Photo: John Dolan1/40The welcome dinner was hosted in the backyard of my parents’ house in Southampton. It was inspired by our trip to Morocco. We encouraged everyone to get comfortable and casual by sharing communal tables in the grass. We really wanted the event to have a bohemian feel.
Photo: John Dolan2/40Having a laugh at the pre-wedding festivities with my cousin Caitlin (who is basically my sister). We grew up together in a small town in western Maryland before I moved to New York and now live just a few floors away from each other. I didn’t have a traditional wedding party, but she was my main squeeze.
Photo: John Dolan3/40The Moroccan rugs, pillows, and throws were resonant of one of the first trips Bobby and I took together, and the floral decoration was inspired by a scene from a dinner that Athena Calderone had put on. Bobby created a custom menu with Art of Eating inspired by his Hawaiian upbringing, and in the spirit of encouraging people to get to know one another and make new friends, we included open heart and communication crystals in everyone’s gift bags. I think it worked!
Photo: John Dolan4/40The porch at my parents’ house in Southampton with glass bulbs hanging and glinting in the sunset.
Photo: John Dolan5/40I loved being able to bring my favorite people together for a long four-day weekend so that friends from various parts of my life would get to know one another. We are wearing fresh flower orchid, pikake, and plumeria leis that Bobby’s mom, Jean, brought from Hawaii.
Photo: John Dolan6/40We used the pool as an opportunity for creative decoration. We considered many options like floating flowers and tea candles. But our house is on the water and it can get a bit windy, so Hamptons Balloon helped us anchor these luminescent white balloons with electric candles inside. To bring something special to our backyard, we had Matt Murphy Event Lighting string fuchsia and white bistro bulbs around the perimeter.
Photo: John Dolan7/40A few of our friends from high school and college gave speeches during the dinner. One of our friends is a professional comedian, and he gave a roast that had everyone on edge to start, but turned out hilarious and heartfelt. My Australian cousins also sang a song that had the entire party singing along by the end.
Photo: John Dolan8/40Post hair and makeup on the day of the wedding, practicing my vows at LongHouse Reserve. I was nervous I wouldn’t get through them . . . and I barely held it together!
Photo: John Dolan9/40Our adorable nephew and flower boy, Nakoa, practicing his flower-spreading duties! Bobby’s sister, Olivia, was due to deliver her second baby about two weeks before the wedding. We were so disappointed that she might miss it, but Olivia willed little baby Teiva into the world two weeks early, so the entire family made it for the big day.
Photo: John Dolan10/40Left to right is Guillaume (Bobby’s brother-in-law), Jon (Bobby’s friend from high school), Bobby, and Joe (another friend from high school)—all on Hawaiian time and in various states of dress prior to heading over to the venue for the wedding.
Photo: John Dolan11/40My Inbal Dror gown from their Fall ’15 collectsion! Caitlin is helping me into my incredible, seven-inch, champagne satin Giambattista Valli platforms that have huge crystals down the back. When it comes to fashion, I’ve never been practical, and my wedding day wasn’t a place to start. I felt very conflicted because I knew I wanted to dance wildly, and amazingly I was able to do both!
Photo: John Dolan12/40This was the first time that my dad saw me in my dress before the ceremony. We practiced our dance a bit because I was so nervous about my heels!
Photo: John Dolan13/40My bouquet was designed by Jeff Pennington. I love red and wanted a pop of color to go with my champagne dress and mostly white decor. Jeff created a loosely structured bouquet with piano red garden roses, pink mini dahlias, black calla lilies, and magenta scabiosa, jasmine, and wire vines.
Photo: John Dolan14/40Me and my beautiful mother (wearing a dress by Carolina Herrera). There are so many incredible photo ops at LongHouse Reserve, but after tromping in our gowns and heels to one of the far corners of the property, we needed a little help getting back!
Photo: John Dolan15/40Little Nakoa and his mother, Olivia, getting ready to walk down the aisle. He tossed fresh orchids from Hawaii!
Photo: John Dolan16/40It was a typical sweltering August day in East Hampton and our ceremony took place outside, so we provided parasols for shade and fans for a bit of reprieve. Bobby’s mom brought orchids from Hawaii to decorate the ceremony space.
Photo: John Dolan17/40My dad, mom, and me walking down the aisle. Bobby and I wanted to get married in the round so that we were surrounded by our loved ones. He felt strongly that he wasn’t waiting for me at the end of the aisle to be given to him, but rather that we both walked in from opposite ends of the circle together with our parents, to symbolize that we were equally and actively choosing to be part of this marriage.
Photo: John Dolan18/40The kiss! Shige and Ximena designed this incredible floating ribbon structure for our ceremony that hung overhead. It was incredibly beautiful and ethereal, and the ceremony was like a dream.
