The Ceremony at This Effortless Miami Wedding Was Basically a Concert

Molly and Ryan met in 2011 while visiting mutual friends in Miami. “We made out at a bar that weekend and it wasn’t until six years later that I found out he moved to New York City and was able to finagle a ‘re-meet,’” Molly says. In the summer of 2019, Ryan enlisted Molly’s friend to plan a fake fashion event. “She came over and we got dressed and headed over to the ‘event’ at the Django, where instead of a runway and models, I found Ryan there with a small jazz band,” Molly remembers. Ryan serenaded her by singing one of her favorite Stevie Wonder songs, “My Cherie Amour” before getting down on one knee—and then he whisked her off to the Greenwich Hotel, where Molly’s grandparents from Florida showed up to surprise her. They celebrated with an intimate family dinner that night and held a larger celebration the following evening with family and friends.

When Molly and Ryan envisioned their wedding, they pictured tying the knot at a French chateau with 250 guests. With three grandparents in Florida and the majority of their guests coming from the Miami area, however, they landed on the Miami Botanical Gardens in Miami Beach, Florida. “Its lush greenery and serene waterfall set the tone for our smaller, more intimate wedding,” Molly says.

They initially planned a 2020 wedding, but when the realities of the pandemic set in, they changed their date to February 27, 2021, and trimmed down their guest list to 80 people. The couple worked with GLDN Events to design a European-inspired affair with thoughtful music selections throughout the day. Read on to see every detail in photos by Kristen Marie Parker.

Molly and Ryan enlisted Alpine Creative Group to design their invitation suite with white cardstock and black typeface. They invited their guests to a welcome reception to kick off the weekend’s festivities.

Molly and Ryan hosted a Havana Nights-themed rehearsal dinner that took place near the beach. The bride-to-be wore a long-sleeved lace dress from Alessandra Rich with Amina Mauddi sandals. “We hand selected every single song on that playlist which was a mix of tropical and disco!” Molly says. “It completely set the tone and it really allowed us to feel like our laid-back selves before heading into Saturday, which had a totally different vibe.”

Molly wore a custom crepe Brandon Maxwell wedding dress with a silk gazar train and tulle sleeves. She wanted to stay in one dress, but make subtle changes throughout the night. “It was truly a dream designing with Brandon Maxwell to make a timeless dress silhouette that had so many looks that I could morph into throughout the night,” Molly says. “I felt so chic and sophisticated in it and knew that I will always look back and absolutely love what I wore.”

She accessorized with clear, embellished pumps from Amina Mauddi. “At the time, these were the most impossible to get shoes and I was so lucky that a vendor I work with was able to steal a pair for me in my size!” she says. Molly wore her mom’s pearl and diamond earrings for the ceremony and changed into pear pair from Van Cleef & Arpels for the reception. She kept her hair in a low bun for the ceremony and let it down when it was time to party.

Ryan wore a navy Prada tuxedo with a black lapel, paired with Saint Laurent patent leather oxfords. “Ryan is pretty low maintenance about everything except his hair,” Molly says. "My hairstylist actually wound up blow drying his hair at our first look!”

The duo decided to have a first look so that they would have more time to snap photos around the city with their photographer. “It was the first moment where it really felt like this day was about us and we were really in it!” Molly says. “For me, I love photography and knowing what we could capture in that time made it so worth it.”

Molly and Ryan’s ketubah signing took place just before the ceremony and was attended by their closest loved ones.

Molly wanted their ceremony's décor to give off European chateau vibes, so they went with a white and green color scheme. The couple’s florist Renny & Reed used white larkspur, hydrangea, and delphinium to line the white carpet aisle runner. The aisle itself was flanked by oversized arrangements of white and green hydrangeas, one of the bride’s favorite flowers. More hydrangeas were wrapped around the duo's wooden chuppah in an asymmetrical design.

Music is incredibly important to the couple, so the bride took on the task of selecting the ceremony music herself; they hired a gospel choir to execute her vision. The processional began with Queen’s “ Somebody to Love” as Ryan walked down the aisle with his parents. Molly’s grandparents, her maid of honor, and Ryan’s brother (his best man) walked in to Mariah Carey’s “I’ll Be There.”

Finally, Molly entered to a rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I’m Every Woman,” which transitioned to a slow version of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” as she made her way down the aisle with her brother by her side. “Explaining music transitions to a choir director is not something I ever imagined myself doing, but it worked,” Molly says. “I fully composed the music and transitions from one song to another, taking more modern music and presenting it in a meaningful way.”

Molly and Ryan wrote their own vows to exchange in front of their guests. Molly began hers with a quote from a note her great-grandmother wrote in her grandfather’s yearbook back in the 1940s. Ryan incorporated lyrics from Molly’s favorite artist, Stevie Wonder, into his vows. “After Ryan broke the glass, a Jewish tradition, the choir led guests to the reception tent singing a series of upbeat love songs starting with 'This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)' by Natalie Cole,” Molly says. Attendees tossed petals as the newlyweds celebrated down the aisle.

Guests walked down a candlelit path to the couple’s reception tent, where they were seated at long tables dressed with white linens. Overhead, circular chandeliers were covered with hundreds of suspended white calla lilies and hanging green amaranthus. Some tables had modern glass bud vases with green dianthus and white calla lilies as centerpieces. Others had lush floral garlands with green hanging amaranthus spilling off the edges.

The couple’s head table included a green moss runner, floating candles, and arrangements of white and green parrot tulips, calla lilies, hydrangea, and orchids.

Molly and Ryan selected clear glass chargers, black and gold flatware, and white linen hemstitch napkins, which were finished with tied black ribbons to match the black cross back chairs. Instead of seating cards, Molly’s mom made personalized charcuterie boards on square slate plates with guest’s names on them. “She absolutely nailed it!” Molly says.

Molly and Ryan sauntered into the tent as husband and wife and shared their first dance to “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross. Ryan carried Molly’s mother, who has MS, to the dance floor to celebrate. “It was definitely something I feared missing out on, having time to dance with my mom since she needs help standing, but we all made a point to get out on the dance floor, and even my grandparents got up to dance,” the bride says.

The couple kicked off the celebrations with a Champagne tower and toasts. “During one of the speeches, a butterfly appeared which for me is always a sign of my dad,” Molly says. “It fluttered right above our heads and was so meaningful, like he was really watching.”

Molly and Ryan served tuna tartare appetizers followed by a frisée and arugula salad course and cacio e pepe. They also served steak frites, grilled and roasted Maine lobster tail, and a vegetarian dish as entrée options. “Every single dish was sensational. I could have gone to that tasting everyday for the rest of eternity!” Molly says. “I wish I had gotten to eat more!"

The couple gave out tons of favors throughout the night, including glow sticks, personalized slippers with their combined nickname, Pocoloco, and white hats. Molly and Ryan wore their hats as they cut into their white wedding cake, which was decorated with cascading white orchids, Molly’s other favorite flower; inside were layers of banana cake with chocolate buttercream and Reese's buttercream and funfetti cake with cream cheese icing.

The bride and groom are good friends with the founder of Brooklyn’s Roberta’s Pizza, so they shipped them pizzas to bake and pass out at the reception. “We had such a cute pizza hut with grab bags of other goodies, as well!” Molly says.

Molly reminds couples planning their own celebrations to stay true to themselves. “Don’t feel pressured to follow norms amongst your peers,” she says. “No matter what goes wrong you will be surrounded by a vision you created and the people you love most and nothing beats that feeling.”