The Bride and Groom Wore Multiple Custom Thom Browne Looks at Their Lake Como Wedding
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When Thom Browne’s head of footwear design Anna Scott met Joe “JB” Chen in 2016, they immediately knew they were destined to be a pair. “Joe is my perfect fit,” Anna jokes. “His foot is our shoe sample size.” While she first connected with the actor and producer on Hinge, their first date took place at Lovers of Today in New York’s East Village. “When Anna showed up, she was wearing a big Marc Jacobs Mickey Mouse sweater, which I thought was really fun and different,” JB remembers. “We immediately had no trouble talking about whatever. It felt pretty effortless from the start.” Anna says she was definitely impressed by their first encounter. “He looked way better than his photos, and he was so sweet—talking about his family nonstop and showing me funny dog videos,” she says. The couple admits that dating was tough at the beginning, as Anna was working for Marc Jacobs at the time and was frequently in Italy. “The first time Joe came to visit me in Venice, we took a weekend trip to the Dolomites,” remembers Anna. “After hiking and row boating around Lago Di Braies together, I realized I was falling in love with him.”
From that trip onward, the creatives’ relationship blossomed as they became increasingly integrated into each other’s lives. “After seven years together, Joe casually said we should look at rings while eating takeout at home,” says Anna. “I cried.” The couple worked with Greg Kwiat to design Anna’s custom canary diamond ring together ahead of a surprise proposal. “In very ‘Joe’ fashion, his official proposal was on March 18, 2024, right before bed in our Upper East Side apartment while in our pajamas and mouth guards, having just finished watching one of our favorite reality shows,” shares Anna. “It was bittersweet because the following week he had to fly to Iraq for a month for a film, The President’s Cake, he was working on.” However, the couple were able to kick off their wedding era in a proper way with an engagement party in Singapore hosted by JB’s mom, Veronica Chen Baker. “[She] threw us the most charming dinner party, complete with a local jazz band, speeches, and many Yam Sengs,” says Anna.
Since Anna and JB’s favorite thing to do is travel, they always knew they would want to bring their friends and family together for a destination wedding. Lake Como was an easy choice for their celebrations. “Italy has always been special to us; Joe would come to visit me in Italy throughout our relationship, and we would take these opportunities to explore the country,” shares Anna. “On one of these visits, Joe and I fell in love with Bellagio and the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni. We stayed at the Serbelloni over a weekend and had never seen views of Como like that before. Ever since that stay, I thought it would be perfect for an intimate, but beautiful wedding.”
Once the couple chose a May 31, 2025 wedding date at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, they dove into crafting their vision and figuring out logistics. “Honestly, the whole planning process reminded me of producing a runway show. So much prep, design, development, hard work, problem solving, pivoting... just for one magical day,” says Anna. Since the couple wanted someone local to take on planning, Anna and JB hired Andrea Naar Alba from Italian Weddings and Events to execute the wedding weekend. “We all clicked right away, and I instantly knew I could trust her taste, which, as a designer, is no easy feat,” shares the bride. Their vision was to focus on the natural beauty of Lake Como and to conjure an air of elegant, timeless glamour. “We didn’t want anything too flashy or over the top for our wedding, as is easy to do for Lake Como weddings,” says Anna. “Andrea understood that completely, and was a dream to work with.”
Naturally, Anna wanted to place an important emphasis on fashion when curating her wedding aesthetic—and all roads pointed to Thom Browne. “As soon as Joe proposed, I went to Thom to ask him if he would design my wedding dress,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine Joe and I wearing anything else for our wedding.” The couple would ultimately wear at least one Thom Browne piece throughout all three days of events—including plenty of footwear. “Thom, my shoe team, and I made seven pairs of custom shoes for the wedding day, including sneakers for dancing,” says the bride. “I had hip surgery some months before and wanted lots and lots of dancing.” Browne also had a custom Swarovski crystal “Hector” clutch made for Anna to carry through the weekend. “Now one of my most coveted possessions,” says Anna. “Truly.”
