The Bride Wore an Elizabethan-Inspired Gown and a Tiara for Her Colorful Oaxaca Wedding

Dagmar Brown and Paul Malle first met at the Los Angeles hotspot Osteria La Buca in 2018 during a dinner hosted by their mutual friend, Olympia Irving. At the time, they were both seeing other people. Three years later, however, they started dating and never looked back—moving to Mexico City, where Paul runs Cine Club La Cabra, together just two months into their relationship.

Paul and Dagmar got engaged in March 2022. He proposed with a sixth-century gold Byzantine ring at his aunt’s home in Puerto Vallarta, which he bought in Paris a mere six months after they became official.

The two wed nearly a year later in Oaxaca, Mexico, where Dagmar grew up. They held an opening party at the Quinta Real Hotel in Oaxaca City, followed by what Dagmar describes as a “youth-only fiesta” at nearby cultural center Son De Aqui. On March 18, they wed in front of 350 people in the town of San Jerónimo Tlacochahuaya’s church. Gisele Perez Moreno, whom Dagmar has known since a child, was their wedding planner. “We both had the most wonderful time through it all,” she says.

The bride wore a custom Paula Nadal gown with Elizabethan-inspired detailing along with sapphire drop Irene Neuwirth earrings, an emerald and gold lion ring borrowed from her mother-in-law Marie Malle, and Christian Louboutin crystal-encrusted Cinderella slippers. The true statement of her outfit, however? A jeweled diadem with rich origins: “I wore a tiara belonging to my aunt Lisa Margulis which she purchased from a witchy lady in Laguna Beach, California, years ago,” Dagmar says.

Her brothers, Cosmas and Degenhart, walked her down the aisle. It was an emotional moment for all of them, as their parents, artists Alexandra and James Brown, passed away in 2020. Their absence weighed heavily on Dagmar, who is now executive director of their artistic estate. “Planning a wedding is really one of those situations where sometimes you just want your parents to deal with it,” she says. “It can be agonizing, slow, frustrating, disappointing, infuriating, tearful, but it leads to the most magnificent day of your life.”

For the big day, Paul wore a blue Anderson Sheppard suit with mother of pearl buttons. Behind him was Father Friedrich Mennekes, modern art consigliere to the Vatican, who married her parents in Paris 36 years before.

They describe their ceremony within the 17th-century church as having a “celestial energy.” “The facade is pink, and as you glide through past the fresco and niche altars to the Virgin Guadalupe you arrive at the most grandiose golden baroque altar lit by candles and the green-blue hue of the neon chandeliers above,” explains Dagmar. “It was the most heavenly hour of our life.” As they walked out onto the courtyard after saying their vows, calendas—or papier-mâché puppets of the couple—danced besides them.

Afterward, they held a lunch reception at Hacienda Guadalupe, owned by author Michael Sledge and his partner, Raul. Guests dined on mole under a tent that overlooked the agave-dotted desert and blue mountains. The mezcal kept flowing, and soon, afternoon turned to evening. Women ditched the heels in favor of Christian Louboutin flip-flops—a friend of the couple, the designer made 200 custom pairs just for the event. Each included a picture collage of the couple throughout their relationship as well as Louboutin’s signature red sole. Meanwhile, Dagmar changed into her second Paula Nadal look, a simple white dress with colored floral embroidery. A pinnacle of the evening was when Dagmar and Paul cut their spectacular five-foot-tall, pink and green cake by Paola Mejia Bautista.

Given all the planning involved in the wedding, once it was all over, Dagmar had to spend a little time processing everything. Now, she cherishes the emotional intensity of the experience. “In the end, what it means is that we created something so perfect it aches to leave it behind.”