Morgan + Ian by Mady Noel Photo

I wanted guests to feel as though they were arriving at our home for a beautiful garden party.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We’re a New York City couple lucky enough to call the heart of the West Village home. Surrounded by some of the city’s best restaurants, charming cafés, and neighbourhood wine bars, we spend much of our free time wandering the streets with our little cream dachshund, finding any excuse to stop for a glass of wine or a bite to eat along the way.

Like most New Yorkers, we both work hard, but we’re fortunate to genuinely love what we do. Morgan is the Chief Operating Officer of Avex Designs, a web design and development agency working with fashion and lifestyle brands like KHAITE, LoveShackFancy, and La Ligne. She manages a team of 30, and her love of organising extends well beyond the office. She’s the designated planner of the friend group and family, always arranging the next dinner party, celebration, or trip. She also has a love for interiors and spends much of her free time thoughtfully curating our home.

Ian works in finance on Wall Street, but has a wonderfully creative side. He’s known to spontaneously bring home canvases and paints and turn our apartment into an art studio for the afternoon. He’s also a devoted sports fan, cheering on the Yankees, Knicks, and his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars.

Between our careers, creative projects, and love of entertaining, we’ve made our little corner of New York a home that feels entirely our own.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

Our story technically began in 2011, over a Skype call. Morgan was chatting with her older sister Jada, who was attending Florida State University, when Ian, who happened to live next door, popped onto the screen. Eager to impress, Ian started boasting about how cool he and college life were. Morgan was thoroughly unimpressed and promptly hung up. Not exactly love at first sight!

Five years later, our paths crossed again in New York City. Morgan had just graduated from FSU and moved to NYC for an internship, while Ian was visiting for job interviews. We ended up spending an evening out with mutual friends, talking all night, but somehow never exchanged numbers. As fate would have it, Ian was moving to New York just as Morgan was heading back to Florida.

In 2017, Ian finally got Morgan’s number and invited her to a wedding in Jacksonville. What he conveniently left out was that he was in the wedding party, and his entire family would be there. Within minutes of arriving at his father’s house, Morgan had met practically everyone. Somehow, it all felt completely natural.

From that weekend on, we were inseparable, even from a distance. We spent our evenings watching movies together over the phone and visiting whenever possible, with more than a few missed flights courtesy of Ian. By 2018, Morgan had moved back to New York, and we’ve been building our life together here ever since.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you?

My vision was a blend of East Coast elegance, the romance of the North Carolina mountains, and a little New York City lounge. Three very different influences! I felt the only way to bring them together was through small, thoughtful details rather than big statements.

I wanted guests to feel as though they were arriving at our home for a beautiful garden party. No grand signage or elaborate floral arches. Just a glass of champagne, violins playing, parasols for the sun, and a seat overlooking the mountains.

The florals were intentionally understated, allowing the gardens to speak for themselves. My bouquet, however, was one of my favourite pieces. I wanted something that felt summery but could also carry into the moody lounge feel of the reception, so we worked with our florist to pair seasonal blooms with rich burgundies and softer greens.

For the reception, we brought in our New York influence, creating a colourful, intimate lounge with blue velvet sofas, green draping, warm lamps, and little pops of red.

I especially loved designing the details for Bar Louie, our lounge named after our beautiful baby dachshund. I designed custom cocktail books, coasters, and matchbooks with different sayings tucked inside, working with Etsy makers to bring everything to life. We have the extras displayed on our bar at home now, which makes me so happy.

My one nonnegotiable with the band was that their lighting had to be red. As night fell, the entire tent transformed into this glowing, moody red social club. From the outside, it looked incredible, and it was exactly the New York nightlife atmosphere we wanted to bring to the mountains.

Ultimately, I wanted the wedding to feel collected rather than decorated, elegant without being formal, and personal without being overly produced.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

We genuinely loved the process, especially the creative side. Morgan is a planner by nature, and she used Notion to create briefs for every vendor, which made it easy to jump between different parts of the weekend and make sure everything felt cohesive. We can’t recommend that tool enough! She was constantly going through the schedule, imagining what our guests would see, how they’d feel, and whether there would be enough to explore and talk about.

Biggest advice: Less is more. TikTok gave Morgan endless inspiration, but it also made her feel like we weren’t doing enough. She’d see incredible installations or elaborate draping and wish we could do it all. Looking back, if we could change anything, we wouldn’t add more. We’d take things away.

We had a relatively intimate wedding, and the beauty of Rockwood Lodge was more than enough. Our families are still talking about the house, describing it as a museum and marvelling at everything they discovered while wandering through it. The venue itself became part of our entertainment.

We’d encourage couples to invest in a location that naturally creates the atmosphere they’re looking for, rather than feeling pressured to manufacture it through decorations and extras – as there are so many and the price adds up so quickly.

Being able to stay at our venue and host every event on the property was a gift. We could settle in, relax, and enjoy the weekend without constantly moving around.

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?

We loved every one of our vendors, but a few truly went above and beyond.

Rockwood Lodge was everything we hoped for, but it was our house and event manager, Ashley, who made it unforgettable. She was so kind, so generous, and an absolute delight from start to finish. We’ll never forget her, and our families are already talking about coming back one day.

Morgan also brought on Maready & Co in the months leading up, and we’re so grateful she did. Her dedicated manager, Michaela, had a baby just days before the wedding, but she had her team so prepared that they ran the weekend flawlessly. Neither of us had to lift a finger, and if anything went wrong, we never knew about it.

