This Bride Had Two Haute Couture Gowns—and Over Five Looks—For Her Stunning Wedding in Capri
It took a decade of dating, but there was never any doubt that college sweethearts Jamie Bernfield and Seth Birkan would end up married-the only question was where. “Travel is a huge part of our relationship,” says Jamie. “Any excuse we have to get away, we do.” The bride, the director of marketing of Everafter and The Westside (retail concepts from the founders of Intermix), and the groom, a writer’s assistant on Showtime’s Ray Donovan, had visited Iceland, France, Portugal, Spain, and Seth’s childhood home of Johannesburg, South Africa in their many years together. But, it was a 2013 trip to Italy’s Amalfi Coast-specifically the island of Capri-that really captured their hearts.
Jamie and Seth met as many young couples do: at a bar in college. She was a freshman and he was a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A mutual friend had a feeling they’d hit it off; the night they were introduced, “Jamie may have been sending signals, but I wasn’t really picking them up because I’m generally much more introverted,” says Seth. The two became friends first-often studying together-and, says Jamie, “Our relationship didn’t flourish until months after we met, once we both realized that we were spending all of our time together.” They were each other’s first real relationship, and the couple dated throughout college, spent a year doing long-distance while Seth was in graduate school in Chicago, and finally reunited in New York, where they still live today.
It was a few more years before Seth popped the question, but he did propose-with a round-cut diamond on a rose gold band, designed by Levy Creations in Chicago. He also made it well worth the wait. The two were on vacation in the French Riviera, and on the second day, Seth had arranged for their terrace at La Chèvre D’Or to be decorated with hundreds of flowers. Jamie wasn’t completely surprised, and not only because she saw the photographer Seth had hired to capture the moment. “We’d been together for a really long time, and it’s hard to get things past me,” she says. “I really wanted to be surprised, but I also needed to be prepared to know what to pack, so there were hints along the way. This became an unspoken engagement trip, but I didn’t know it would happen on the second day.”
As they began to consider where to wed, they each made a list of five destinations they liked; Capri was the only destination where their lists overlapped. The New York-based couple enlisted Jung Lee of Fete to bring every vision of their four-day wedding celebration to life, from Thursday’s beach party to Sunday’s farewell supper. The couple also tapped Shawn Connell to capture each event of their multi-day affair. As Jamie says, “It was a journey through Capri filled with food, love, and la dolce vita.”
Capri came to no surprise, since, as Jamie says, “We talked about getting married there for a good two and a half years-and some of the things we did, we had actually ‘fake’ planned before.” It also helped that it’s located about halfway between New York and South Africa, so a lot of family could attend. The couple ended up visiting four more times while putting together the four-day itinerary for their friends and family. “Eating and drinking was a theme throughout the weekend,” Seth says. The couple privatized the 52-room Hotel Luna, where almost all of the 137 guests stayed. (The rest of their guest list booked rooms at the property’s sister hotel, La Residenza, a few blocks away.)
The official events began on Thursday, with a welcome party for 90+ close family and friends at Il Riccio beach club, followed by dinner at Da Paolino. Jamie wore a Dolce & Gabbana star-studded mini dress with Dolce & Gabbana pink studded heels; Seth donned a Dolce & Gabbana double-breasted blue-grey linen blazer, white Dolce & Gabbana jeans, and Ferragamo loafers. That night also served as Jamie and Seth’s official bachelorette/bachelor parties. Following dinner, they split up with their closest friends- a night in the VIP area of a dance club for her, cigars and beer pong in the hotel suite for him (before the two reunited at the club to party with their entire bridal party).
By Friday, all 137 guests had made it to Capri. For the rehearsal dinner, Seth and Jamie invited everyone to La Fontelina, a place they fell in love with on their initial trip in 2013. The couple arranged for 18 traditional wooden boats to transport everyone from the marina to the restaurant, which the team at Fête had designed to feel like 1960’s Italy. “It was classic, sophisticated, and in many ways influenced by Sofia Loren,” says Jamie, who wore a black-and-white embroidered lace mini dress by Dior and Dolce & Gabbana chunky lace sandals. The decor included custom tables inspired by Gio Ponti’s painted tiles, specialty bottled cocktails for each guest, an Italian quartet, and a family-style meal that included linguini with zucchini, the restaurant’s most iconic dish. “It tastes like it’s made with tons of cream, but it’s just zucchini and pasta,” says Seth, who wore a blue-grey Prada suit with white Zegna sneakers.
The wedding day did not began as Jamie was hoping-there was rain. Lots of it. Without a back-up plan, Jamie and Jung Lee from Fête considered postponing the ceremony until the next day, but decided to hope for the best. (Seth, meanwhile, was doing his Fantasy Football draft with his friends, and had no idea.) “By some miracle, it didn’t rain during the ceremony,” Jamie recalls. “But the wind was whipping, and by the end you could tell a storm was brewing...the sky got dark and there was lightning. We learned after the fact that there were flash floods in Naples!”
But get married they did. And before the ceremony, Jamie and Seth had a traditional first look-which Seth recalls as his favorite moment of the day. “She had spent so much time on [her dress], and it [was[ not what I was expecting at all,” he says. “The dress was stunning.”
