You may wonder how a young woman with no house, found herself hosting what may be one of the largest Rattan, Wicker and Vintage Furniture yard sales on LI featuring over 100 pieces of furniture got here. Well, you’re in for a local Long Island family tradition treat.
On June 16, my future husband and I will be the 8th wedding hosted at my grandparent's house on the Great South Bay.
My Italian American grandparents purchased three-quarters of an acre of fully wooded bayfront property in Sayville in 1963. Five years later, they moved in with their four daughters and son to the large colonial they had built on the site in a then newly developing neighborhood. With its jaw-dropping backyard view of the Great South Bay and the entire length of Fire Island, they envisioned an evolving mecca for their ever-growing, large Italian extended family. The four daughters, now my aunts, were between six and ten years old and already began to dream of getting married there one day. It was as if my Grandfather bought the property with this in mind.
In the early summer of 1979, the oldest daughter had her wedding reception in the back yard all sheltered by her father’s ingeniously designed tent cover that stretched from the apex of the colonial rooftop to the bulkhead along the bay, without requiring any poles to sustain it. This was the original DIY wedding, with home-cooked food for over a hundred guests.
Ten weeks later, In late summer, daughter #2, now my mom, got married there, with a ceremony on the front lawn followed by a reception in the same roof/to-deck tent-covered backyard, with an even larger guest list.
Daughter #3 got married there in 1986 could hardly wait for my wedding and so I had my sweet sixteen there in 2007. One of my cousins got married there in 2014, another cousin in 2016, daughter #4 in 2018, and another cousin this past April, 2023.
Getting married where my parents did, at the house has been a dream of mine since I can remember. I was too young to recall exactly when Grandpa had put the idea in my head, but it stuck. So much so that when my fiancé and I talked about getting married, it was not ever a question of “where”, but when. He had heard of this family tradition for quite some time, and with he being as much if not more sentimental than I, was up to the task to realize my childhood dream.
With a desire for our wedding to have a flair of us, we opted for Mansion-style dining. (passed apps and an open bar). With this we thought “Who needs tables and chairs” and instead started quoting the type of lounge furniture we wanted for our 200-person guest list. We. We’re. Stunned. Price tags we couldn’t believe. We responded to one quote with “Oh we’re not buying, we’re renting.” The quote was not wrong…
Luckily for me, I can be a little like Grandpa. While I won’t be hoisting a tent from the roof, with the help of my parents, siblings, friends, friends of friends, and good old Facebook Marketplace, we successfully assorted over 100 pieces of furniture that would give the boho wedding vibe we were looking for (check it out on Instagram @ericasols DIY Bride Highlight Reel). Not only that, but all of these friends and our family met us on April 22 to see if it would all fit in the yard, and we prevailed!
On Saturday, June 17, the day after the big event, we will be holding a garage sale of all these pieces. Come on over to Palmer Drive in Sayville, see the aftermath of the eighth wedding held there in over forty years, and purchase Fiks and Reed sets, Nesting Chairs, Rattan Swivel chairs, Wicker Benches, vintage items of your choosing, and more! At the very least it’s an opportunity to take in the view.
I would like to think that my Grandpa is looking down at us laughing and smiling at the evolution of our family's backyard tradition. And with these gorgeous pieces ready to be homed all I can think is not too shabby for a DIY Bride, huh?
