Wedding | Ivy & Ian

Tell us a little about yourselves! 

We actually met on September 26, 2012 – exactly 13 years before we got married, to the day – in college. We didn’t start dating then, but we did actually live together one summer. Fun fact: the first check Ivy ever wrote in her cheque book was actually made out to Ian for electricity that summer! We reconnected in 2019 in NYC, and fell in love right before the world shut down for COVID. We went from spending every single moment together during the pandemic to also living across the world from each other when Ivy’s work took her to Australia for 6 months.

Why did you decide to get married where you did? 

We have lived in Cobble Hill for almost 6 years. Cobble Hill – specifically a handful of streets between Court & Smith – has seen us grow throughout the years and has loved us, cared for us, and been our home throughout our entire relationship. It was a no-brainer to get married in Brooklyn, but we actually thought we were going to get married at Brooklyn City Hall until a few weeks before our wedding date, when City Hall decided not to have any appointments for our planned date. After walking around our local parks to decide on an alternate location, we decided there was nothing that made more sense than just getting married on our own building’s roof. We asked our friend Jacob to officiate, sat down to write our vows, booked an Etsy Witch to help with the weather (she really overdelivered), and didn’t book anything else for the ceremony. With only 28 guests, we knew it would be intimate, sweet, and perfect as it was.

How many guests did you have? 

We had 28 guests – just our immediate family and closest friends. We knew we wanted a small ceremony where we could spend time with everyone who was celebrating with us.

What was your budget? 

Knowing that we were having a restaurant wedding, we set larger budgets for our outfits than we did for most details. We only really spent on the food, photographer, and florals - everything else we DIY’d or nixed because it was less important to us.

Tell us about your outfits. 

We were really the most excited for our outfits – both of us love to get dressed and saw our wedding as an opportunity to splurge on some pieces that we would incorporate into our everyday wardrobe moving forward. 

Ivy actually sourced most of her outfits through different websites across the course of a year, only one of which was from a traditional bridal retailer (her ceremony top from Danielle Frankel). Her vision was always “Oscars after party glam” rather than traditional bridal and she actually manifested her dream old season Mach & Mach heels exactly in her size from The RealReal. Her after party look was full Simone Rocha: a see-through organza dress, white slip, and egg bag. She paired this look with silver heeled tabis from Maison Margiela – she had been hunting for the right shoe for months – finding this perfect pair in Paris just a few weeks before the wedding day.

Ian had a very clear vision going into the wedding: he knew he wanted an espresso brown suit to play off Ivy’s cream look. He opted for a custom, double breasted suit from Todd Snyder paired with a custom embroidered white shirt from Suit Supply made specifically to be worn without a tie. The star of his look were definitely his YSL chelsea boots in the darkest of browns. He had ordered a bunch of designer pocket squares, but in the end, opted for a $14 one from Tie Bar that was a very fun pop of teal that arrived a day before the wedding day. 

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding? 

We wanted our wedding to feel like us, spark joy for us, and be focused on allowing us to be present with our love the entire time. We both work a lot and can be perfectionists: we knew we wanted to cherish our wedding and not feel stress surrounding it. As a result, we were really intentional about only planning details that made us excited – and not getting lost in the minutiae, the event production, and how others would perceive us. At the end of the night, we felt so happy with every choice we made because every element felt like us. We wanted to be able to talk to every person at the wedding, know every person at the wedding, feel the love we have for each other and our loved ones, and, of course, serve some fun looks.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

Yes – Ivy is Chinese, and we knew we wanted to modernize a tea ceremony as our welcome event. We decided on a ceremony where each of us would pour tea for our new family members (including our brothers!) and then for our guests, as they are also part of our family. It was a sweet moment to share, and Ivy’s mom also baked homemade double happiness mochi moon cakes as our wedding landed right around the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Any tips for couples getting married? 

Our biggest tip would be to embrace the fact that things will go wrong, and just trust that the day itself will be perfect no matter what. Two days before we got married, Ian actually threw out his back and wasn’t able to stand… after a visit to the ER, some crutches, a lot of Tylenol, and some prescriptions, Ian woke up on our wedding day, miraculously able to walk. We look back and the experience brought us and our families so close together, and it is such a core memory we’ll always look back on and laugh at.

Things always work out – even if it doesn’t seem like it will – and it will be the best day because it is filled with your favorite people. At the end of it all, you are actually not putting on a performance. It’s your wedding day, you’re not actually the hosts: you’re the guests of honor!

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Our friend, Echo Yun Chen, did the florals for our wedding – she is a true creative visionary, and we barely gave her any artistic direction, knowing that we’d rather trust her than ourselves with the execution. We chose a color scheme, shared some general Pinterest vibes of what we liked, and Echo Yun Chen surprised us beyond our dreams and transformed L’Artusi Supper Club. 

Ivy got her hair done by her colorist – Nicole Ann Lucero – who has been coloring her hair since she moved to NYC in 2017. It was so special to have Nicole Ann Lucero come to our apartment and do both Ivy’s hair and her mother-in-law’s hair for the special day.

Photographer: Sincerely, Sini @sincerelysini | Planning & Styling: by Ivy | Flora: Echo Yun Chen  @echothegecko | Ceremony Location: Our Brooklyn Apartment Roof | Reception Location: L’Artusi Supper Club @lartusisupperclub | Celebrant: a friend | Make up: Dani Parkes @facesbydanii | Hair: Nicole Lucero @officialsheargenius | Cake: Mia’s Bakery Brooklyn @miasbakerybk | Ceremony Dress: Danielle Frankel @daniellefrankel & MyTheresa @mytheresa | After Party Dress & Bag: Simone Rocha @simonerocha_ | Suit: Todd Snyder @toddsnyder & (Shirt) Suitsupply @suitsupply | Engagement & Wedding Rings: Cushla Whiting @cushlawhiting | Shoes: (Ceremony) Mach & Mach @machandmach from The RealReal @therealreal, (Afterparty) Maison Margiela @maisonmargiela & (Groom) YSL @ysl | Earrings: Kinn Studio @kinnstudio