Chloë Chevalier and Nathaniel “Nate” Palmer’s relationship started with some lingering eye contact. “A simple glance…that’s all it took,” says Chloë. They were both attending a church conference in L.A. at the time. “We never even spoke a word when we first saw each other from across the Ace Hotel lobby.”
“I remember first noticing her big, beautiful curly hair and stopping in my tracks to stare,” Nate, who is now an executive assistant to the CEO of Bottega Veneta, recalls. “Shyness kept me from saying hello.” After a few months, the church conference leader reposted a picture of Chloë on Instagram with the caption “My favorite Parisian.” “I follow the church leader and immediately recognized the girl who I still found myself constantly dreaming about,” Nate says. “Eventually, I worked up the courage to DM her, with quite a bit of doubt that she would respond. Fortunately, she did, and we began building a genuine long-distance friendship.”
At the time, Chloë—who is a model and entrepreneur—lived in Paris, while Nate was in New York. Eventually, their DMs segued into dating, and traveling to see each other was a top priority. For three years, they made it work long-distance. “During the pandemic, with the closing of the borders, the longevity of our relationship was tested,” Nate says. “We spent almost one and a half years apart from one another, vowing that when we saw each other in person again, we would make it last a lifetime.”
Even though they both work in fashion, Chloë and Nate are low-key and avoid the glitz and the glamour that are so prevalent in the industry. “We try to keep things simple and practical, with the priority being placed on quality,” Nate says. To that end, there was no proposal per se. The decision to get engaged was one they made together, and over countless FaceTime conversations, they agreed they didn’t need the fussiness of a proposal. They just wanted to be married. “Life is too short to be bogged down by the sometimes unnecessary details of a public spectacle,” Nate says. “We love each other and didn’t need any public display to justify that.”
That approach informed everything, and the couple planned their own intimate wedding on August 26 at Albertson Chapel in L.A. “Both Chloë and I are in professions that require meticulous planning and detail,” Nate says. “We are used to planning experiences for other people or brands. In one sense, it was fun and stretched our creative capacity to see how we could make this important event small but effective. In another sense it was difficult, because both Chloë and I spend so much time focusing on making other people’s experience great that we were somewhat lost on how to make our own experience great for us.”
The bride and groom leaned heavily into their fashion choices. “I wanted something simple yet edgier than what you usually see brides wear,” Chloë explains. “I want to look back at my pictures and see us being timeless.” Since they weren’t doing a big wedding, she knew she didn’t want to wear a bridal dress. “I love Rick Owens because he makes women stand out,” she says. “And my dress was the perfect combination of simplicity and elegance.”
For her veil, she wanted to avoid an accessory that felt generic. “I wanted it to complement my outfit, not hide it,” Chloë says. Jewelry needed to be classic and timeless. “Messika was the best match,” she notes. As for shoes, she went with a classic white Tom Ford stiletto.
“Like Chloë mentioned, we both wanted looks that were simple and timeless,” Nate adds. “But in those realms, we wanted to express our love of fashion, quality, and detail. Rick Owens knows how to maximize and exaggerate the details of simplicity with an edge. That has always been my style. For that reason, I chose a Rick Owens blazer and tank top for the wedding ceremony. The pants and shoes also fit in the scope of my love for detail—with timeless tailoring.”