Photo: John Dolan19/40Me and Bobby right after the ceremony. We were literally glowing.
Photo: John Dolan20/40Guests enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres by Pinch Food Design in front of LongHouse Reserve’s permanent installation Black Mirror.
Photo: John Dolan21/40Dan Bailey Tribe, a Montauk-based band with an amazing reggae, island vibe, played during cocktail hour and had little Nakoa mesmerized.
Photo: John Dolan22/40Bobby and I wanted the wedding to incorporate unexpected elements (such as performance artists) for entertainment during the cocktail hour. This particular concept was inspired by a Radiolab episode that we had listened to called “Black Box,” about the transformation that a caterpillar goes through during chrysalis and what the butterfly brings from its caterpillar life into its new life. The outfits and headdresses were designed and handcrafted by Shige and Ximena of Leimay.
Photo: John Dolan23/40Bobby and his high school buddy Joe wearing maile leis, the traditional Hawaiian wedding lei for guys. Look closely and you’ll see that Bobby also wore his favorite patent leather YSL sneakers with his Hugo Boss tux!
Photo: John Dolan24/40Leimay, with the help of Jeff Pennington, designed this organic display, utilizing live Spanish moss and linen streamers. The gardens at LongHouse are incredible, so we encouraged guests to meander around during cocktail hour. The paths led to this weeping cherry tree where guests could pick up their seating cards before entering the reception tent.
Photo: John Dolan25/40Leimay’s dancers ended their performance piece during cocktail hour in LongHouse Reserve’s lap pool.
Photo: John Dolan26/40This is a day view of one of the property’s incredible permanent sculptures called Fly’s Eye Dome. It reminded us of late nights at Burning Man and was the perfect place for the silent disco after-party later in the night. Leimay designed amazing light installations to create shadows at night.
Photo: John Dolan27/40Mat (one of Bobby’s friends from high school), me, and Katherine (my friend from high school) walking toward the reception tent after cocktail hour.
Photo: John Dolan28/40Our wedding group—all the men in maile leis and girls in white dresses of their choosing—stopped for a selfie on our way to the reception. Instead of Bobby and I entering separately, we all entered together dancing to “Crazy in Love.” This is one of my favorite memories of the evening.
Photo: John Dolan29/40The reception tent looked quite minimal to begin with. As the party evolved, we projected moving imagery onto the ceiling that transformed throughout the night and served as a wild and unexpected touch.
Photo: John Dolan30/40We wanted a very minimal and natural table design. Our planners found these acrylic tables and the metal table numbers. Jeff Pennington then designed custom-mirrored runners adorned with passionflower vines and white flowers. Pinch Food Design catered the entire evening.
Photo: John Dolan31/40Bobby and me after our first dance to our favorite song, “Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Show. Everyone stood and sang along with the band!
Photo: John Dolan32/40The father-daughter dance. We danced to Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love.”
Photo: John Dolan33/40Seated at the head table and taking it all in.
Photo: John Dolan34/40Exterior view of the reception tent. We placed couches outside in case guests needed a reprieve from the wild dancing inside.
Photo: John Dolan35/40Our cake was designed by Lael Cakes’s Emily Lael Aumiller, an adorable Brooklyn baker of vegan and gluten-free cakes. We did a tasting and were so taken with Emily, her confections, and the overall experience that we decided to go the gluten-free route despite not being GF ourselves! We chose a vanilla bean cake with strawberry basil buttercream and fresh strawberries.
Photo: John Dolan36/40We didn’t want the cake-cutting to interrupt the party and dancing, so we snuck off and had the moment to ourselves.
Photo: John Dolan37/40A view of the tent at night. You can see one of the custom videos projected on the ceiling that Frost Productions created for us.
Photo: John Dolan38/40I changed midway through the reception so I could really dance. My second outfit was a vintage Marchesa dress—paired with white Chuck Taylors!
Photo: John Dolan39/40The perfect end to a perfect night. This was our silent disco after-party where everyone wore headphones and danced the night away. A good friend’s husband, John Viscardi, is an incredible opera singer and did an impromptu rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody” that left everyone in amazement. We served truffle fries, mini cheeseburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken fingers, and an explosion of desserts to help cure any aftereffects of the wild night.
Photo: John Dolan40/40As previously mentioned, Bobby and I had taken this incredible trip to Morocco early on in our relationship. We experienced a hilarious evening in the desert near Merzouga among the 600-meter-high sand dunes with a windstorm and a capsized Berber camp, so we decided to re-create the experience for our honeymoon suite, designed by my mother and her good friend Julia Roth, using the help of ABC Carpet & Home rugs and interiors. It was incredibly magical.
