\u201cThe immediate thought we both had after the Cairo wedding fell through was that if we didn\u2019t do it within the next few months, we would probably never do it at all,\u201d shares Karina. So, the couple quickly pivoted and booked the rooftop of Nine Orchard in New York City for a June 27 celebration. \u201cIt had to happen! I also believe that momentum is a very important thing and we already had the momentum going,\u201d says Kareem. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to build that up again.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the couple admits to feeling some stress over the year that they planned the Egyptian affair, they were much more laissez-faire with their NYC plans. \u201cAfter we had to cancel the Cairo wedding, we immediately hired our friends\u2019 wedding planner for New York and took a much more \u2018let\u2019s just get this party started\u2019 approach, hoping the vibes would carry the whole thing, and, I think, they actually did,\u201d says the bride. Those vibes translated to their black tie-adjacent dress code, where men were asked to wear tuxedos. \u201cWe kind of told the women to just do their thing, since they always tend to look wonderful,\u201d says Karina. Planner Brittany Coyne took charge of bringing the wedding together in just a few months. Karina says, \u201cI will be forever grateful to her for being my confidante throughout the entire day\u2014helping me sneak away to my room for social breaks, jump from one dress into another, and somehow magically preserve my veil, gloves, and flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luckily, the couple\u2019s wedding wardrobes were already in place by the time they needed to change gears. The bride found her dress\u2014a vintage \u201990s Vera Wang strapless gown\u2014at Happy Isles<\/a>. \u201cMy wedding dress was the very first dress I tried on,\u201d says Karina. \u201cIt spoke to me the moment I stepped into it. We tried on a few others simply because we were already there, but I could have left right then and there. I had already made my decision, and nothing could compete with the first dress. I bought it on the spot.\u201d The bride took an easygoing approach to accessorizing the embellished look. \u201cI ended up wearing only a pair of 1940s earrings that I bought at Amarcord Vintage five years ago for a UN gala,\u201d she says. \u201cMy hair and makeup were beautifully done by the incredibly talented Russian artist Anastasia Vavina<\/a> of Beauty Icon.\u201d<\/p>\n