Who What Wear Weddings: Annabel Schwartz and Felipe Gontijo de Araujo
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It only took 14 days for Annabel Schwartz and Felipe Gontijo de Araujo to move in together after they first met. After sitting next to each other at a birthday dinner in 2016, the two locked in on one another and got lost in conversation. âTwo weeks later, a quick trip to Brazil and Miami, a friend’s wedding, a Met Gala after-party, and several evenings of being young 20-something year-olds running around NYC into the early hours of the morning, we decided 14 days was plenty of time and moved in together,â Schwartz explains. âUninterested in the fact that we were total opposites with very little in common and essentially complete strangers, we were crazy about one another and absolutely certain that weâd figure out a way to always make it work.â
And they did make it work. âWe spent the following six years traveling around the world, showing and sharing each other’s passions, building our careers side by side, and curating the most beautiful life together,â Schwartz gushes about the life she has built with her now husband. âA life that is often filled with a very loud house of overnight guests and dinner parties and friends stopping by and so began a very cherished tradition of quiet Saturday mornings, where, even if for just a little while, every Saturday morning is for just us.â
It was on one of their treasured Saturday morningsâa bright, sunny Los Angeles summer day in September 2022âthat the couple became engaged. âFelipe and I woke up and laid in bed for an hour laughing and cuddling. Finally, he looked at me and said something along the lines of âI want to wake up to you like this for the rest of my life. Letâs get married,ââ Schwartz reminisces. âCompletely unaware that he was actually proposing I said âIâd go to the courthouse and marry you today.â And then he rolled over, grabbed the ring, and said âNo, letâs do this thing right.ââ Five days later, the couple celebrated their engagement at Chateau Marmont.
Years before the couple were engaged, they traveled to the Maçakizi Hotel in Bodrum on the Turkish shoreline. âFive minutes after arriving at the property, Felipe looked at me and said, âWe should get married here one day,ââ Schwartz recalls. Once engaged, the couple remembered that moment and the special setting and decided to plan their wedding on the property. The wedding took place in September 2023 on grounds lush with olive trees and bougainvillea along the Turquoise Coast. The couple planned a celebratory weekend that kicked off with a disco party and beach day and ended with personal vows and dancing until dawn, but there were even more lively and personal moments planned throughout the wedding weekend.
“The wedding events started on Thursday evening with a full-blown disco party on the beach. We had zero interest in giving our guests a mellow welcome cocktail reception. Everyone had traveled long and far to be there with us and we wanted to set the tone with a bang.”
“I wore a custom couture gown made by Patricia Voto that had this stunning silver beaded lattice with tiny white silk flowers at each intersection. The rest of the dress was entirely open and see through, which is very on brand for me.”
“I paired [the dress] with a pair of Saint Laurent heels and fine jewelry from Brazilian brand Sauer.”
“Felipe wore a pair of Prada trousers with a vintage Prada shirt which happened to be called the ‘Impossible True Love’ shirtâhe said it perfectly described us. His outfit was complete with a pair of custom Cariuma Valelly sneakers that were adorned with a foil print of our wedding date and our initials.”
“Friends reunited, new friendships were formed, love interests were peaked, [and] hello kisses were shared, but dancing was the main item on the evening’s agenda.”
“[The] all-night dance party ultimately ended in the majority of us stripping down and jumping into the ocean around 4:00 a.m.”
“The following day, we all gathered back at the beach to recover.”
The bride wearing a Zimmermann swimsuit.
WWW Weddings tip: “One of the best pieces of advice we were given is to grab one another’s hand and not let go. All weekend people will accidentally pull you apartâto take photos with you or say hello or dance with youâbut your wedding is about you and your partner and you want to be able to laugh and reminisce on everything together later so don’t let yourselves get separated!”
Custom House of Talana ashtrays from the bride’s consulting company.
“As the day went on and we jumped in and out of the crystal clear sea, juice shots turned to bottles of rosĂ©, and the DJ turned the speakers up to full volume.”
WWW Wedding tip: “Be a guest at your wedding. Something will go wrong and it does not matter at all. After a year of planning and prepping for the most important weekend of your life, itâs really hard to get to the wedding and just relinquish all control but it’s so important to. Trust in your vendors, coordinators, event planners, or bridal party and let go. All that matters is that youâre having the time of your life because if you are, your guests will too. Youâre the heart of the partyâset the tone!”
“An afternoon beach party erupted before we all quickly ran back up to our rooms to get ready for the evening’s event.”
“The Friday night dinner was arguably one of my favorite parts of the entire weekend. [I] dressed in a semi-sheer black caftan gown from Saint Laurent paired with Saint Laurent black heels and gold jewelry from Sauer. Felipe [wore] the most stunning white blazer and black trousers from Ralph Lauren Purple Label, black Saint Laurent smoking slippers, and a gold Patek watch from his father.”
“Shortly after the pandemic, Turkey was the first country to reopen its borders to Americans and after months of being cooped up in the house, I jumped at the chance to get away. Maçakizi Hotel had been on my radar for a few years so we quickly booked a room and some flights and we were on our way.”
“Itâs hard to describe and truly is one of those places you just have to go to to understand. While there are far more luxurious or specially designed properties in the world, there is something about Maçakizi that is completely unrivaled and exponentially more special. Thereâs a certain energy and simplicity that makes you feel like youâve arrived in heaven while never leaving the comfort of your home. The staff quickly became our family and the owner, Sahir, very quickly became a dear friend.”
