Inside Tennis Player Félix Auger-Aliassime and Equestrian Nina Aliassime’s Romantic Marrakech Wedding
Tennis player Félix Auger-Aliassime first noticed equestrian Nina Aliassime from afar during one of his tournaments in March 2019. “When I couldn’t shake the thought of her, I felt strongly compelled to meet her before leaving the city if I wanted to leave with no regrets,” he remembers. “I decided to send her a message asking if we could go for a dinner during the tournament and was quite relieved when she was open to the idea.”
A couple of days later, they went on their first dinner date. “Without sounding cliche, it was truly love at first sight,” the Canadian tennis pro says of falling head over heels for Nina, who lives in the US but was born to a Croatian mother and a Moroccan father. “After two hours, I told her this was the start of a long and beautiful future together, and within days, we both knew that we wanted to marry. I think that sums up our relationship quite well: never a sliver of doubt, instant comfortability, a young and innocent honesty, and love that never stopped growing from the moment we laid eyes on each other.”
They got engaged in November 2024 during a vacation to the Seychelles. “While relaxing outside on our balcony together, I asked her to grab my notebook from inside our room,” Félix recalls. “What was supposed to be my notebook was actually a letter from me to her. A letter that dated back to May 5, 2019, written a month and a half after our very first meeting. It was a letter that I had kept through all of the years to one day show her just how confident I was that we’d still be together years later.”
As she came back onto the balcony, Félix was waiting with a ring. “It was a beautiful and intimate moment that we had looked forward to for years, and I couldn’t have dreamt of it being more magical than it was,” he says. “The rest of our evening felt like it was out of a movie as we went straight to a sunset picnic at the top of the island.” As day turned to night, they moved to the beach for a barbecue and called their family and friends to share their happy news.
The wedding took place on September 20, 2025, at the Selman Marrakech hotel. The planning was a collaborative process that occurred over several trips to Morocco over a 10-month period. “Group phone calls with our family were consistent since the moment we got engaged as everyone was so enthusiastic about making this moment what it deserved to be,” Félix remembers. “Whether it was searching deep through the busy streets of Jemaa el-Fnaa to find unique gifts for all our guests, flying between Paris and New York for suit and dress fittings, or touring all of the most breathtaking hotels and villas in Marrakech to find the perfect location, the priority was always one thing: embracing our love for each other, having the time of our lives and making sure our friends and family felt the immense gratitude we have for their unbreakable support and effort to be there.”
A walkway and floral arch were erected on top of the pool for the ceremony, and flowers cascaded from above when Félix and Nina met at the end of the aisle. “There was beauty in every direction you looked whether it was at the Moroccan greenery, the intimate crowd of 120 people dressed in colorful attire looking on proudly, or at the love that was pouring down the stage under the flower filled arch,” Félix says. “The ceremony was private, warm, emotional, and everything we could have ever wanted.”
When Félix started thinking about what he would wear for this major life event, the first name that came to mind was Dior. “The simple elegance and precision of their work is something I’ve admired for a long time,” Félix says. “They put me at ease throughout the whole process, and the end result was more than perfect.”
Nina wore a custom Vera Wang wedding dress that was a bespoke version of the very first dress that she tried on. “The team at Vera Wang was so unbelievably open to her ideas. They went back and forth sharing images and thoughts until finally coming up with a perfect dress that represented her effortless charm,” Félix says. “Aside from her Moroccan kaftan and wedding gown, all of her other dresses were brought straight from Lebanon to Marrakech by two impressive Lebanese designers with designs so striking and unique that she was determined to wear them as soon as she came across them.”
Both Felix and Nina felt the significance of the day deeply. “I definitely had butterflies in my stomach before walking down the aisle in front of all our family and friends,” Félix admits. “But I made sure to take time to soak in what was about to happen as this is a moment that will never come again in our lives. The image of my beautiful wife walking with her father is an image I’ll forever cherish. It’s also hard to describe what a gift it was for us to look out into the incredible crowd. It brought tears to our eyes when the officiant mentioned the names of our grandparents, who are no longer with us yet whose presence is overwhelmingly strong in our hearts. All in all, the ceremony was the perfect combination of emotions such as bliss, gratitude, nostalgia, peace, euphoria, and hope. And it ended with the sweetest kiss we’ve ever had.”
After the ceremony, guests were ushered to a sunset cocktail hour in between the horse stables. An acoustic band played as everyone sipped cocktails and mingled, as the horses looked on. At dusk, candles and lanterns illuminated the path to dinner in the garden. “Our all time favorite parts of the night came from the touching and hilarious speeches given by our family absolutely pouring their hearts out and myself having the chance to say everything I’ve ever wanted to those I love the most,” Félix says. “Our performers, Festival Band, were also nothing short of incredible. They gave us the best show of our lives and the party of our dreams. We were dancing, singing, and laughing as if there were no tomorrow. I wish I could have stopped time and stayed there forever. It’s bittersweet to know that those moments have now become memories, but we will relive them for the rest of our lives through conversations, photos, and videos—and one day, we’ll share the stories with our future kids.”
Photo: Rani Fawaz1/75“For the first event of our wedding weekend, we wanted to fully immerse our guests into the rich Moroccan culture during an evening at a 500-year-old palace in the center of Marrakech.” —Félix
Photo: Rani Fawaz2/75“Our goal was for it to feel like a movie from the moment our guests exited their cars, and we think the horses and flames waiting along the entrance helped to achieve that.” —Félix
