This Wedding at the Rainbow Room Was a Love Letter to New York City
Brooke Bobb, a senior fashion news writer at Vogue, first struck up a friendship with investor Ryan Yamakoshi her freshman year at Boston University. “He was a sophomore, and he and his friends were having a house party, which a group of us went to,” she remembers. “We immediately clicked and figured out we were both from Chicago.” They became best friends almost instantaneously—“same sense of humor, same love for our hometown, similar groups of friends from home and at school,” she explains. But despite the undeniable connection, they never dated during their four years at college.
After graduation, they both landed in New York circa 2009. “I dated someone pretty seriously for about two years, from 2010 through 2011–12, and then once we broke up, Ryan and I sort of naturally came together,” Brooke says. “Realizing that we were pretty much meant for one another after nearly eight years of friendship.”
The two had been dating for six years when Ryan proposed on Christmas Eve during a trip to visit Brooke’s mom’s side of the family in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “Ryan knows what a special place Santa Fe is to me, and he really wanted to propose there, as he knew I would love being around my family and in one of my favorite places in the world,” says Brooke.
But it didn’t go as smoothly as planned. “We were supposed to fly to Barbados two days after Christmas, and I realized in that moment just before the proposal that I’d left my passport in New York,” Brooke explains. “I had a minor breakdown that involved tears and me cursing myself for being so forgetful—I’ve never, ever forgotten a passport—just moments before Ryan was planning to ask me to marry him. I pulled it together, though, and he suggested that we walk to my aunt and uncle’s house, where we all gather for enchiladas on Christmas Eve before we go to Canyon Road to see the faralitos, as is tradition in New Mexico.” Brooke admittedly thought this was odd, but she agreed. “I could tell he was nervous about something and all of a sudden, he stopped in a quiet park just at sunset. There was not a soul in sight. He knelt down and asked very sweetly if I would marry him. It was quiet, intimate, and very private—exactly what we both wanted. Afterward we walked into my aunt and uncle’s house and surprised everyone with the announcement. Of course, we took a family tequila shot to celebrate!”
It took a moment for Brooke to wrap her head around the wedding-planning part of things. “I’d never once in my entire life thought about what my wedding would look like,” she admits. “I wasn’t one of those little girls who imagined her wedding dress. But then I started to think about us, about Ryan and me, and how I wanted to celebrate our life as it had been and what it would be. We really came together in New York, and I wanted to get married here in the city in honor of the place that opened up both of our eyes to the love we had for each other. I also wanted to celebrate all that is classic and thrilling about Manhattan. It’s a city that has given me so much, and I wanted our guests to experience that same magic that is so singular to New York.”
They started by scouting some of the most iconic spaces in the city for potential venues, ultimately landing on the iconic Rainbow Room. “I’d gone there before with my dad, who is as much a passionate lover of New York as I am and really introduced me to the city on our dad-and-daughter trips here when I was little,” Brooke recalls. “I love that it’s on top of the city; a space that has been refurbished in recent years but still feels like a piece of history with unmatched views of the skyline, Deco interiors, and the original rotating dance floor from 1934. It’s a landmark, and it makes you feel something wonderful the moment you step off the elevators and see the face of the Empire State Building staring at you through the window.”
Still, it presented a challenge: With weddings and events taking place at the Rainbow Room every single Saturday night of the year, how could they set theirs apart? “Both Ryan and I agreed that the best course of action was to completely respect the space and take a less-is-more approach with the decor,” Brooke explains. “In fact, there was no decor, and we used as much from the actual space as we could. I’ve seen way too many weddings there where I think people feel as though they need to go over the top with the glitz. But really, it’s so stunningly beautiful as is, and I didn’t want to take away from that.”
The couple worked with Michelle Rago Destinations to achieve exactly what they were going for. “What would we have done without Team Rago?!” Brooke says. “Michelle and her team, Lydia Taplett and Katherine Belding, as well as their amazing freelancers the day of, were truly miracle workers. Not only did they do everything to make our day run totally and completely seamlessly, but they acted as our friends, our trusted confidants, and the captains of a ship that we didn’t know how to navigate whatsoever. We are eternally grateful for their hard work and friendship.”
Flowers were handled by Emily Thompson—and she was given permission to go wild. “The results were truly astounding,” Brooke says. “She is a floral architect—someone who understands how to punctuate a room without overpowering it—and her use of Japanese maple trees for the ceremony backdrop was sheer genius!”
The fashion was where Brooke’s skill set thrived, but arriving at “the one” was not a decision that came easily. “I oscillated between wanting a simple slip dress and something totally over the top and wild,” she says. “One thing I knew for sure: I didn’t want a traditional wedding dress and didn’t want to go to a bridal salon to find one.” She wound up meeting Cate Holstein, the designer behind the ultimate cool-girl brand, Khaite, for coffee, and it turned into an hour-long hangout. “I really liked her, and I liked the way she approached fashion and design. Her fall 2018 show was beautiful, and it was the first time she’d branched out into eveningwear with these stunning tulle dresses.”
