Wedding | Julia & Olivier

Tell us a little about yourselves!

Julia: We live in New York City with our tiny Dachshund Shrimp who we are deeply obsessed with. I am a director at a contemporary art gallery and a huge live music lover. We matched on hinge in 2020 but never met up. Two years later I got frustrated and deleted the app, and a few months later redownloaded it (as one does) which allowed us to re-match. I knew he was different immediately and consider myself lucky every day to have found him!

Oli: I moved to NYC in 2020 from London and quickly matched with Julia on Hinge - I then patiently waited two years for her to redownload the app.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

Julia: We decided to go with a place that was equally special to both of us, New York City, where we met and live. Oli spent most of his life living in Paris and London, so a lot of his friends and family are overseas. My family is also coming from all over the country so we figured New York was a central point that would be easy for everyone to get to.

Our welcome party was at St. Mazie (a subtle reference to our connection to New Orleans) and our formal reception was at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. The Wythe was the perfect venue with gorgeous indoor and outdoor spaces, not to mention incredible views, and the amazing French food for my French husband.

How many guests did you have?

100 people.

What was your budget?

Julia: Let’s just say we spent less than we could have!

Oli: We also spent more than we could have…

Tell us about your outfits.

Julia: On Friday I wore a Rotate Birger Christensen bell sleeve sequin gown. A nod to my love of the 70s. And a pair of mega platform heels by Casadei that I am obsessed with. They feel so boho and I can’t wait to wear them again!

For sunnies I wanted something classic that had a little edge, and these cat eye Saint Laurent ones were perfect.

I wore a two piece Vivienne Westwood gown on Saturday. I researched dresses like crazy and knew immediately when I saw this online that it was the dress. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out where to try it on, there are literally no shops in New York City that carry this designer. I had to reach out to bridal shops outside of the city and ended up getting an appointment at 9 AM at a shop in New Jersey the day after I called. It was the last opening they had, the last day of a trunk sale, which felt like a sign! It was the first dress I tried on and I just knew.

I wore it with a beaded fringe bag from the 1920s. I really wanted to find ways to incorporate vintage elements throughout the weekend, like my earrings Friday. I also had a silk kimono from the 1940s that I wore while getting ready. For shoes I wanted something with height for both days. It took me forever to find the right pair but in the end I went for a platform Gianvito Rossi sandal in gold.

The two piece dress meant I could stay in the same corset top for the afterparty and just swap the bottom. I switched to a beaded mini skirt and ditched the heels for birkenstocks which is aggressively true to myself.

Oli: On Friday I wore an Issey Miyake Homme Plissé suit which came recommended/imposed by my personal stylist (and now wife).

On Saturday I was left to my own devices - I had insisted for our dress code to be Formal rather than Black Tie but a couple months before the wedding I realised tuxes actually look pretty cool - so ended up wearing a shawl lapel tuxedo.

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

Julia: The most important thing for us was making sure that the events were what we wanted. We didn’t have a ceremony, instead we got married on Friday before the welcome party at City Hall with just family. We also didn’t have a wedding party. I still wanted to wear a fancy wedding dress. I wanted guests to be dressed as extra as possible. We did not want kids there (nieces aside), but we did want our dog (Shrimp) to be part of it. And we still wanted the full experience and a weekend of events.

We didn’t have a planner, so I kind of winged it on my own until our day of coordinator Dawn took over 6 weeks out, but this really made it possible for the events to be exactly the vision. Being able to plan such a massive party and have every element to be exactly what we (I) envisioned is so cool.

Oli: Agreeing with Julia.

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

Julia: Working in art I knew that the visual elements (the flowers specifically) were going to be super important. I spent weeks honing in on exactly what I wanted and talking with our fantastic florist Zoie from Efflorescent who is just such a pro. I feel like she crawled into my brain to know exactly what I was going for even if I didn’t have the right vernacular to describe it.

As huge concert goers the music was something we wanted to highlight. We had a Jazz trio on Friday with a friend, Julian Smith, on bass, they absolutely slayed and even threw in a Grateful Dead cover to humor me. On Saturday we had two bands, one for cocktail hour and one for after dinner. The cocktail hour band was Cab Ellis, which my cousin Nick plays bass in. We have seen them perform many times in New York City (if you can make it to a show you absolutely should) so having them play with my cousin felt super special and was such a treat. I’m sure I was meant to be mingling more during their set, but I mostly just hung out by the band and danced. The third band was a nine piece band called Atomic Funk Project and they crushed it. I have never seen a more well attended dance floor at a wedding!

We also spent about 5 months working on a 72 inch paper mâchéd dachshund in honor of Shrimp that we covered in disco tiles which ended up being used as a limbo pole on the dance floor.

Any tips for couples getting married?

Julia: We got a lot of advice from a lot of people ahead of the wedding. I think my favorites are to enjoy the process and that you should do literally whatever you want!

Oli: The best unsolicited advice I received was to not listen to anyone’s advice.

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

Julia: Our photographer Parker Selman was an absolute joy. After an initial phone call where we realized we have matching dachshunds and engagement rings, I knew she was our girl. She is so brilliant at what she does. The pictures are gorgeous and she added such a great energy to the days we spent together. Parker, if you are reading this, we want to be friends!

I also wanted to give a major shout out to Megan Motter and Nellie Roos on hair and makeup. They were super patient with me as I did not know quite how to articulate what I wanted, but in the end I have never felt more pretty.

Lastly, thank you to Yip Studio for making the most gorgeous wedding cake! Everyone we worked with in this industry is just so creative and talented!

Photographer: Parker Selman @parkers.pictures | Second Shooter: Last Light Studio @lastlightvt | Day-Of-Coordinator: Dawn Mauberret @dawnmauberret | Flora: Charlotte Dibiase @charlottedibiase (Friday); Efflorescent @efflorescent.studio (Saturday) | Ceremony Location: City Hall, Manhattan | Reception Location: St. Mazie (Welcome Party); The Wythe Hotel (Saturday Reception) | Hire: Broadway Rentals | MUA: Willow House Beauty; Nellie Roos @bynellieroos | Hair Stylist: Megan Motter @meganmotterhair | Catering & Beverages: The Wythe Hotel | Cake: Yip Studio @yip.studio_ | Stationery: Zola | Entertainment: Julian Smith Trio @juliansmithmusic (Friday); Cab Ellis @cabellisband (Saturday Cocktail Hour); Atomic Funk Project @atomicfunkproject (Saturday Reception) | Dress: Vivienne Westwood @vivennewestwood (Saturday); Rotate Birger Christensen @rotate (Friday) | Suits: Issey Miyake Homme Plisse (Friday); Suit Supply (Saturday) | Engagement Ring: Lauren B | Wedding Rings: Cartier & Etsy | Shoes: Casadei (Friday); Gianvito Rossi (Saturday) | Purse: Vintage 1920s | Wedding Party Attire: May Mashiah (Skirt); Vivienne Westwood (Corset); Birkenstocks (Afterparty)