The Bride Wore Galvan—And Custom Lipstick—For Her Wedding at a Portuguese Vineyard
Shirley Muland and Alexis Houssou’s romance began as a potential real estate transaction. “Alexis was looking to launch a project in New York,” Shirley remembers. “A type of Soho House but dedicated to music with recording studios, and he was looking to purchase a building with investors. I was working in real estate investment at the time, so our friend Antoine connected us.”
Back then, they were both in relationships with other people. Alexis’s project never got off the ground, but the two became friends. Six years later, after each went through painful breakups, they fell in love. “We had a slow start because Alexis became one of my closest friends, and I was afraid of losing him as a friend if the relationship did not work out,” Shirley says. “Plus, I was living in New York and he was in Paris so long distance was also hard—but not only did I not lose a friend, I gained a best friend and the most amazing partner. It started off as a professional relationship that turned into a friendship and became a love story.”
Alexis, who was born and raised in Paris and is now the founder of a venture capital fund called HCVC, proposed to Shirley—a strategy, influence, and communications advisor to brands—on March 7, 2020, during a weekend trip to Lisbon. “It happened in the most romantic way,” Shirley says, “at sunset on a boat cruising down the River Tagus. I didn’t realize what he was trying to do so when he first tried to get down on his knee, I thought he was falling off his seat on the boat, so I helped him back up until he finally said ‘Stop, I am not falling down, I am just trying to tell you something.’ We have it all on tape. It was my first time in Portugal, and I fell in love with Lisbon and its surrounding towns. By the end of the weekend, we decided that Portugal would be the place where we would get married.”
Fortunately, the couple didn’t have to postpone or downsize their wedding due to the pandemic. Still, it wasn’t easy to plan an event abroad. “We got engaged in March 2020, started planning in May 2020 for a summer 2021 wedding, but we soon grew concerned about the feasibility of it all in the middle of a pandemic,” Shirley says. “So we decided to pause the planning for several months to try to get more visibility on the situation.” They resumed in November 2020 and worked with Joana Antunes on the decor, styling, and coordination.
The civil ceremony was held on August 24, 2021, followed by a three-day celebration at L’And Vineyards that kicked off with a welcome dinner on the first night. “Alexis and I share different backgrounds and also had friends coming from all over the world, so we decided to throw a party celebrating our roots and asked our guests to come dressed in an outfit that reflects the place that they consider home,” Shirley explains. “Alexis’s mother is from Normandy in France and his dad is from Benin in Africa. I was born in Democratic Republic of Congo, was raised in Paris, and have been calling New York home for the past 12 years, and our friends are from everywhere. In a world where our differences often divide us, we wanted to celebrate each other’s heritage and cultures. It was also a way for us to break the ice between our guests and for everyone to have something for them to start a conversation.” To honor their African heritage with their outfits, Shirley and Alexis wore wax prints custom made by designer Angela Peralba, who owns a store and brand in Paris called Awaxland.
Shirley has always been a fashion obsessive. At a very young age, her mother introduced her to all the designers of the ’90s: Mugler, Christian Lacroix, Dior by John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Claude Montana, and Paco Rabanne among others. From there, she was hooked. “[Meanwhile,] Alexis couldn’t care less about labels or what he wears as long as it is clean, sleek, and well-tailored,” she says. “He only cares about quality and fit. That’s something I love about him, his simplicity and how down to earth he is, which is the opposite of me.” Both brought these particular approaches to the pieces they chose for their wedding wardrobes.
“For my wedding looks, I took inspiration from Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and stylist Danielle Goldberg, who are among my favorite style icons,” Shirley says. “I admire their minimalist, sleek, timeless yet sexy styles. They are effortlessly chic and cool, and I love that. They both wore simple white Calvin Klein dresses for their weddings and looked stunning. That’s what I was trying to embody and achieve for the wedding: simple, timeless but sophisticated.”
