Lauren Rodriguez and Chase Hall Married on Their Calla Lily-Lined Stoop in Downtown New York
Lauren Rodriguez and Chase Hall met in the spring of 2014. She, the founder, creative director, and designer of Lorod, was hosting a party at the New York City home they now share. He, an artist whose paintings have been acquired by the Whitney and the Hammer Museum, among others, was attending with mutual friends. The two have been inseparable ever since.
After spending nearly all of their twenties together, Chase tricked Lauren into running an errand at the Carlyle Hotel, where he got down on one knee and proposed with their Great Dane, Paisley, looking on. Since they had spent many years together already, they both knew that they wanted to get married relatively soon after the proposal and that, for them, it was New York City or nowhere. After much deliberation on the venue, they ultimately decided to hold the ceremony at the place that’s most important to them in the city: their home downtown. “The small one-block, diagonal street—one of the only one that runs true east/west in the city—is home to some of our favorite characters,” Lauren says. “We couldn’t imagine a more fitting setting to wed then this magical block where we met almost eight years previously.”
The bride wore a vintage Vivienne Westwood dress with gray-blue Manolo Blahnik heels and a custom antique veil by Bill Bull. “I always knew this was the dress I wanted to wear, and it had to be vintage,” Lauren says. “So when a friend found it from a dealer in London, I knew I had to buy it even though this was five months before Chase proposed.” She accessorized with custom Prounis emerald and pearl earrings and a family heirloom cameo pin on the bottom of her corset. Chase wore a custom Loro Piana Martin Greenfield double-breasted suit, adorned with a custom Prounis emerald lapel pin and matching emerald cufflinks, with a piquet Charvet tuxedo shirt and black Bode house shoes for the ceremony.
Friends and family dressed in black-tie lined the streets. The sound of jazz musician Dick Griffin’s trombone filled the air while guests enjoyed champagne and caviar. Neighbors, NYU students, and friends stood on fire escapes and perched in their windows to watch as Lauren crossed the closed-off street-turned-aisle. The couple’s stoop was lined with tall stalks of calla lilies, and it was there that Lauren and Chase were married by their long-time friend Dr. Kenzo Bergeron during a service that event producer David Rodgers helped orchestrate.
“We both felt just like ourselves,” Lauren remembers. “On the stoop we walk up every day with all the people we love standing in the street outside of our home—a sea of umbrellas on a drizzly New York day. It was just right for us.”
After the ceremony, everyone relocated to Balthazar in Soho for a boisterous dinner complete with seafood towers, steak au poivre, lots of French fries, and martinis galore. Lauren changed into a strapless black and white vintage Chanel sequin dress and Chanel shoes. Tracey Ryans, a close friend of the couple, served as the master of ceremonies and gracefully carried guests through speeches that were a mix of tearful, heartwarming, and hilarious. The party went all night and into the wee hours of the morning as New York’s favorite brasserie turned into one big dance floor. Waiters and kitchen staff joined in as guests danced holding calla lilies and wearing festive feather masks. “We’re so sad it’s over!” Lauren says. “It’s really something special having all the people you love in one room to celebrate a new chapter of your life with the person you love most.”
Photo: Christian Garcia1/38Lauren getting ready in a vintage dressing gown from her friends at Desert Vintage.
Photo: Clement Pascal2/38The bride having a snack before the ceremony.
