The Bride Wore Alaïa For Her Mid Century-Inspired Miami Beach Wedding
When it comes to weddings, there’s the classic stereotype of the micro-managing bride-to-be. Armed with colour-coded folders, fabric swatches and dreams of a minute-by-minute running order, this hyper-organised bride is a far cry from Drew Evenson’s “type B approach to wedding planning”. Rather than sticking to traditional references, Drew took a more laid-back outlook on her weekend of celebrations – which she affectionately describes as an “Art Deco fever dream of a weekend ” – at the Proper Hotel in Miami.
Working with wedding planners Duet, Drew was able to bring her high-glamour vision to life. “My brief was not very cohesive,” she laughs. “It was Ginger from Casino, a little Grace Kelly – all over the map. I think the union of getting married is very serious and beautiful, but the party to celebrate it doesn’t need to be. I wanted to just embrace the fun aspect of it all, and my planners executed that perfectly.”
Drew and her husband Noah’s meet-cute also feels suitably 21st-century. “We actually grew up 10 minutes from each other in Toronto, but never crossed paths,” she tells me. “Then we met at a friend’s wedding a few years ago, and I heard he was asking about me, so I slid into his DMs. I feel like it’s a very modern love story!” With the helpful push of social media, the couple’s relationship was born. “I feel like that almost set the tone for our wedding in a way that we knew we wanted it to be unserious and just fun,” shares Drew.
The wedding weekend was a seriously more-is-more occasion. For the rehearsal dinner – deemed the sexy shabbat – the bride worked with Aleksandra Backunaite to create the perfect Sharon Stone-inspired look. “She’s the ultimate hustler,” Drew laughs. “I wanted something sexy and Michelle Pfeiffer-esque… to be dripping in diamonds.” Mission accomplished. “Traditionally, shabbat dinner is the least sexy thing – you wear eating pants, gorge yourself, then lie on the couch. But we knew we couldn’t bring everyone to Miami and not do a big night out, and we wanted the weekend to feel like a weekend we’d actually have. That’s how sexy shabbat was born. Everyone understood the memo.” The groom’s style followed suit, with a brief of Reservoir Dogs meets Blues Brothers meets Paul Newman.
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For the official ceremony, Drew set her heart on Vivenne Westwood, calling on the “bridal fairy godmother” Rosie Boydell-Wiles (“the ultimate punk”) to help orchestrate her look. The couple got married under a traditional chuppah, made by the groom and his mother from the prayer shawls of Noah’s grandfather, his father and his brother. “We were married under generations of family and love,” adds Drew.
The officiant was an equally unconventional choice. “My boss – who’s also a close friend – officiated us. He braided his hair, wore a tallit and everyone kept calling him rabbi. He kept saying, ‘I’m not actually a rabbi, I’m just winging it.’ Everyone was cracking up.” Then came the hora: “My foot hit a light. It was chaos.” Continuing the party, celebrations moved to BeyBey with the bride opting for a sparklier, sexier look from Miami-fave make-up artist Javier Martinez to complement her third and final dress of the weekend: a bridal white Alaïa mini with a puff-ball skirt, purchased in Paris.
The couple made sure to weave details from both their American and British lives into the weekend. Music cues came courtesy of Vermont band Phish, while boxes of skincare survival packs courtesy of Eva Alexandridis at 111Skin and flowers from Claudia Perez Neary at Ceremony Flowers brought a taste of London to Miami, which Drew describes as a “full-circle moment” tying together the couple’s two homes.
“Noah and I were deeply present the whole weekend,” she shares. “There were moments where we were looking at each other throughout the weekend, thinking ‘this is insane, this is so fun’. All our friends were in one place, and we were just buzzing and so happy. We felt so lucky we decided to do this.”
Leydon Photography1/50The weekend started on Friday with a welcome party by the pool. Wearing a Magda Butrym skirt over a white bikini.
Leydon Photography2/50Miami felt inevitable: it’s a city layered with Noah’s family history and built for long nights that turn into stories.
Leydon Photography3/50Friday night’s “sexy shabbat” set the tone with a mid-century feel and a touch of Miami Vice mischief. My look was inspired by Ginger from Casino, the ultimate glamorous hustler.
Leydon Photography4/50My best friend Steph gave the most hilariously perfect speech, sharing stories from our naughty childhood that ultimately landed us both in boarding school.
