Wedding | Lia & Josh

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We met our freshman year at NYU during first semester finals, though not in any particularly romantic way. Josh lived on the 10th floor of Brittany Hall, and Lia on the 9th. There was a communal study lounge on the 1st floor, which Lia and her friend Dianna had intended to use for organic chemistry studying (...oof). Josh, on the other hand, thought it the perfect place to rehearse a self-written rap of mnemonics with his roommate, David — as one does.

Lia failed her chemistry final, which probably had nothing to do with Josh’s rap rehearsal. We started dating seven years later — absolutely nothing to do with freshman year, and everything to do with Instagram DMs about each other’s food posts. A true 21st century romance.

One July 4th weekend, Josh picked Lia up from SFO in his Prius, and it felt as if we had known each other for — seven years, but in a good way. Lia was working in New York and Josh in the Bay Area, so our early days were long-distance. At times we were flying across the country for just a weekend together. It didn’t make any practical sense, but somehow it made perfect sense.

After about a year, Lia moved to San Francisco and we went through the ups and downs of building a life together (we’ll just mention the ups). We started a bi-weekly supper club — the food theme continues — got our first apartment together, and adopted our first pug, Tuna, before eventually making the move back to New York City. Five days before our wedding.

A huge shoutout to our bridesmaids, Alyssa and Dianna (yes, that Dianna!), who unpacked everything with us in one afternoon.

P.S. Twelve years after that day in the study lounge, Dianna was our maid of honor, and David ordained our wedding!

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

First, food was — shockingly — our main priority. Second, we had a relatively even split of guests based in the Bay Area, New York, and abroad, so we wanted to make sure there were convenient accommodations for out-of-towners. And third, we were looking for a space that comfortably fit 200 guests, but felt like the opposite of a banquet hall.

At one point we were going to move forward with a gorgeous Bay Area venue that seemed to check all boxes. Skip to — it was a renovated rehab center turned controversial cult headquarters. So, yeah.

The long story short — one of our favorite restaurants in New York City is Rule of Thirds. It has super cute outdoor bungalows, an amazing menu, and a chill Greenpoint experience. (Also, Caffe Panna is across the street.) On one of our flights back to New York, Josh suggested, “What if we just did it at Rule of Thirds?” We booked a walkthrough of their event space that weekend, met their amazing Events Manager, Julie, and that was it.

How many guests did you have?

185.

Tell us about your outfits.

Josh’s suit was really the sentimental piece for us. It was a custom, made-to-measure Gucci suit, created by our amazing friend, Arthur. We had the opportunity to handpick many of the design elements with Arthur — from fabrics and linings to the littlest details in buttons and embroideries.

Our primary considerations were our winter wedding date and Josh’s tendency to run (very) warm, which led us to a breathable, durable, sharkskin wool in charcoal grey. (We also learned sharkskin has no relation to the ocean fish.)

From the suiting fabric, we went with a fun, neutral herbarium lining — the same one Arthur had in his suit that day — along with slightly pearlescent grey buttons, and Josh’s initials embroidered on the interior pocket.

Lia had also moved to San Francisco while working at Gucci, so creating this piece with the brand felt especially meaningful to our wedding day.

For the ceremony and reception, Lia wore Danielle Frankel’s Sasha gown for its subtle resemblance to a traditional Chinese qípáo, but in a way that felt true to personal style — balancing something classic with something unexpected. For dancing, Lia wore a wool Khaite mini dress. And Birkenstock clogs, because comfort.

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

We planned our wedding ourselves, so the most important aspect was being — and remaining — a team throughout the process. Easier said than done, but a good reminder that a wedding is just one day in a forever marriage. And that the key to a happy forever marriage is hand embroidering every single one of the dinner napkins. Just kidding.

In truth, we really wanted everything to feel full of intention — a series of little curated touches that would say “we love you!” to 185 of our favourite people. Beginning with our invitations, which included NFC floppy disks loaded with personal love letters to each of our guests, and ending with our florist Stems Brooklyn creating mini bouquets from our reception’s floral arrangements for guests to take home.

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

A lot of sentimentality!

For us, that included incorporating both Chinese and Jewish traditions in our ceremony in a way that felt authentic. David, our officiant (and Josh’s freshman year roommate), perfectly balanced personability, humor, and acknowledgements for both cultures. I think we heard “Your officiant was just amazing! Wow!” more than “Congratulations!” And honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Josh’s other freshman year roommate, Yianni, actually built our chuppah. In a Jewish wedding, the chuppah represents the new home the couple will build together. We didn’t realize it until David’s ceremony address, but Yianni had not only hosted many of our wedding guests at his boutique hotel, The Modernist in LIC, but he also renovated our kitchen with us the year prior, and installed all of our lighting and shelves when we moved back to New York City.

