This Three-Day Garden Wedding in Venice Turned Into a Wild Masquerade Party with a Dancing Aerialist
When Claudia Krogmeier met Kyle Roth for the first time, he was in a hot tub wearing just his boxers and holding a bottle of rosé. She couldn’t help but laugh. Both had attended a Benjamin Booker concert at Montauk’s The Surf Lodge with their respective friends earlier in the evening and ended up at the same after-party in Water Mill.
They struck up an animated conversation in the kitchen, and when Claudia mentioned she was going to another friend’s house, he asked if he could join her. “He decided to leave the after-party with me that night—and every night since,” she says.
Five years later, in September 2021, Kyle, an investment director at a real-estate-development firm, asked Claudia to visit his uncle on Long Island’s North Fork. On the way there, he suggested they get a drink at Peconic Bay Vineyards. At first, she didn’t think much of it. But when she saw a white Moke waiting for her in the fields—the couple’s favorite car after they rented it during a St. Barts vacation—Claudia knew Kyle was about to propose. “As we drove through rows of growing grapevines brushing up against the side of the Moke, we arrived at a secluded area engulfed in the vineyard,” she recalls. There, Kyle had arranged for a picnic table to be set up with beautiful flowers, cheese, and, of course, wine. “He got down on one knee, and we shared a moment I will cherish forever.”
Over Memorial Day weekend, Claudia and Kyle threw a three-day wedding in Venice with the help of Jennifer Zabinski and Shira Citron, of JZ Events. The festivities kicked off with welcomed drinks at the storied Hotel Cipriani’s Terrazza San Giorgio, which overlooks the Giudecca Canal. Claudia, an interior designer, wore a romantic ruffled Tom Ford dress and a slicked-back ponytail for the occasion. (It was a beauty choice rooted in practicality: “Kyle and I arrived by boat, and I knew the wind could be potentially tricky,” she says.) She paired it all with an Olympia Le-Tan clutch, which was a gift from Kyle’s parents. Kyle, meanwhile, went with a horsebit-pattern navy Gucci suit and matching loafers. Guests enjoyed a pasta-and-prosciutto station as a violinist, donning a dramatic red tulle gown, wandered the grounds.
On Saturday, they hosted a lunch in the Natural Garden at San Clemente Palace Kempinski Venice. The fun-loving couple’s goal? To plan an event that would escalate quickly into a rowdy celebration: “Considering we met after a day party, we knew we wanted to create a fun experience and alternative to a rehearsal dinner,” Claudia says. To set the mood, the couple arranged for everyone to arrive via luxury motoscafi, classic Venetian wooden water taxis. Their guests wandered into a dolce vita wonderland: Dancers stood on ladders in yellow tulle-train skirts while waiters passed around Aperol spritzes with the healthiest of pours. In the middle of it all were sweeping, long tables adorned with yellow tablecloths and vibrant floral La DoubleJ ceramics.
Claudia wore a two-piece Dolce Gabbana jacquard set that matched the color of her tablescapes—picked out by her “very chic mama”—as well as Bottega Veneta gold cat-eye sunglasses and crystal Amina Muaddis. To finish her look, she put her hair in a fishtail bun interwoven with fresh flowers and created a 1960s Sophia Loren–inspired winged eyeliner. After a languorous lunch of pesto pasta and lobster salad under the Mediterranean sun, they amped up the energy: A DJ began to play as cones of gelato were handed out of a vintage cart. “We danced the afternoon away, and to keep the party going, we handed out mini Aperol spritz bottles as boat roadies,” says Claudia. “We aimed to create an Italian afternoon full of vibrancy—and we did just that.”
On Sunday, Claudia and Kyle wed in the Casanova Gardens of Hotel Cipriani. Their event designer, Rachel Birthistle, and florist, Tearose, created a natural garden around the ceremony of Queen Anne’s lace, peonies (Claudia’s favorite flower), and roses in creams, blushes, greens, and plum.
The bride wore a beaded-and-tulle J. Mendel gown that she bought two years earlier after spying it in the window of the Madison Avenue store. “J. Mendel does not actually have a bridal line, but they happened to make this dress as a closing runway piece,” Claudia says. “I knew at that moment that it was how I wanted to feel on my wedding day—it had floral details, intricacies, but was light and airy at the same time.” She paired it with a custom cream tulle veil from Monvieve and earrings that belonged to her great-great-grandmother.
Claudia walked down the aisle, arm in arm with her parents, while a string quartet played a rendition of “There She Goes” by the La’s. Yet despite being surrounded by a crowd of 150 people, “all I could see was Kyle,” she says.
Kyle, wearing a Ralph Lauren tuxedo, squeezed Claudia’s hand as she reached their floral-covered chuppah. He didn’t let go until the rabbi officially proclaimed their union. After the smashing of the glass, the two walked back down the aisle to “September” by Earth, Wind Fire. “I had never been happier than I was at that moment,” Claudia recalls.
Then, it was time to party.
They started small, taking a celebratory tequila shot alone together in a private room. Next, the couple headed to cocktail hour on Hotel Cipriani’s Fondamenta Terrace. The lights of Venice twinkled in the background at dusk as guests ordered Champagne from bars covered with Milton King spring-landscape wallpaper.
The reception, held in a cavernous brick ballroom, had several long dinner tables embellished with Murano-glass table lamps, floral arrangements of roses and peonies, and tapered candles that bathed the room in the soft glow. Yet most eyes went straight up to the ceiling, where a suspended aerialist twirled amid several crystal chandeliers. As Claudia and Kyle made their entrance, she removed her 40-foot-long train and performed a spotlight routine to “Run For Me” by Sebastian.
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