Irene La Grasta & Alison Zack
Studio 450
October 10, 2010
In 2003, website designer Alison Zack, 33, placed a personal ad on Craigslist. “I got a handful of answers,” she says, “but I only responded to one: Irene.” Six months after their first date, Alison and photo producer Irene La Grasta, 35, moved in together, but it would take another seven years—and two proposals—to get them to the altar. Irene wasn’t satisifed with her first marriage offering to Alison (made while watching Jeopardy! in their apartment), so she popped the question a second time, exactly one year later. The knot-tying started with an intimate ceremony in New Canaan, Connecticut, and was followed by a rooftop wedding for 113 guests at Chelsea’s Studio 450. The couple rode the freight elevator up to the roof to make their grand entrance, but the lift got stuck for about five minutes. (The band played the “Wedding March” on repeat till they finally emerged.) Says Alison, “We didn’t even consider getting married somewhere that didn’t show off the city. It’s a huge part of who we are.”
The Details:
Dress: Melissa Sweet
Suit: Mr. Ned
Caterer: Real Food Catering
Cakes: Billy’s Bakery
Music: Venus Ensembles (ceremony); DJ Sparber of Twerking Hard DJs (reception)
Flowers: Spruce
Irene La Grasta & Alison Zack “The hora happened so fast that I barely remember it. The next thing you know, someone is shoving you in a chair and you’re on the ceiling.” Photos by Our Labor of Love