This Fashion Editor Bride Carried a Sugar Flower Bouquet for Her Chicago Wedding

Rather than a standard Saturday wedding, the couple wanted to “turn the usual wedding weekend on its head.” They began with the wedding on a Friday evening “so there was no holding back” and continued the energy into a huge day party at the bride’s childhood home. “Our family gatherings are famously unrestrained, and holidays often end with someone, even my mom, dancing on the countertops,” says Rachel. “We wanted that same unruly joy to define the wedding.” The couple admits they had some wild ideas aesthetically, but didn’t want the wedding to feel too “of-the-moment” or caught in the latest Instagram trend cycle. Working with Chicago-based planner Rachel De Marte and the bride’s cousin, curator and creative director Alexander May, allowed them to find that perfect balance of timelessness and originality. One big choice the couple made for the wedding day, however? Creating an all-black dress code for guests. “The idea was to neutralize any outfit that might compete with the room itself. Guests teased me by quoting the invitation back, but it worked,” says the bride.

For her wedding day attire, Rachel notes that she manifested working with Danielle Frankel. “She doesn’t know this, but when her first collectsions dropped—long before I ever worked at Vogue—I remember thinking that if I ever got married, she was the one who could understand what I would want to wear,” she says. “I never really imagined the wedding itself, but her work felt like it rewrote what bridal could be and where the industry could go, and I admired that from the beginning.” At first, the bride attempted to find a vintage piece so she could wear a gown that felt singular. “Meeting with Danielle gave me that same sense of rarity, only it felt entirely my own,” she explains.

Frankel pitched a modular outfit complete with a corset, a sheer crinkled chiffon blouse, and a chiffon column skirt wrapped at the waist. “It was essentially my version of a three-piece suit,” adds Rachel. For dancing, the designer made an additional shirt with more weight to it that could be paired with a mini version of the column skirt without the corset. “I remember my mom telling me the story of Ali Larter’s wedding, where her skirt was cut off mid-reception and—if I remember correctly—tossed into the fire. I wanted a control freak’s version of that,” says Rachel. “A few guests asked how I had managed to shorten my skirt so quickly, but the truth is she had made me another one.” She paired the set with Frankel’s Ida pumps in ivory satin. “They had an architectural quality that gave the look the edge, and the team was kind enough to let me buy the sample pair even though the shoe wasn’t out yet,” says the bride. For jewelry, she wore her fiancé’s designs, including diamond studs, her engagement ring, and her wedding band.

For beauty, Rachel worked with makeup artist Shannon O’Brien. “I rarely wear makeup, but she made me feel like myself—only better,” notes the bride. Jessica Pintia, who has done her family’s hair for years, helped with her coif. “She stayed all night, fixed everything, helped me change, and even ushered people in and out of photos,” shares Rachel. “Though I didn’t have bridesmaids, she felt like one.”

Rachel decided to have some fun with her day-party ensemble. At first, she planned to wear an Alaïa white knit set with puffball sleeves—which she ultimately wore while welcoming guests. “But about a week before the wedding, Renaissance Renaissance’s SSENSE bridal collectsion dropped,” says the bride. “There was a fitted blazer with matching capris in a nylon-like fabric that had a sporty, spring energy I loved. But the real reason I went for it was the hat. It came with a small conductor’s cap with a veil attached. It felt non-negotiable.” She paired the set with her mom’s vintage white pony-hair pointed-toe Manolo pumps. “I danced and jumped so hard in them that I still have nerve damage in my toes to this day,” she shares.

For his wedding-day look, David wore a custom tuxedo designed by the couple’s wedding creative director, Alexander May. “He wanted something that nodded to vintage but felt modern, so he went with a loose double-breasted tuxedo cut in Italian wool and silk,” explains Rachel. “Tailored but not baggy. It looked perfect on him.”

To start off the wedding weekend, Rachel’s aunt threw her a spin on a bridesmaid’s brunch, a family tradition. Since Rachel didn’t have a bridal party, a few of her closest friends and female family members joined her for a dinner on Thursday night at RL Restaurant, where they celebrated their engagement. “It felt like the right way to start the weekend: intimate and full circle. Nobody applauded me into the restaurant this time,” she says. “David did the same with his friends, my brother, and my brother-in-law at Erie Café—a true Chicago classic.”

On the morning of the wedding, the bride got ready for the ceremony at her childhood home. “It felt grounding in the best way to wake up there, with my dad working in his office and my sisters and brother drifting out of their rooms,” she remembers. “My parents hilariously surprised me with a limo (the limo I think deserves a comeback), and the three of us rode to the venue together. On the way, they shared marriage advice and reflected on what they had learned over the years. It was the most beautiful way to arrive.”