Our band, Re-Drum, was epic. Guests are still talking about them. They played so much from our inspiration list, plus songs we never would have thought to ask for but loved singing along to in the moment. We’d recommend them, or any hybrid DJ-and-live-musician setup, to any couple.

And last but certainly not least, our photographer, Mady, who understood exactly how much this weekend meant to us. We chose her for so many reasons. Her talent was obvious, but what really stood out to me was that she didn’t sell hourly packages like so many photographers do. To me, that said she really wanted to be there for every moment and fully immerse herself in the experience. We loved that approach to her business. We also loved how she captured our people. We didn’t want thousands of photos of ourselves; we wanted real-time images of our loved ones, the kind of iconic, intimate, sweet moments you’d buy of strangers or celebrities online. To us, our friends and family are the celebrities, and we want them on our walls. She captured so many great moments that it’s been impossible to choose which ones to print and frame.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?

Morgan knew she wanted her dress to come from New York, and the Mercer Gown by Alexandra Grecco felt meant to be. It’s named after the street the New York store sits on, and as far as we know, it’s only available to try on there. Morgan loved that little backstory. She’d also always known she wanted a fuller gown. It’s what her mom wore, and it’s how she’d always pictured a bride.

We did a first look, but Morgan still wanted to surprise Ian as she came down the aisle, so she saved the veil and the Max Bolero just for the ceremony. She kept them a little secret, and it was the best decision. Her bridesmaids were so surprised when she walked back into the room wearing them, and Ian loved the bolero.

For the after-party, Morgan wanted something sexy to lean into the late-night club feel of Bar Louie. She changed into a lace mini set from Rosie Etienne and finally got the neck scarf moment she’d been dreaming of.

Ian wore Suitsupply from head to toe. He started in a white jacket, then changed into a dark green velvet one (green is his favourite colour) to lean into the lounge theme.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

Morgan did something a lot of brides don’t do these days: she never tried on a single ring. She gave Ian a few diamond shapes she thought she might like and left the rest to him.

The reason goes back to Ian’s very first gift to her, an all-black YSL clutch. It’s something she never would have picked for herself, and to this day she loves it. Every time she carries it, she thinks about how well he did. An engagement ring is such an important gift, and since Ian was the one choosing it, she wanted it to reflect what he thought was beautiful too. He chose a 2-carat marquise from New York’s Diamond District, and she’s so glad she trusted him.

Honestly, it’s almost hard for Morgan to wear a band because the ring is so pretty on its own. She chose a delicate pavé band from Ring Concierge that she can eventually stack on another finger. One day she’d love to design a custom band, but she wants to take her time with that process.

As for Ian, Morgan chose his band from Ring Concierge too. She met their president at Shoptalk last year and has always loved the company, so we got all of our pieces there, including gifts for both of our moms.

What were one or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on?

We put our budget toward the two things that would shape how the whole weekend felt: the venue and the band.

Splurging on Rockwood Lodge actually saved us in other places. Because the house and grounds did so much on their own, we didn’t need elaborate installations or heavy décor, and hosting every event on the property meant no extra venues or added logistics. For us, it was never about a single day. It was about having a whole weekend together in one beautiful place. And as someone who gets anxious and overstimulated easily, Morgan found that staying on the property kept her so relaxed.

The band was the other piece we never hesitated on. Music sets the energy for the entire night, and the difference between a good party and a great one so often comes down to who’s on stage. When we think back on what made the night, it’s the music!

Was there a favorite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?

Our ceremony is one we replay all the time, in our heads and on our phones, because Morgan’s dad filmed the entire thing. Standing up there in front of everyone, Morgan’s legs were shaking, but our officiant did such a wonderful job, perfectly balancing jokes with sweet compliments. There are so many photos of us and our guests laughing, and all of our nerves melted away. We thought we’d be distracted by the view behind us, but our eyes were locked on each other, smiling from ear to ear. We wish everyone could experience a ceremony like that.

We also think of our private vows. Right before guests started arriving on the lawn, we slipped down the stairs to the garden behind the house, away from everyone. As Morgan started reading, like clockwork, our stage-five-clinger dachshund, Louie, sprinted over to us. He was nowhere in sight when we got out there, and we still have no idea how he found us. It was the most us thing ever. Of course we couldn’t read our vows without Louie! And right behind him was our photographer, so she captured the whole thing.

And then, the sunset. We’d never seen one like it in North Carolina. Watching it go down over the mountains with all of our friends, as newlyweds, we didn’t want it to end any more than we wanted the night to end. We’ll never forget it. Our poor band had just started playing, and we were nowhere to be found because we were all running around the yard like children.

What does being married mean to you, and are there any special rituals you have that you would like to share?

Ian’s cousin Joe, an incredible journalist and writer, prepared a beautiful reading for our ceremony: a collection of lines from poems, stories and films. Our favourite part came from When Harry Met Sally:

“I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out, and I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely. I came here tonight because when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

That’s what being married means to us. It isn’t so much a change as a promise to keep choosing the life we’ve built over the last ten years, and to step into our next chapter together: starting a family.

Our rituals are simple. We never let each other leave home without saying two things: “I love you” and “be safe.” We walk Louie together along the West Side Highway in the summer and through Central Park on fall weekends. And every week, we have a date night on our street.

One ritual we’re hoping to start is returning to Rockwood Lodge in ten years with our families, if it’s still welcoming visitors, and bringing the next generation along with us.