For our guests, there were quite a few “moments” sprinkled around the night — To start, on the floppy disk mailed with everyone’s invitations, we stored a love letter to each person. At the wedding, the floppy disks could be read at a designated Mac in one of Rule of Thirds’ bungalows. The screen would open to an analog style window, welcoming guests personally (e.g., their name, guest names, where they travelled from), and display a handwritten message from us. Guests could then write an “email” back to us on an old school email pop-up window.

During cocktail hour, our escort cards were paper fortune cookies with guest names peaking out. Upon opening your cookie, the fortune would reveal your table number! Each guest would then find their name hand-embroidered on a linen napkin at their place setting.

Lia’s dad performed instrumentals for both the ceremony, including his song “Lia”, and for Josh’s cousin, Shelby. An incredibly talented vocalist, Shelby sang the couple’s first dance, “At Last” by Etta James, “Dive” by Olivia Dean, and “Where is My Husband!” by Raye ahead of the DJ’s set.

For all our guests traveling in, we had customized I Heart NY Baggu’s. We wanted their room drops to be something they could use for all their NYC shopping (and takeout!).

And finally, Stems Brooklyn was so gracious to take down our reception calla lily installations and convert them into mini bouquets for guests to take home at the end of the night! Weeks later, we’re still finding our wedding calla lilies in our friends’ homes!

Outside of the wedding itself, we were also very fortunate to have worked with Sarah Dyne for both our engagement ring and wedding rings. Lia’s wedding band includes pieces of her grandmother’s jade bracelet, and fits flush with curve of our engagement ring. Josh’s wedding band includes eight Loverglyphs symbolic of the couple’s individual and shared lives.

Any tips for couples getting married?

Lia: Assume it’s going to be the best day of your life to date. It’s going to be the kind of day you want to relive over and over again, but it only happens once, like every other day, and it happens so quickly!

It is true what they say — in the end, everything will fall into place. And the things that don’t will absolutely make for great post-wedding gossip, which you also need: a good ol’ recap of everything that went “wrong”, that you probably didn’t notice, and now you can laugh about it.

Until then, let yourself have the best day of your life — the first day of your forever marriage!

And I think Josh would probably say, just embroider the damn napkins.

Josh: My main tip would be don’t forget that you are a team. Planning for a wedding will test you in ways that you can’t anticipate but will also lead you to the best day of your life. This was an incredibly fun, stressful, exhilarating process and I wouldn’t have had it any other way — outside of the napkins lol. Work together, listen to each other, and notice what things mean the most to your partner especially when choosing where to spend your energy planning and executing.

Things won’t go smoothly in the end but it’s still going to be the best day of your life. We are so lucky to have friends who made our day so special so don’t forget to appreciate those in your corner!

Photographer: Alana Blythe Photo @alanablythephoto | Planning & Styling: by Lia Ho | Flora: Stems Brooklyn @stemsbk | Ceremony Location: Rule of Thirds @thirdsbk | Reception Location: Rule of Thirds @thirdsbk | Celebrant: David Labine @daveeedlabine | Hire: Universal Light & Sound @ulsnyc | Makeup/Grooming: Abby Lauren Makeup @abbylaurenmakeup | Hair: Abby Lauren Makeup 

@abbylaurenmakeup | Catering & Beverages: Rule of Thirds @thirdsbk | Cake: Milk Bar @milkbarstore | Entertainment: Shelby Applebaum @theblessedblossom; Daniel Ho @daniel_ho_creations; 74 Events, DJ James Arnold @74events | Draping Artist: Josi Blue @josiblue | Dress: Danielle Frankel (style Sasha) @daniellefrankelbride; Khaite (style Tate) @khaite | Suit: Gucci (custom, made-to-measure) @gucci | Veil: Custom | Engagement & Wedding Rings: Dyne @sarahysabeldyne | Shoes: Lia – Gianvito Rossi 

@gianvitorossi; Saint Laurent @ysl; Birkenstock; Josh – Gucci @gucci | Other Jewellery: Custom or Lia’s family’s heirlooms | Wedding Party Attire: Mango dresses, customized @mango