The
rise
of
thedouble
wedding
Why s o m any b rid e s are
saying two “I dos.”By JESSICA GOODMANa
nyone
who’s got-
ten into
it over a
guest list with a future
MIL or helped a bride
write place cards until
3 a.m. can attest that
planning a wedding
is Hard. As. Hell. So
it’s tough to imagine
any sane engaged
couple being like,
“Let’s do it twice!”
But that’s exactly
what’s happening
more often these
days, according to
wedding planning
pros like Christina
Friedrichsen, founder
of IntimateWeddings
.com, and Maggie
Gaudaen, cofounder
of Pop Wed Co. Our
age of on-demand
everything is helping
make it happen, and
our obsession with
documenting—and
posting about—every
little event is adding
more fuel, leaving lots
of soon-to-be-marrieds
wondering why they
can’t have their two
Pinterest-perfect three-tiered cakes and eat
them too.
Then there are the
attempts to please
different families
with varying lists
of demands. Take
Yaagnik Kosuri and
Farnoosh Mahdavi,
who had two wed-
dings—one Hindu,
one Persian—over the
course of one week-
end. “We’re from
completely different
cultures, and while we
have always straddled
that line with each
other, our families hadnot,” says the groom.
“Having two ceremo-
nies brought everyone
closer together.”
Others decide to
host a second event
as a concession of
sorts. Their real goal
is an intimate elope-
ment and “having a
chance to take it allin without the stress
of guests,” says Fried-
richsen. (She points to
“epic Instagram photos
of couples exchang-
ing vows in breath-
taking settings” as
igniting this trend.) But
that may not go down
so well with the folks
back home, as new-
lyweds Ivy and Matt
Ford found out while
making plans to elope
on the Italian coast. To
include their families,
they decided to first do
the city-hall thing and
a celebratory
dinner with 40 guests
in New York City.
“Most people remem-
ber our wedding as
city hall,” says Ivy,
“but to us, it’s Italy.”
In a way, repeat
“I dos” are the per-
fect compromise: Twoweddings = everybody
gets what they want...
and sometimes where
they want. For couples
with far-flung relatives,
like Maryland native
Melanie Altar and
her Scottish partner
Liam Allan, spreading
the festivities across
continents is the most
(only?) feasible way
to celebrate with
all their loved ones.
(These guys opted for
a traditional Scottish
folk-dancing party in
the UK, then legally
became hubby and
wife in the U.S. a few
months later.)
And TBQH, some-
times it’s just more
convenient. New York-
ers Connie Wang
and Nathan Reese
(pictured here) had
a backyard party
planned in California.
But arriving early to
get a marriage license
wasn’t an option, so
they decided to take
care of that at home.
They toasted with a
few friends and a
fancy meal two weeks
before leaving for their
big ceremony.
Bottom line: If
you’re about to walk
down the aisle and
the thought of doing
the whole thing twice
sounds kinda appeal-
ing, go for it. Just
don’t expect your
guests to send two gifts
because, uh, they’ve
got a lot of weddings
to go to this year.In a way, it’s kind of the perfect
compromise. Two weddings =
everybody gets what they want.NYOne CAperkoftwow
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.life102 Cosmopolitan September 2019FROMLEFT:^ ISHA^VIJ;^ LAUREN^SPINELLI^PHOTOGRAPHY.