Rikki + Mikey by Kaela Leone

We focused on greenery, wooden tables and chairs, and simple, earthy florals with lots of candles.

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

We live in New York City, the place where we met and where we’ve both called home for the past six years.

Rikki was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and now works in fashion in New York. Michael grew up in Westchester, New York, and recently made a big career change – leaving investment banking to pursue his passion for architecture.

Michael is the creative one, while Rikki is the organised planner. Together, we love travelling, discovering new restaurants around the city, hot yoga, and spending time with our friends and family.

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

We met at a mutual friend’s birthday party in New York City just before COVID. We had both recently moved to the city – Rikki was in grad school at NYU, and Michael worked in finance.

Rikki had studied abroad with the birthday girl and didn’t know anyone else at the party, while Michael went with some mutual friends. We started chatting and making small talk, and when Michael heard that Rikki went to NYU, he mentioned that his sister was an undergrad there. Rikki said she knew two undergrads, and it turned out one of them happened to be Michael’s sister!

Rikki didn’t believe him at first because Michael doesn’t have social media, and she never mentioned a brother, so we pulled up his sister’s Instagram and scrolled back to their last family Christmas photo to prove it.

Rikki immediately texted Michael’s sister, asking why she had never told her she had a cute brother. She said, “I didn’t think you would like him.” She was clearly wrong!

We spent the entire night together and started seeing each other soon after. About a month later, COVID hit, and we both left the city to quarantine with our families. Despite the distance, we FaceTimed every day and eventually Rikki went to visit Michael and stay with his family in the suburbs for two weeks during the pandemic. We’ve been inseparable ever since, and Michael’s sister has happily admitted she was wrong!

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee, etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

Choosing a venue was surprisingly difficult because we knew we didn’t want a traditional wedding. We were happy with our NYC courthouse wedding, but our parents really wanted to see us walk down the aisle and celebrate with a big party.

We toured venues in both New York and Toronto, but nothing felt right. Rikki had always dreamed of getting married at her family’s cottage in Muskoka, where they spend their summers, but it seemed too complicated logistically.

While brainstorming with our planner, she suggested pitching a tent at one of the hotels in Muskoka. As soon as she mentioned Taboo, we knew it was the one. Rikki’s family had spent their summers there before getting their cottage, and Michael’s family always stays there when they visit. When our planner did the site visit, she found the perfect space for a tent overlooking the lake, and everything started falling into place.

Having the wedding at Taboo meant our New York guests could stay right there and enjoy the lake and the resort all weekend.

Because Muskoka is already so naturally beautiful, we leaned into the surroundings and wanted to accentuate the natural beauty. We focused on greenery, wooden tables and chairs, and simple, earthy florals with lots of candles – letting the landscape and the lake be the stars of the design.

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

Planning wasn’t easy for us. Rikki started a new job three months before the wedding, and Michael was in his first year of architecture school after changing careers. We truly couldn’t have done it without our planner, Ashley Pigott, and the help of Rikki’s mom.

Michael loved being involved in the design aspects of the tent, especially the draping, florals, and floor plan, which gave him a chance to put his architecture skills into practice in real life.

Rikki is very type-A and loves checking things off a list, so Ashley’s organisation and guidance were absolutely essential.

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

All of our vendors were amazing, and our wedding would not have been so special without them!

Tellie from Hunt and Gather worked tirelessly in 40-degree Celsius heat to bring our vision to life.

Sole Power had the entire party on the dance floor all night, and even took over some of the DJ set at the after party because they were having too much fun themselves!

Our photographer, Kaela, and her team made us feel completely comfortable in front of the camera despite the heat, and the photos are even better than we could have imagined.

Michelle from OTG has been doing Rikki’s makeup for every major event since her Bat Mitzvah at age 12, so it felt only right that she do her wedding makeup too. Rikki literally planned the wedding day around Michelle’s availability.

After many failed hair trials, Bruna was the only stylist who succeeded, and Rikki’s hair stayed perfect despite the heat and humidity.

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

Rikki worked at Gucci when we began wedding planning and always knew she wanted to incorporate the brand into the wedding somehow. Since Gucci doesn’t design bridal gowns, we decided Michael’s tuxedo would be custom Gucci.

Michael came into the Gucci office to meet with the customisation team, and we had so much fun selecting fabrics, buttons, styles, and lining together. The tuxedo itself was classic, but he added some fun with the lining. Rikki went to 10+ bridal appointments in New York without finding the right dress. She knew she didn’t want something overly traditional, but didn’t have a clear vision. One of her best friends sent her Seline Meisler’s Instagram, and she instantly became obsessed with Seline’s designs. At the time, Seline hadn’t fully launched her bridal line and didn’t even have a showroom. Rikki harassed Seline over email and Instagram DM to come try on her designs, and Seline found a showroom space for Rikki to come try on her pieces. The moment she tried on her dress, she knew it was the one, and it had to be paired with Seline’s cathedral-length veil.

Before starting the dress search, Rikki had also tried on her mom’s wedding dress and knew she wanted to incorporate it somehow. We worked with a tailor to transform the gown into a mini dress for the reception, keeping the original fabric and structure. Her mom even had a pair of matching ballet flats that fit perfectly!

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

Michael designed Rikki’s engagement ring himself. After trying on rings together so he could understand her style, he took matters into his own hands, sketching the design and sending it to the jeweller, since it wasn’t something we had ever seen before.

The final ring has an oval diamond set in a gold bezel on a thick, tapered gold cigarette band.

Because the diamond sits flush rather than raised, and the engagement ring is already quite thick, finding a wedding band was challenging, so Rikki’s band was custom-made as well – a thin, curved gold band designed to fit perfectly around the diamond.

Michael had never worn jewellery before and wanted something simple: a thick matte platinum cigarette band.

What were one or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

The venue was the most important aspect for us because it really set the tone for the entire wedding. Since we knew we didn’t want to go the traditional route and wanted the reception to be outdoors, we also knew a tent would be essential. With a tent comes additional costs, but it allowed us to create the entire design and atmosphere from scratch and really bring our vision to life.

Photography was important because we both felt awkward posing and wanted someone who could capture natural, candid moments throughout the day. We also love taking pictures with our own 35mm film camera, so having film photography was really important to us as well. Kaela made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera and was able to capture all of the little moments throughout the day.

The band was also important because we wanted everyone to dance all night. Our planner told us that if she were having a wedding, she would use Sole Power and hand-pick all of the band members for us. We trusted her with this, and she did not let us down!

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

Towards the end of the night, we started getting noise complaints because the reception was outdoors and the sound was carrying across the lake. Eventually, the DJ had to turn the music down, but that didn’t stop the party.

At that point, it was just our closest friends left, and we all did karaoke to the low music to keep the party going.

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

To us, being married means standing by each other through every stage of life. One of our favourite rituals is going to hot yoga together every Sunday. It’s our way of ending the week and starting the new one together.