The Grooms Wore Tom Ford for Their Amalfi Coast Wedding That Went All Night Long

Given Cliff Fleiser and Leszek Golabek both work in the fashion industry, it’s only fitting that they should have met at a store opening. Cliff, who is the senior vice president of marketing and communications at Ferragamo, and Leszek, who is the head of marketing for watches and fine jewelry at Chanel, both attended a party for Lanvin’s new Soho location in 2012. Yet, it took them until March 2016 to finally go out to drinks at Le Sardine, after they matched on The League. Leszek describes it as “the best date ever.”

Four years later, the two got engaged at Eleven Madison Park the night before New York City shut down for COVID. Leszek secretly arranged for the maître d’ to put the ring—a rose gold two-row Berbere band by Repossi—on Cliff’s seat while the two went on a kitchen tour. The pandemic meant a long engagement, but the two didn’t mind. “While we bunkered down at our home it gave us time to reflect on what we wanted,” Cliff says.

Since Cliff is from Canada and Leszek is from Australia, they decided to wed in the summer of 2022 at a geographic middle point they both loved: the Amalfi Coast. “We had stayed at Casa Privata in Praiano with friends back in 2017, and wanted our friends and family to experience its magic,” the couple says. Turns out after two years of border restrictions, they were more than ready to do so. “We definitely saw that everyone was ready to travel again, which meant we (happily) had more RSVPs than people had told us to expect for a destination wedding,” Cliff says. They asked Rosa Hareiter, the boutique hotel’s owner, to help source local vendors and relied on Cliff’s extensive event planning experience to plan a wedding halfway across the world.

For their welcome night, they took over multiple terraces La Tagliata, a traditional Italian restaurant at one of the highest points in Praiano. “We wanted to bring a 1950s Italian Riviera Vibe to the evening,” Leszek says. Both grooms wore pink suits from Alexander McQueen, where Cliff worked at the time of their wedding. He opted for blush while Lezsek went for hot pink. “​​It was reflective of our personalities and who takes more risks with fashion,” Leszek jokes. They paired both with blue suede loafers from Manolo Blahnik. A local swing and jazz quintet performed, while the resident “nonna” cooked more pasta dishes than the guests could finish. Somewhere along the way, the night escalated into a full-blown dance party.

On Saturday, they wed at Casa Privata under a chuppah overlooking the Tyrrhenian sea. Cliff, who began his career at Tom Ford, always knew they’d wear the American designer’s tuxedos at their wedding. They chose jackets in matching shades of ivory, with each embroidering their initials and wedding date on the inside tags.

Wanting to reflect their respective Jewish and Catholic religions, they held a mixed faith ceremony: Cliff’s sister, Kerry, read the traditional Jewish seven blessings while wearing Alexander McQueen, whereas Leszek’s brother recited a passage from Corinthians. Their friend Jonathan Adler served as an officiant, while the grooms wrote their own vows and gave each other platinum Repossi bands. They then broke a glass to the loud cries of “mazel tov.”