being 195. There were a few last-minute cancellations, so maybe it was like 193.
Where did people stay overnight?
We rented out the whole venue, so there were around 80 people who stayed on premise. We did all the cabins and then also Edgewood mansion.
Were there any unique or special touches about the venue that stood out to you?
The ceremony was on that lawn between the restaurant and the pavilion. That might be the favorite location. I think also the cottage where we stayed the weekend of the wedding was amazing and fun to have friends stay there and hang out after the Friday event and after the Saturday event.
Our reception was in the Pavilion, right on the river. And then we used Hutton Hall for Friday night. We had food trucks come and kind of welcome everyone and do some speeches on Friday. And then we used it again for our cocktail hour. One thing I think that was really nice is you can really make it your own and there are so many spaces that you can use, and they are also flexible, so there was some variety. It didn't feel like you were stuck in one spot all night. We were able to move around and use the different spaces.
Did you hire a wedding planner?
We had a wedding planner named Nicole Sheppard, her company is Wander Event Design. The Hutton Brickyards staff definitely helped us, too.
Style and Aesthetics
How would you describe the theme or vibe of your wedding?
✔ modern
✔ romantic
✔ industrial
✔ elegant
✔ beautiful
I think what really appealed to us about Hutton was how it felt unique with its brick factory vibe, while also being so modern and the cabins feeling so new and fun. Almost like adult camp in the best way.
A guest came up to me after the wedding was done and described it in a way that I thought was really nice. She was like: “You somehow managed to create an event that was at once really elegant, but then also really comfortable and in a way almost casual, but beautiful.” That was definitely what I was hoping for.
Did you incorporate any personal or cultural traditions into your wedding?
I grew up Jewish, Matt didn't. And the wedding had a lot of Jewish traditions, but our ceremony was much less about any religion and much more about our story and our family. So we had Matt's uncle and my aunt do readings and we read our own vows. So the vast majority of the ceremony was really just us and our family speaking about what the moment meant, versus being very formally religious. And then, of course, [we had some] religious traditions like being under a chuppah or breaking the glass or later doing the hora.
Vendors and Details
Which vendor (e.g., caterer, photographer, florist) exceeded your expectations the most, and why?
Our band was incredibly well received, really brought the energy, had us a long extended hora, had us crowd surf — which helped guests feel that excitement and keep the energy up. They’re called Onyx, and they're through Starlight Music.
Can you name any of the must play or must not play?
“Pink Pony Club” for sure. The Killers kind of stuff. But not eighties nostalgic. So we were anti- “Don't Stop Believing,” “Sweet Caroline.” Et cetera. But then they played “Shout,” and I ended up crowd surfing, which was not on my wedding bingo card. I feel like there are brides who are like, I need to do that. And I was like, no. But then people started doing it, and I was like, ah OK. But it worked.
As for other vendors, I would say the flowers for sure. I remember the first moment I stepped outside in the morning and saw the chuppah and the flowers and the way they were against the river. I was just blown away.
How about food and drink?
We did family style, wanting it to be more comfortable and sitting people with people they didn't know necessarily and wanting everyone to chat and meet each other. The food was really, really great. And we actually ate our whole dinner, which everyone told me that you don't do on your wedding night, but Matt and I, during the speeches sat and we ate our whole meal, which was amazing.
We also had one special thing: Instead of a formal wedding cake, we had a tiramisu sheet cake because Matt loves tiramisu, and he has this thing where he goes whenever there's a tiramisu on the menu. He gets it and has a whole ranking from every tiramisu he's ever had in his life.
Our three specialty drinks really were a margarita, a French 75 and espresso martinis. We didn't have any fun names for them or anything, but we did have a picture of our dog on our cocktail napkins. That was a cute one. Somebody fashioned it into like a pocket square for me. So we also have photos of me with the napkin in my tux.
Our dog was at the wedding because Hutton is dog-friendly. So she was able to stay with us and then we would have friends check in on her during the events. And then both nights, Friday and Saturday, towards the end of the night, someone ran and got her, and we had our dog running around, dancing around the venue. That was also really fun and something you couldn't do if you got married at a formal hotel ballroom.
Who made the dress?