WWW Weddings tip: “Make your own rules. I have so few formal and traditional photos of Felipe and I posing together or with our families because we simply didnât care to allocate enough time for it. We wanted everyone, and ourselves, to be enjoying the hotel, the beautiful destination, the party, and the people.”
“Although there were 150 guests spread out over several tables, everyone felt so close and connected. The only way to describe it is genuinely to say it was magical.”
The couple the night before their wedding.
“I was worried we had asked too many people to speak and that our guests might become impatient towards the end but I couldn’t have planned it better. Each speech was an Oscar-winning performance. The speakers somehow perfectly oscillated between Larry David and Aaron Sorkin to Nicholas Sparks and Woody Allen. Every single one of our guests were locked in, roaring in laughter, or sobbing uncontrollably. Iâve never witnessed so much pure, raw, and tangible emotionâit was truly indescribable and the most touching experience of our lives.”
“I wanted to look like myself at my wedding. I almost never put anything on my skin and aside from a bit of eyeliner and mascara, I don’t usually do my makeup so it was a quick and easy process.”
“Our invitations were quickly drafted in the least formal way possible by one of our friends who happened to be good with some design software. Paper planes have served as a symbolic figure in our relationship for years, so it felt fitting to provide each of our guests with an empty paper plane and pencil in their hotel rooms upon check-in. They were asked to write us a note, a wish, a piece of advice, a joke, a story, or anything that came to mind and bring it with them to the ceremony so they could be collected and later turned into an art piece for our home.”
Just before the wedding ceremony began.
“A vintage yellow diamond necklace borrowed from a friend who owns [the Maor] jewelry store in Los Angeles.”
“Meeting my fairy godmother, Sarah Swann, creative director for Amsale, was probably one of the best highlights of planning this wedding. Originally, I had zero intentions of doing a custom dress but […] after twenty or so minutes talking to Sarah, I was completely enamored with her and was certain the only path forward would be to have her design a custom dress for me. We pulled inspiration from Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, and one of Amsaleâs first wedding dresses ever designed.”
“I wanted the dress to be timeless and elegantâsomething I could be certain Iâd look back on in twenty years and say ‘Iâd wear it again tomorrow’. When Sarah sketched the original concept as we exchanged ideas, no changes were needed. She knew exactly what I had in mind and I trusted her implicitly.”
The couple on their wedding day.
The bride walking down the aisle with her father.
“The best part of our ceremony was the fact that we decided to do rather non traditional vows. We wrote and read them together, taking turns reading line for line. We didn’t want to exchange vows to be this picture perfect couple that wasnât true to who we were in that moment. Instead, we decided that the relationship we had right then and there was exactly what we wanted to vow to keep.”
The couple moments after they were married.
“Our friend who owned the restaurant where Felipe and I first met ended up officiating our wedding and it was so special to have someone who has seen us through our whole relationship be up there with us. As I come from a Jewish background and Felipe a Catholic one, we opted out of any religious traditions. Some of our friends came up and read excerpts of literature chosen by our officiant, and my best friend James was our ring bearer.”
The wedding dinner set at the Maçakizi Hotel.
“I knew I would want to change out of my wedding gown after the ceremony so that I could be super comfortable, flexible, and move with ease while running around during dinner so I sought out a simple slip dress from Saint Laurent. Of course I had to modify it just a tad to feel like me and had them make the open back quite a bit lower and the plunging neckline more plunging. I threw on a different pair of Saint Laurent heels and swapped the earrings for a pair from Schiaparelli.”
“Felipe and I love candlelight. Whenever guests come to our home, they usually remark how many candles we have lit and how perfectly dim it is. It sets such a tone of intimacy and romance so naturally our ceremony and dinner were predominantly focused on candlelight. Even our escort cards were candlesticks with each guest’s name and table number laser printed into the wax which then became part of the tablescape. Florals and other design details were white to keep a light and romantic feel inline with the candle displays.”
“The only pop of color we really integrated were the menus, which were custom made for us by one of our closest friends and favorite artists, Austyn Weiner. She had full reign and came up with the phrase ‘And the beat goes on, but not without you’ to be the perfect note to adorn each seating place.”
“Felipe wore a Saint Laurent tuxedo with a Dior shirt and shoes from Bally before changing into his own pair of custom Cariuma sneakers. His look was complete with a gold Patek Philippe watch and his Cartier wedding band.”
The couple dancing at the after party.
“After [dinner], we moved into the room that became our dance haven.”
“The design direction was Parisâ Hotel Costes meets Ibizaâs DC10âtwo of our most-frequented venues in Europe and destinations where some of our fondest memories have unfolded. Guests felt like they were transported to our home, in the 70s, in Europe.”
“Later in the evening, I changed once more into a custom, fully-beaded mini dress from Clio Peppiat. The dress was white with different bronze and gold illustrations throughout that symbolized important chapters in Felipe and my relationship.”
“Felipe also had a pair of custom Cariuma sneakers made for me with a foil stamp of our wedding logo and datesâI felt so comfortable and everything was so meaningful.”
“We danced well into the sunrise and didnât stop for a minute.”
Creative Direction: House of Talana
Design and Production: A46 Design Studio
Hair and Makeup: Jonats; GoÌkhan Yalçıner; Furkan Yalçıner
Photos and Videos: Puci
Venue: Maçakizi Hotel
Signature Scent: Music Room by Lola James Harper
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