Wedding | Myelle & Olivia
Tell us a little about yourselves!
We're Olivia and Myelle, and we live in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn with our dog Billie. We matched on Hinge in January 2021, in the middle of a New York winter and a pandemic that had already narrowed everyone's world down considerably. We talked for a month before our first date, when Myelle cooked Olivia a ribeye – perfectly medium-rare which was an immediate turn-on. With Myelle's roommate away and the city half-shut-down, we quickly found ourselves spending nearly every night together in her Lower East Side apartment, building the foundation of our relationship with remarkably few distractions.
Myelle is confident, no-nonsense, and has never been afraid to say what she wants. She's an editor by day and a fiction writer at heart, working on her first novel. Olivia is deeply caring and nurturing, with a tough exterior that lets you know she means it, and finds real joy in creating beautiful experiences for the people she loves. Pick a night and give her a guest list, and she’ll throw you a dinner party with a fully curated menu, wine pairings, and the perfect playlist to match.
When it came time to actually get engaged, the only real surprise was the words we said to each other — and even then, we'd each written almost exactly the same thing. We proposed to each other minutes apart, under a covered bridge on our favorite walking loop in the Catskills with our dog Billie slipping around in the snow the whole time, thrilled just to be on her favorite walk.
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
Early on, we knew we wanted a destination that brought us and everyone we love out of their everyday routines so we could be fully present with each other, away from the noise of daily life. Our goal was for the weekend to feel like a vacation with friends and family where we happened to get married.
Queer-affirming was non-negotiable once we started looking at countries, right alongside practical things like proximity to an international airport for our guests. We'd initially found a venue we loved outside Barcelona, but the logistics kept fighting us — nothing about it felt easy. Then we found Casa Sacoto in Portugal, and everything clicked. We connected instantly with Liliana, the owner, and with Carolina from Lovers Studio as our planner — it was immediately obvious this was our team. If there's a lesson in there, it's that the feeling of working with someone matters as much as the venue itself — chase the fit, not just the photos.
We also loved that we could build the whole weekend around the summer solstice — the longest day of the year surrounded by an abundance of light — which felt like the perfect metaphor for the future we are building together.
How many guests did you have?
60 — small enough to feel intimate and spend meaningful time with every single person there, but still big enough to have a packed dance floor.
What was your budget?
All in, we spent around $100,000 across all three days — somewhere between “reasonable” and “we regret nothing.” One thing we didn't fully account for: the dollar-to-euro conversion, which was not in our favor this year.
Tell us about your outfits.
Olivia wore predominantly custom Kallmeyer all weekend — a queer-owned brand she's loved for nearly a decade. The decision was a no-brainer when she envisioned how she wanted to feel on our wedding day: strong, sleek, and dressed for the female gaze. She opened the weekend in the Ulla Tie Trouser and Zia Cowl Neck Tank, then wore a custom Deon Sleeveless Blazer and Charlie Long Trouser with a slit for the ceremony, finished with silver Stuart Weitzman heels and Dunton Ellerkamp jewelry.
Myelle moved between sentimental and show-stopping. She opened the weekend in her late grandmother's Bob Mackie blazer, paired with custom shorts made by Olivia's sister. For the ceremony she wore Katherine Tash’s Jules gown with earrings from Gema, a jewelry studio in Lisbon she found on one of our planning trips.
The after party looks were harder to source. We knew we wanted to lean-in to disco but felt like most ‘bridal’ looks didn’t fit that brief. When we finally found our outfits, we ended up matching without planning it. Olivia had ordered silver platform sandals from Larroudé and the store accidentally shipped two pairs — we wear the same size, so we took it as a sign! Olivia paired hers with a Kallmeyer mini skirt and Simon Miller sequin top. Myelle wore a disco-inspired mini dress by Kate Barton.
We went to every ring appointment together, intentionally designing rings that highlighted our personal styles. With the help of Jade Trau’s team, Myelle redesigned her mother's engagement ring, featuring a center stone that was her grandmother's and two side stones her father added when he proposed. Olivia's is a take on a classic signet ring with an elongated oval diamond from Dunton Ellerkamp.
