Beyoncé’s Former Assistant Wore 9 Archival Looks for Her Nantucket Wedding
Despite meeting during high school, it took until 2020 for bride Samantha Greenberg and groom William Spring to go on their first date. “We ran into each other at Cisco Brewers in Nantucket and something sparked,” Samantha remembers. “Will asked me out that night, and I met him for drinks in town. The rest was history.” Samantha was living in LA at the time and working for Beyoncé’s brand Ivy Park, but after eight months of long distance, the couple finally moved in together in Boston.
Will proposed on July 1, 2023, before a party at Samantha’s parents’ house, which has incredible views of the fireworks over Boston Harbour. “I went to take our dog Louis for a walk and when I came back to our apartment, Will got down on one knee,” she recalls. “My dad proposed to my mom while she was blow-drying her hair and I’ve always loved the intimacy and surprise in that. The fact that Will caught me off guard was amazing.”
The couple turned to Billy Evers and Jenn Hearon to help them plan their wedding (Evers had organized Samantha’s bat mitzvah decades before), which ended up being a multi-day extravaganza. In a nod to Samantha’s late father, they decided to get married at Will’s beachfront home in Nantucket. “Before he passed, we asked him what we should do for our wedding,” Samantha explains. “He said we should get married with a view of the water, and that sealed our fate.”
As well as being an opportunity to celebrate with loved ones, weddings can also be a difficult reminder of those who aren’t with us anymore. But for Samantha—and her mother—the planning process gave her room to grieve. “Planning this wedding was really healing for my mom and me,” she says. “It gave us a creative outlet and that allowed us to have fun and laugh, even on the hardest of days.”
It also brought Samantha’s mother and Will closer, as the three of them became a tight unit working on every detail together. Given the absence of her father, Samantha decided to reject many other traditional wedding rituals. “Because of that, we were able to do things differently, and really look at the weekend as an experience for our guests, instead of just going through the wedding motions. We focused on the personalized details,” she shares.
The date for the couple’s town hall wedding was set for September 6—a sweet nod to Samantha’s parents’ anniversary, which is the reverse numerically, June 9. They landed on a carnival concept for the wedding itself, with an arcade room, games, and prizes. “We wanted our guests to discover new things at every turn, so that there was always a surprise and delight element,” Samantha says. The invitations—designed by Cheree Berry—featured a pinwheel graphic, which became the foundation of all the creative elements of the wedding.
The weekend began with a bridal lunch hosted by Will’s mother and sisters at Galley Beach, one of Samantha’s father’s favorite restaurants, with a clam bake held later that evening for close friends and family. The Friday was just as busy, with the town hall ceremony in the morning, followed by a rehearsal dinner at Ventuno in the evening. “We had the whole second floor, and it felt like we were all at someone’s house,” Samantha describes. “Lucky for us, we had Tyler whipping up his famous espresso martinis!” Everyone then moved on to the welcome drinks, which took place at Cru. “So many of our guests had never been to Nantucket before, and there is no better place to show off the beautiful harbor.”
Samantha has always been a fan of archival fashion, so she decided to go fully down the vintage route for her wedding. After managing to bag an appointment with Alexis Novak from Tab Vintage (“My stylist friend Marni Senofonte managed to get me a slot!”), she asked her to do all her wedding looks. “Alexis is so insanely talented and has the most incredible eye,” she shares. “I feel beyond lucky she agreed to work with me.”
For her ceremony outfit, she settled on the 1991 cut-and-slash Vivienne Westwood gown. “It was so visually interesting and a bit rebellious,” Samantha says. “I kept warning people that this was not a normal wedding dress. But every time I tried it on, I would get so excited—it had this energy that was really special.”
After finding that first dress, Samantha and Alexis kept discovering more looks that they liked. “I couldn’t stop myself,” laughs Samantha. “I just kept slotting in events so I could wear another look!” During a trip to London’s One Of A Kind Archive, Samantha and her mother found a Thierry Mugler suit and a crochet Chanel dress. “When I saw that suit, with the shell-like pattern, I was smitten,” she explains. “It felt so modern, yet gave a nod to our island wedding. The Chanel dress had this crochet train that felt very Nantucket—it felt like kismet to find these two pieces in that incredible store, and it brought back special memories for my mom and me, who 20 years ago combed through their archives to find bat mitzvah dresses.” Other major fashion moments included a 1992 Chanel dress and jacket, which she wore for her town hall ceremony, and a 1999 Christian Dior mini and 1994 Versace dress, which she wore for her bridal lunch and the clam bake respectively.
On the day itself, Samantha had two outfit changes. As the Vivienne Westwood dress was so ethereal and delicate, she decided she needed to limit her time wearing it, so she switched first into a custom-made lace tank top, with a train inspired by one she had seen at Alexander McQueen. “When I shared it with Alexis she sprung into action,” the bride says. “She found an 1890s lace bedspread and had her amazing tailor Rae custom make a version of that top. But we could not figure out what bottoms to wear. It was then that I grabbed a pair of baggy shorts and started to bunch them up like a pair of bloomers. I think a light bulb went off for all of us in the room, and Rae Moore at 7th Bone Tailoring was able to construct the most adorable bloomers, with lace appliqués.” Later on in the evening, for the after-party at local bar The Chicken Box, Samantha wanted something a little more sparkly, so she settled on a Versace skirt she’d seen on Tab Vintage’s Instagram, paired simply with a white tank top.
Samantha’s friend, Allison Bauer of XIV Karats, helped pick her wedding day jewelry, having also designed her engagement ring alongside Will. “When we were looking at jewelry, we wanted to riff on ‘something blue,’ while also finding pieces that would complement all the outfits,” Samantha explains. “I also borrowed special pieces from my mom that my dad had gifted her, which made me feel like he was with me.”