But finding her bridal look was no easy feat for Jamie, who visited boutiques across New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and London-trying on more than 50 dresses in the process-without finding what she was looking for. “Fashion has always been rooted in my DNA, personally and professionally, and I did not want to lose that identity as a bride,” Jamie says. It wasn’t until she attended the Haute Couture runway show of Giambattista Valli in Paris, and saw a rose-print gown she knew was “the one.” The designer agreed to create two custom dresses for her: one in the rose pattern with a short hem in front and a long flowing train to wear down the aisle, and the other a floor-length, off-the-shoulder pink chiffon gown for the reception. “Designing the dresses through sketches, mock-ups, and fittings was a idyllic process,” she says. “The team was incredible to work with from start to finish.” She completed her ceremony look with Aquazzura ruby red velvet platform sandals, as well as an Emsaru custom ruby choker and Anita Ko marquis diamond stud earrings.
The couple exchanged vows at the Gardens of Augustus, botanical gardens with various tiers and terraces that date back to the early 1900’s. After sipping on pre-ceremony cocktails, guests were led to a higher level where seats had been arranged in a semi-circle facing the Faraglioni rocks. “We wanted the ceremony to have a sense of whimsy,” says Jamie. “Most aisles are straight, but Fête created an organic pathway delineated with thousands of pale pink carnations, inspired by a photo they showed me of Tory Burch’s Fall 2018 fashion show.”
Perhaps the biggest challenge was finding a rabbi to officiate. Luckily, they found an American expat in nearby Calabria, who incorporated a few Italian-Jewish traditions. “We signed the ketubah during the ceremony instead of before, so it was special to have everyone be able to witness that,” Jamie says. For their vow exchange, the groom wore a custom Tom Ford navy tuxedo.
After the ceremony, the local folk band, Scialapopolo, led guests to the reception at the Capri Rooftop. “Our vision for the reception was an Italian villa,” Seth says. It felt like an intimate and lively dinner party, with long tables decorated with candles and candelabras, floral arrangements of varying heights, and mismatched china and glassware. “Fête even designed pale pink and grey stucco-like wallpaper to mimic the worn walls of a villa,” says Jamie, who changed into her pink chiffon gown and Gucci T-strap platform sandals in metallic and moire silk an hour into the party, just in time for the surprise fireworks display.
Dinner was an epic Italian feast that included burrata with grilled vegetables and balsamic vinegar, grilled branzino, and steak with potatoes. Waiters also came around with big bowls of pasta-gnocchi pomodoro and tagliatelle with pesto-serving people individually.
But the focus of the evening was on the dance floor, which was designed to look like a mosaic tile pattern and felt like an extension of the gardens, with a canopy of greenery and bright pink florals. The Inspiration Band from Paris set the tone for a night of partying, walking around the tables, serenading guests, and getting down on the dancefloor. “That was a priority for us-we wanted people to be out of their seats,” says Seth. “My 85-year-old grandma who had just had her hip replaced danced for three straight hours.”
Jamie and Seth waited until the end of the night to cut their Italian-style millefoglie wedding cake, doing it in the middle of the dance floor right before their speeches. “I feel like people miss the cake or it’s an afterthought, and we wanted it to be a moment for everyone and not just bride and groom,” Jamie said. They also surprised Jamie’s parents with a cake of their own, since the wedding fell on the same weekend as their anniversary. Other sweet treats included homemade bombolinis fried and filled on the spot, and a local sorbet and gelato cart.
At around 12:30 a.m., everyone headed to the lobby of the Hotel Luna, where DJ Charlie Weaver from London-who had played the night prior at La Fontelina-took over. There was a club-style lounge, tables with bottle service, and waiters passing mini burgers and fries. But the highlight may have been the pizza maker they brought over from nearby Sorrento. “He worked the oven until 4 a.m. and must have made 500 pizzas!” Jamie says. “I’ve never stayed up that late in my life, but we didn’t want the night to end.”
The next day, Jamie and Seth threw a party at Lido del Faro beach club. Buses were scheduled to leave at 11 a.m., and Jamie did not have high hopes of people being ready on time. “100 people were there,” she says. “That was just a testament that nobody wanted to miss anything, and everyone was on this high.” That night, they hosted a dinner at Villa Verde with an all-white dress code; Jamie was a vision in a Zimmermann white beaded lace mini-dress with Zimmermann white beaded wedges, and Seth wore a white Dolce & Gabbana T-shirt, a tan laser-cut Zegna couture blazer, white Dolce & Gabbana denim, and white Zegna sneakers. “When it was time to say goodbye, people who had never met before were hugging and making plans to see each other again,” Jamie recalls. “We feel so lucky to have been able to create this meaningful experience for people.”
The newlyweds postponed their honeymoon travels for five months, which gave them plenty of time to plan a six-week getaway to New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji. “These destinations allowed for the perfect mix of exploration and adventure, breathtaking scenery, culinary and wine experiences, and relaxation,” Jamie says. They stayed in a variety of stunning properties-including Matakauri Lodge in Queenstown and Longitude 131 in the Australian outback-but the highlight was their stay at 25-room Laucala Island in Fiji. “It’s so remote; a few days into our stay, we were the only guests on the property,” Seth says. “Whatever we wanted to do, they helped us do it-it was like having our own private-island playground.” Each of them secretly emailed with their travel agent to pull off surprises-tickets to the Australian Open for Seth, and a photographer in Fiji for an official honeymoon shoot for Jamie. “Since he’d also hired a photographer for our engagement, it took it full circle,” Jamie says. “It was really special.”
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