“We wanted to throw a really fabulous party,” Lucy Swift Weber said of her marriage to Charles Lemonides. “Something really elegant, but really fun, not overly stiff or formal, but fabulous and over-the-top.” They were able to strike that precise balance at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, chef Dan Barber’s famed farm and restaurant in Pocantico Hills, New York.
The New York-based couple, who co-own the Bridgehampton hotel A Room at the Beach, began the weekend with a rehearsal dinner and welcome party at Locanda Verde in The Greenwich Hotel. “Neither one of us had any hospitality experience before our hotel, but what drove us towards [hospitality] in the first place is that we love hosting, and we love people. It becomes a natural combination and probably informs the way that we throw a party as well.”
Read on for all the details from the big day, including the bride’s trio of Danielle Frankel dresses, out-of-this-world florals, and, yes, pole dancing.
The Rehearsal Dinner
The couple kicked off the weekend on Thursday with a small dinner in their suite at The Greenwich Hotel in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood. On Friday, Lucy and Charles held their rehearsal dinner in the back room at Locanda Verde, located within the hotel. Afterwards, they had a welcome party that took up the whole restaurant. “That was really nice, because even though we’re New Yorkers, we actually ended up realizing that a lot of our guests are from out of town and traveled really far to be there. It was nice to have a moment before the wedding of having everybody join together,” Lucy says.
Famed floral designer Lewis Miller decorated the restaurant beautifully. “I am obsessed with flowers and I’ve been a Lewis Miller fan for a long time—he makes flower dreams come true!” Lucy says. “Someone on his team overheard a familiar voice at Locanda Verde, when they were finishing the setup for the rehearsal dinner. Turns out, it was Robert De Niro, who owns the place. Apparently he walked in and said, ‘Wow, this room has never looked better.’”
The Venue
Lucy and Charles loved how bucolic the setting at Blue Hill was, while still being close to New York City. “Using the whole space there, you get to create so many different worlds,” Lucy says. They held the ceremony on the lawn. “I don’t think that it’s a typical spot for ceremonies there, but it had this romantic, garden-y feel.” It also reminded them of Ireland, where they have a home.
The Ceremony
The service combined elements of Lucy’s Jewish faith and Charles’ Greek background. Their 9-year-old nephew sang “Hey Jude” and got everyone to join in. “It was just incredibly magical and amazing,” Lucy confesses. The wedding was co-officiated by their friend Jamie Drake, an interior designer, and Charles’ cousin Dean.
The Tent
The couple’s planner, Augusta Cole, and Miller worked together to create a tent with a garden structure in the courtyard at Blue Hill. “That plan developed in a funny way, because we kept talking about rain plans early on, and I hated the idea of having to spend money to have a rain plan tent that’s not actually what you want,” Lucy says. “We landed on having this incredible garden structure tent that would be a wonderful part of our vision, rain or shine.”
The Outfits
For the ceremony, Lucy wore a Danielle Frankel gown that was hand-painted. “It’s a dream of watercolored garden romance and really unexpected, because it’s not white. The details are just extraordinary. It has a beautiful structure throughout, too,” she says. Her name and wedding date were embroidered inside the dress, which she paired with pink Christian Louboutin heels and a custom pink ombré veil, also by Danielle Frankel.
She then changed into a second Danielle Frankel dress, which was “a bit more classic and a true mermaid gown. Because it was my second dress, we took most of the train off, so it just had this little bell train. It’s a hard dress to move in because it’s very snug all the way to the bottom, but so fun to wear.” One of Danielle Frankel’s employees and a seamstress were both on-site to help to make tiny adjustments throughout the night, including keeping the dress a bit looser during the dinner and then tightening it for the first dance.
Lucy’s final dress was a third Danielle Frankel look, which was sheer and pearl-embroidered. “This one had such a nice weight to it” she says. “We hatched a plan where I would take off the bottoms at some point. Finding the right undergarments for that look was a whole journey.”
Working with Frankel was a special experience for Lucy. “Part of what made it all feel like kismet is that she and I both worked at Marchesa, circa 2011–2013, which was a whole moment and vibe and kind of a crazy work environment,” Lucy says. “I was so excited when I realized the connection, and it’s so exciting that she is this incredibly accomplished and innovative designer now.”
The Dress Code
One of the first things the couple settled on was a dress code they called “elaborate and creative black tie.” They created an Instagram account for the wedding featuring little snippets of details about what people could be expecting, and also provided a lot of inspiration to illustrate what they meant. “I would say everybody just brought their A-game. The fashion was just outstanding.”
Charles’ daughter and Lucy’s stepdaughter Zoe, 25, made her own dress, while Lucy’s brother-in-law and Charles’ son and Lucy’s stepson Alex, 28, both wore brooches that were her family’s heirlooms.
The Menu
Cole and Miller created a stunning indoor space for dinner, too. “We went upstairs and had our amazing dinner in this completely different environment, where it went from the feeling of a country, romantic garden to very chic cocktail party, and then upstairs to this wonderland of glittery life and elegance,” Lucy says. The menu featured everything from asparagus and peas to halibut and beef paired with hand-selected wines.
The Music
Lewis had yet another concept for the dance space, which he “completely transformed into this vibey, lounge-y area.” Music was provided by Elan Artist. The couple took lessons and practiced their first dance to “Kick in the Head,” performed by singer Chris Norton. “Then our incredible band played ‘You Sexy Thing,’” Lucy says. “We did not get our dance exactly right, but it was still great.”
When a team of pole dancers entered, the atmosphere shifted again. “I’ve taken pole dancing lessons for years, and it’s an activity that I really love,” Lucy says. At one point, she even got up on the pole herself, and though she had promised not to go upside down, she did it anyway.
“Charles and I have both been married before and there was something particularly amazing and fun about this being a second wedding for both of us,” she adds. “We got to make choices that are really about us and our love and our wishes. I walked down the aisle by myself, which was important to me and my dad was very understanding about it. I just didn’t feel like I needed to be given away!”
Lucy Swift and Charles Lemonides’ Wedding
Adrienne Gaffney is a features editor at ELLE and previously worked at WSJ Magazine and Vanity Fair.
