The Bride Wore a Cathedral-Length Veil—And Baked Her Own Cake—At This Backyard Summer Wedding
Most brides spend the morning of their wedding day sitting stoically in a hair-and-makeup chair, rehearsing their vows, but Stephanie Nass is not most brides. As chef and founder of the culinary lifestyle brand Chefanie, Stephanie gave her wedding day the same treatment she gives all her events, with a devoted approach so hands-on that, per the bride, “Even the morning of the wedding, I woke up early to bake cookies and get the meal in order!”
On June 2, 2024, Stephanie wed David Ulevitch, general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, in a backyard wedding at her childhood home in Westchester, New York. With a bespoke toile fabric featuring personalized illustrations of people and places of significance to the couple, customized embroidered linens, and hand-painted dinner menus—all in a summery, color-splashed alfresco aesthetic—guests of the wedding were surprised to learn that the couple had but 10 weeks to plan their big day. The couple got engaged while skiing in Montana in March and the wedding arrived less than a year after Stephanie and David met because, as the saying goes, when you know, you know. There was no reason to waste a moment before exchanging their I dos.
Stephanie, who is the author of the forthcoming cookbook, Swing By!, published by Rizzoli, also just so happened to be prepping a meal when she first met David at a party in Easthampton on July 14, 2023. “I had come from another dinner but kept my appetite for this second one,” explains Stephanie. “However, when I arrived, there was no food. There were some ingredients in the kitchen, and I started grilling them. At the grill, I met David. We started a conversation that lasted hours that night—and continues every day.”
“I was getting ready to leave when a gorgeous woman, who had clearly been dressed for a fancier party earlier in the evening, walked in,” David added. “A few months later, we bumped into another person who had been at the party. She was shocked that that was the night we’d met; she thought we’d been together for years. It felt that way, and has every single day since.”
A first date would soon follow: David picked up Stephanie with a bouquet of hydrangeas, and instantly, it became their flower. (On their wedding day, Stephanie’s dresses featured hydrangea embroideries, as did David’s Stubbs and Wooten loafers.)
After getting engaged on their ski trip, (“I could have proposed to Stephanie a week after I met her, but waited eight months,” says David), they set the date to be just 10 weeks later. The location? Stephanie’s family home. “I had always dreamt of getting married at my childhood home in Westchester, New York, as it is such a tranquil and beautiful setting,” she says.
Leave it to Stephanie to then plan a no-detailed-spared event in a matter of months. “It was a 300-person wedding for 30 people, and it was absolutely perfect. Naturally, Stephanie was perfecting the table even after she put on her wedding dress,” says David.
With a sunny weather forecast, the day took place largely outdoors. (Beforehand, a legal ceremony took place at Manhattan’s City Hall, followed by a celebratory dinner hosted at Daniel Boulud’s Maison Barnes—Mr. Boulud even made an appearance himself). As the bride and groom are both Jewish, the day started with the signing of the ketubah, which was adorned in a lace-like pattern that matched the gold embroidery on the Giambattista Valli dress Stephanie wore for the religious ceremony.
Next came time for Stephanie to ready herself for her walk down the aisle. With the ease of a bride in her own home, she dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s of her decor, table arrangements, and desserts. For her dress, Stephanie wore a two-piece look created with the help of Moran Kashi of Kashi Couture: a silk strapless corset top and a sweeping trained skirt. Both featured appliqués of hydrangea blooms, which Stephanie designed herself. On her veil, dainty embroideries of vines in powdery green and blue cascaded (her something blue). Nass topped off the look with her mother’s five-strand pearl necklace (her something borrowed) and a pearl bracelet that was a gift from her grandmother (her something new).