Guests arrived to the Chicago Cultural Center as jazz played and the scent of fresh lily arrangements crafted by Revel Decor wafted through the space. “Towering plinths held great white spheres of them. The sculptural arrangements ended up creating a scent memory we hadn’t anticipated but now feels inseparable from the day,” notes Rachel. The ceremony space was arranged in a circular format beneath the building’s Tiffany dome. “We kept everything minimal so the mosaics and stained glass could hold the focus, and so the white dress would stand out in the darkened room with everyone wearing solid black,” she shares.

The groom first entered the ceremony space with his parents as a four-piece rendition of “My Funny Valentine.” The couple’s siblings then took their seats within the circular arrangement, and Rachel’s brother prepared to officiate. “He is six years younger and did such a beautiful job,” says the bride. “He’s an incredible public speaker who struck the right balance of humor and depth.” Rachel then entered with her parents as “Faith’s Hymn” by Beautiful Chorus played. Instead of a traditional floral bouquet, she carried one white lily made entirely of sugar made by her cake vendor Flourish Cake Design. “The sugarwork on the cake had been so detailed and beautiful, and its lilies looked so real, that my cousin Alexander suggested a sugar flower in place of a bouquet,” Rachel shares. “It looked real, it was delicate, and it’s a piece of art I now have as a keepsake.”

Reflecting on the ceremony, David says, “I heard the music, and when I saw her, I immediately started to weep. It was so obvious that I was fighting back the tears. I think you’re trying to be present, but you’re also feeling the weight of the moment. At the end of the day, I was more excited than I was nervous because I got to marry my best friend.” After the couple exchanged vows and a kiss, they stole away for a moment together alone. “We just kept looking at each other and saying, ‘We’re married,’ on repeat like broken records, grinning the whole time,” Rachel says.

Cocktail hour proceeded beneath a different stained-dome in the building. Jazz played, hors d’oeuvres were passed, and guests could indulge in a caviar station, shrimp towers, and a martini bar. “It was elegant and alive,” remembers Rachel. Once guests were seated for dinner in a reception space filled with drapery by Frost Productions, lilies, and candlelight, the newlyweds made their grand entrance as Musiq Soulchild’s “Just Friends” played. “My friend Sadie Newman and I kept standing kind of pointing and singing the lyrics to each other until we all sat for our first courses and fresh Champagne was poured,” says Rachel. “It felt like the right way to start the party, and a quiet nod to how our story began as friends before anything else.” The couple and their circle enjoyed bread service, classic Caesar salads, and steak frites from from caterers Entertaining Company, while their parents and siblings gave speeches.

After dinner, the party would hit full swing. “Everyone moved upstairs, led by part of the band, guests waving napkins in the air over their heads,” Rachel says. “We re-entered the ceremony room to find the rest of the band already on stage, and the dance floor filled immediately.” The space also had its own dessert bars with Italian cookies, gelato, and a tiramisu that covered an entire table. For their first dance, David and Rachel swayed to “I Choose You” by Willie Hutch, the song sampled in “International Player’s Anthem” by Outkast and UGK—“the track we listened to in the car and screamed out the windows on our first official date,” the bride recalls.

Later in the night, the band switched over to a DJ. The party ended as the entire crowd chanted for one more song. Rachel adds, “He laughed and reminded us he had already played more than a few encores.” The bride and groom made their way back to the hotel where they first got engaged, and partied with friends well into the morning.

The next day, guests made their way to Rachel’s childhood home. “We hosted a day party with a menu built on every Chicago staple a hungover guest could want, plus plenty of hair of the dog,” she says. The spread featured Portillo’s hot dogs and chocolate cake, Italian beef sandwiches, Lou Malnati’s pizza, Au Cheval burgers, and chicken tenders from Dublin’s Bar & Grill. The couple’s friend Nick Rouner served as DJ, playing music in line with “the kind of house-party set you’d hear in 2009. By the time it got dark outside and the party technically ended, friends were belting lyrics, dancing on countertops, and smoking cigars in the backyard. It was exactly as I’d envisioned it.”

One special wedding favor with sentimental value? Guests left with a silver tray by Lazy Jamie Home with a lion’s head and the wedding date. “My great-grandfather, a dentist who made jewelry in his spare time, once created a lion’s head ring for my grandmother that she wore every day. In our family, each grandchild receives their own version of that ring at 21,” explains Rachel. “The Perry family crest also has a lion at its center. With David being a jewelry designer, it felt natural to create something silver that would weave all of those histories together.”

Reflecting on the wedding, Rachel says, “What struck me afterward was how the night wasn’t just about the two of us. It was about the web of people and history that brought us there. All of it converged in one room, for one night. You don’t realize until you’re in it how rare and powerful that is. We loved every second.”