Jordan Casteel Wore Custom Batsheva for Her Brooklyn Rooftop Wedding

Photo: Bjarne Jonasson

Jordan Casteel and David Schulze’s marriage is the result of a very 21st century phenomenon: Raya. “We often talk about how our worlds would have never intersected without the app, and yet so much about our lives align,” says Casteel, a painter whose work has been shown at the New Museum—and on the September 2020 cover of Vogue. Back in 2017, she had been single for six years when she swiped right on Schulze, a portrait and still life photographer, and fired the first message. “I complimented him on his sense of humor,” she recalls, noting that, not long after they struck up a banter, they decided to go on a date—IRL. “He was living in South Williamsburg at the time and offered to come up to Harlem. I chose Vinetaría, a restaurant recommended by a friend that I always wanted to try. The ease of conversation over dinner has continued ever since.”

Fast forward to last July, during the height of the pandemic, and David proposed the same day that they closed on a house just outside of Woodstock, New York. “I had packed mini prosecco bottles in a cooler to celebrate. After we signed the documents and returned to the property, David said he was going outside to set up a blanket, and asked me to bring the prosecco. When I opened the cooler, the ring was sitting on top. At which point I was so excited that I opened the ring box, put the ring on myself, and said ‘yes’ before he had the chance to officially ask me if I wanted to marry him,” Casteel says with a laugh.

Right away, the two creatives knew that their wedding would be unlike any other—starting with Casteel’s get-up: “From the beginning, I never imagined wearing a traditional white dress. It felt like I’d be doing what was expected rather than what would feel the most authentic,” she says. After Schulze put Casteel in touch with Batsheva Hay—who’s married to Schulze’s former colleague, photographer Alexei Hay—Casteel paid a visit to the designer’s Garment District studio, where she quickly landed on her perfect fit: a high-necked smock dress that Hay stitched together from a blue-and-yellow wax print fabric. “Working with Batsheva was a dream. It was a collaborative effort centered around my quirky and fun sensibilities.” A fascinator hat, a handmade gift from Casteel’s longtime acupuncturist Leah Kim, provided “the icing on the cake that tied the whole outfit together”—as did purple-tinged lashes and a dash of coral Colourpop liner. “It was simple but aligned with the feel of the day: bright and fun,” Casteel says of the above-the-neck accents. (In keeping with the theme, Schulze paired a black Bonne Suit with moss green Converse Chukka Mid sneakers.)