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
More than anything, we wanted our wedding to be a bold declaration of love, free of expectations. That became our north star — the question we kept coming back to with every decision, from choosing our vendors, to the menu, and the ceremony itself.
That especially rang true when we decided to walk down the aisle together. We both have close relationships with our parents, and it wasn’t an easy conversation to have with them. But neither of us wanted to stand at the end of the aisle waiting for the other — that felt gendered to us, and the ceremony space didn't let us have it both ways. We loved the symbolism of stepping into this next chapter as equals, arriving together, side by side. And our parents understood that, which meant a lot to us.
That instinct ran through the entire weekend, and it's the reason the whole thing still feels completely, unmistakably ours.
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
Food and wine were everything to us. We wanted fresh, Portuguese ingredients, naturally allergen-friendly menus, and wines that celebrated Portugal's different regions and indigenous grapes. Dinner was served family-style. The platters themselves became part of the colorful tablescape and naturally created connections between our guests. Everything was gluten-free for Myelle, including a giant passionfruit pavlova in place of a traditional wedding cake.
The other element we obsessed over was music. We knew it would set the tone for each moment of the day. We walked in together to a song from the Vicky Cristina Barcelona soundtrack, gorgeous Spanish guitar that also happens to mark an early queer awakening moment for Olivia. Cocktail hour moved into a tropical lounge set played entirely on vinyl by Your Jukebox, before dinner settled into soulful classics like Sade and Stevie Wonder. By the time dessert plates cleared, the whole night had been building toward one thing: the disco, Studio 54-inspired club of our dreams.
Any tips for couples getting married?
Enjoy the process — if it's stressful, that energy can filter through, but if you have fun with it, that energy will radiate on your wedding day.
Choose vendors whose style you already love and trust their expertise — align on your vision, then let them run with it.
And don't let “that's just how it's done” make a single decision for you — if it didn't feel like us, it didn't make the cut, tradition be damned.
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
Carolina at Lovers Studio didn't just plan our wedding, she introduced us to every vendor like they were friends, not contacts — and it turned out they actually were. Our entire Lisbon-based team is genuinely close with each other, and ours was the only wedding all season where all of them were booked together. That kind of chemistry doesn't happen by accident.
Oh, Maria Flores understood the assignment immediately, especially when it came to weaving fruits and vegetables into the florals for an al fresco vibe that felt so specifically us. Our ceremony arrangements featured a massive tomato installation that guests are still talking about — and it's the kind of detail that means something extra to us. Olivia grew up going to the farmers market in Union Square with her dad every Saturday, a tradition we still keep now with our dog Billie.
The Vernacular made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera and ensured the photos feel completely grounded in who we are, while somehow still being the most editorial we'll probably ever look. Margarida also surprised us with a Super 8 camera, bringing an extra level of excitement to the day.
No Naked Design designed our wedding website and an interactive invitation suite that built real excitement months before anyone landed in Portugal. We both geek out on stationery and branding, so getting to collaborate on ours was one of our favorite parts of planning.
Photographer: The Vernacular @thevernacularphotography | Planning & Styling: Lovers Studio @loversstudioevents | Flora: Oh, Maria Flores @ohmariaflores | Content: Candid Content Studio @candidcontentstudio | Ceremony & Reception Location: Casa Sacoto @casa_sacoto | Hire: Aura Rentals @aura.rentals | MUA: Mariana Teixeira @marianateixeira.mua | Hair: Let’s Hair @letshair | Catering & Cake: Bavard Studio @bavard.studio | Beverages: Bar Factory @barfactorysolutions | Stationery: No Naked Design @nonaked_design_studio | Entertainment: Your Jukebox @your_jukebox | Dress: Katherine Tash Bridal @katherinetash | Suit: Kallmeyer New York @kallmeyerofficial | Engagement Ring & Wedding Rings: Dunton Ellerkamp (Olivia) @duntonellerkamp; Jade Trau (Myelle) | Shoes: Stuart Weitzman (Olivia); Dolce Vita (Myelle)