I wore a big, poofy, fancy wedding dress. The brand was Valentini. My mom's a jeweler, so she made Matt cufflinks that look like the bricks at Hutton that say Hutton in them, but then wrote like M plus M instead of Hutton. And then she made me my earrings too, which was a cool detail.
How about the invites?
On our invitations, we showed paintings of the arches, the crane, and the bricks. The venue gave us so much inspiration for everything. It has so many unique elements; we really leaned into all of the details and used those silhouettes for a lot of different things.
The Experience
What moment of the day stands out the most in your memory?
Matthew: The vows during the ceremony were the most memorable to me, just in terms of really feeling the love, and it feeling so momentous.
Meredith: I agree. Right as I was about to walk down the aisle, my dad started crying and I've maybe seen my dad cry like twice in my life. So then as soon as he started tearing, I started tearing. I was already crying by the time I was walking down the aisle. And then when Matt read his vows, which was first, I was basically sobbing and like, how am I supposed to go second now? But I got there.
Were there any surprises or particularly emotional moments beyond the one that you just described?
Matthew: One unexpected moment. For our first look, we were by the water and I was facing a few trees and then Meredith comes up, I turn around, and we have an initial kiss and hug, and then all of a sudden we see a bee is under her dress. Her dress had many layers and I immediately spring to action and open the layers to let it fly out.
Meredith: I thought you were gonna mess up my dress.
Matthew: So that was a memorable little snafu that ended up being cuter. The main thing for me was just the energy. We were just dancing all night and jumping up and down and, even looking at our videos, the amount of energy that I have, I've never seen myself like that. I was just like bouncing up and down, like floating around the venue. It was just really happy. All in. One of my friends said to me, in the middle of one of the dance sets, “Where did those moves come from? I've never seen those before!”
What advice would you give to other couples planning their wedding?
Two things. One is, the wedding goes by so fast, so figure out a way to enjoy the planning because stress can come in, family can come in, but the planning is a longer process than the actual wedding. So if you don't enjoy that, you're losing half the fun and if you can make this something you're really looking forward to and do — we would do date nights sometimes where we would plan a night that also then had wedding to-dos.
If there's any element of the planning that's causing you stress, ask yourself if that actually has to be part of the wedding or if you just think it has to be part of the wedding — because that's what other people have done at their wedding. That was why we ended up not having a bridal party, because choosing between my friends is stressing me out or making them wear something that they might not wanna wear is stressing me out. We actually didn't have a formal first dance because Matt was really anxious about dancing with everyone staring. You know, anything that is stressing you out. It's kind of like who are you doing it for?
Reflections
What do you want people to remember most about your wedding?
Hopefully, the sense of family from it and just how deep our love is. We felt it ourselves. And even the ones who were maybe plus-ones or didn't know us as well, really got to know us better and really see what we're all about.
The Future
Where did you go or where will you go for your honeymoon?
We went on a honeymoon right after, and that actually might be another piece of advice. The Monday after the wedding is otherwise tough and we were able to go on the honeymoon right after. So if you can prioritize that and pull that off, I think it's a very nice way to ride the high of the wedding all the way through. We went to South Africa and Zimbabwe, so we were in Cape Town, the wine region outside Cape Town and then two different national parks in Zimbabwe for a safari. It was a really nice balance of being able to relax, have some amazing dinners, and then be out in the bush and see some very cool animals, really have a life-changing experience and a bucket list item. Being able to just be just the two of us and relive everything and dissect all the favorite memories from the night and compare notes. It was nice to not head straight back into the real world.
The Wedding Vendors
Photographer: Lev Kuperman (@levkupermanweddings)
Videographer: Tyler O'Leary Production (@tylerolearyproductions)
Florist: Blue Jasmine (@bluejasminefloral)
Caterer: Hunt + Harvest (@huntandharvestevents)
Food Truck 1: Innovo Kitchen’s "Seafood Shack” (@innovo_kitchen)
Food Truck 2: Bona Bona (@bonabonaicecream)
Food Truck 3: Dough Nation Kitchen (@doughnationpizzatruck)
Cake: Gabrielle Scelzo (@gabyscelzo)
Band: Onyx (@onyxbandnyc)
Hair & Makeup: Andrea Hans (@andreahansnyc)
Planner: Wander Event Design (@wandereventdesign)
Officiant: Dave Goldstein (@comicgoldstein)
