Alison Roman and Max Cantor’s Wedding Was a Love Letter to New York City—And Its Many Restaurants

Alison Roman and Max Cantor’s romance began with an Instagram comment, circa August 2022. “I was on a solo trip through Italy and naturally posting a lot of photos of my vacation…and also myself,” Alison says, laughing. “There was one in particular I took while drying off on a rock after a swim, captioned ‘back to my silly little rock.’ Max felt compelled to respond with ‘Good for you. Good for the rock.’ We both agree it wasn’t 100%, but nevertheless I was instantly charmed.” When she returned to New York, a date soon followed—and then another, and another, and another. Within a month they knew they wanted to get married.

In April 2023 Max, a director and producer, made that feeling official. Food writer and chef Alison, who was on a two-month book tour for her New York Times bestselling cookbook Sweet Enough, had four days in New York City before she flew to Australia. When she walked into her apartment, she found Max perched over their stovetop, making her favorite matzo ball soup to the sound of their joint Spotify playlist. She started crying immediately. “[It] might not sound remarkable, but when I say the man doesn’t cook, I truly mean the man simply does not cook. To me, it was the ultimate gesture of, ‘I see you. I love you,’” she says. “To me, proposing in our home we were sharing and building together, something sweet and genuine and just for us, was the most wonderful thing in the world. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.” (Oh, and that matzo ball soup? Roman says it was perfect.)

They wed on September 8 at City Hall in New York City. Alison wore a two-piece silk set by Rosie Assoulin with puff sleeves and pearl buttons. She accented it with a pair of pearl Jimmy Choos and a light-pink pearl necklace from Rosie herself. “She was wearing it and gave it to me during our final fitting after seeing the shoes—I thought she was kidding, but she wasn’t,” Alison says of her something borrowed. Afterwards, their two families gathered in Alison and Max’s hotel room at Nine Orchard for a quick cocktail hour, complete with wines from Alison’s favorite wine shop, Discovery. (It was a more intimate space than they’d intended: “I originally booked the room for the lush, vibey balcony. I thought, The balcony is the perfect place for a cocktail reception before dinner—the light will be simply perfect, the weather divine! I even went there one evening a few months before to make sure the light would be nice for photos, because I was a chill and relaxed bride,” she says, laughing. “Anyway, it rained almost the whole time we were there and we had to all hang out inside the hotel room.”