“Az [Cohen] and I were arranged to meet by mutual friend Leelee Kimmel,” explains Valentina de Weghe, an associate director at Miller, a contemporary art gallery in New York City that focuses on showing influential but underappreciated female artists. “We were both on winter vacation in St. Barth’s, and Leelee had been trying to set us up for a whole week. Twenty-four hours before I was supposed to leave, she invited Az, who works in A&R at 300 Entertainment, to a lunch that I was attending. We hit it off immediately. The next day, I invited him over to my house for lunch, so that he could meet my family before I left to catch my flight.” The day went well, and Az decided to accompany Valentina to the airport. Just before she boarded a plane for Belgium, they kissed. “That was it,” she remembers. “We didn’t see each other for a month, but we talked every day. Once I was back in the city, we were inseparable.”

The two talked about getting married all the time, and after a year and a half of dating, Az asked. “We had been trying to make more room for him in my apartment, so one day we made our first major house-cleaning trip to my newly acquired storage unit. We had made plans to go get food at one of our favorite restaurants, Jeffrey’s Grocery, afterward. It’s impossible to get a reservation there, but Az had convinced me that he had found the manager’s phone number online and had booked a table for us. I don’t know why or how, but I believed him.” In actuality, the creative Az had gone to the restaurant ahead of time and asked them to arrange for the ring to be presented on a scallop shell in the center of the dozen oysters that he was sure his girlfriend would order. “I loved it—the presentation looked so beautiful,” says Valentina. “And the whole restaurant freaked out!”

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They chose June 12 as their wedding date because Valentina’s birthday is one day before it and Az’s is one day after, giving them a three-day annual birthday-anniversary party in perpetuity. “We plan on throwing a similar party every year going forward, to keep reuniting a community of family and friends around our love for each other,” says Az. They wanted to do something super-low-key and easy, and quickly settled on Charlie Bird in Soho for the venue. “In my opinion, it’s the best restaurant in New York City,” says Valentina. “It was a no-brainer to ask partners Robert Bohr and Grant Reynolds to handle the event. Their location is perfect, their terrace incredible, and the food out-of-control delicious.”

When it came to planning, the whole thing was very spontaneous—“everyone around us really stepped up and helped us pull it together in a seamless way within more or less six weeks,” says Valentina. “Lyor, Az’s father, handled the reception event, and Amy, Az’s mother, helped with the overall planning and the flowers. Thank god Az’s cousin Shani reminded us to buy rings seven days before the event!”

They were able to seat 80 guests in a way that felt both casual and comfortable. “The best part was that we were able to provide a place for our guests to enjoy the evening without the craziness of New York interrupting,” says Valentina. Az’s mother organized all of the floral arrangements with Fleurs Bella and was able to make the venue feel like its own secluded spot in the center of the city. “The flower designers were inspired by our invitations, which featured a bear and a mink—Az’s and my respective pet names,” says Valentina. “So they really did make us feel like we were away from the city, in a forest somewhere upstate.”

Initially, Valentina planned on wearing a white look by The Row that she had bought on sale a few months prior, but at the last minute she decided to go with a dress her mother had worn when she was younger. “It is a no-brander, but the dress was made in Ibiza and has embroidered, kind of cheap-looking Hawaiian flowers on it,” says Valentina. “She gave it to me a while back, but it was so beautiful and wedding-like that I never found an occasion to wear it. About a year ago, I actually sent a picture of myself trying it on to Az, saying that I would wear it at our wedding; even though at the time I had no idea any of this was going to happen.”

Her veil was from Glamour Closet. “I wasn’t going to wear one initially, but my younger sister Nastasia convinced me to—she told me it would be so stupid not to,” remembers Valentina. “I went by myself to buy one two days before the ceremony. I only wanted a short veil at first, but after trying on a chapel-length one, I freaked out and bought two different lengths. For my hair, I went to Seagull Haircutters. They did a great job, super-simple, just a few flowers and down. No up-do.”

Az also wore a hand-me-down of sorts: Last year, his dad, Lyor Cohen, married girlfriend Xin Li in Sag Harbor. “Xin’s father was going to wear a Gucci suit for the occasion, but incorrect measurements led to an ill-fitting suit that serendipitously was just Az’s size,” laughs Valentina. “That’s the suit he ended up wearing to our wedding ceremony at Town Hall. For the reception, he wore a forest green, collarless Margiela suit that I had gotten for him four months prior. It was perfectly light for the warm summer afternoon.” He purposefully hadn’t worn the suit at all before the wedding. “I wanted it to be special,” says Az. “It was the first full suit she had ever gotten me, and it fit like a glove—no tailoring necessary!”

Both families joined the couple at City Hall for a simple ceremony. “Valentina is in the process of converting to Reform Judaism as we want to raise our children in the Jewish tradition,” says Az. “On our first anniversary, we plan on having a larger, religious ceremony in the Hamptons with the rabbi who I grew up with.”

After the ceremony, the reception started at 7:00 p.m. at Charlie Bird. The newlyweds received their guests with Champagne, wine, and special mezcal and tequila mixed drinks. For dinner, appetizers, pastas, mains, and sides were delivered family-style to tables without assigned seating. And the food just kept on coming. Farro salad; fava greens; sweet pea, pecorino, and pistachio white asparagus; hazelnuts, farm egg, and Parmigiano fonduta; Belgian endive salad, and foie gras torchon were among the appetizers. Pastas were plentiful: gnocchi rosa with ricotta, basil, and tomato, and a suckling pig agnolotti, with rosemary and Parmigiano-Reggiano. For the main course, guests dug into whole grilled dorade with green tomatoes and basil and roasted farm chicken with butter lettuce. Hot buttered peas, potato puree, and French fries accompanied the meal. The pièce de résistance was dessert: “Our cake was created by Margaret Braun, and it was delicious and beautiful!” says Valentina. “We brainstormed and created it with her in her New York studio. Our point of departure was the gianduia cake from Sant Ambroeus. From that, Margaret was able to translate our ideas into the real world and pulled it together within one week. The end result was a bunch of layers of chocolate and marzipan—it was so good.” After the cake was cut, music was spun by highly regarded DJ Twinz.

The newlyweds were too busy for a first dance, though. “I was actually pretty sad about this,” admits Valentina. “But also Az was kind of drunk. I vaguely remember trying to dance with him at some point, but then I got pulled into doing something else. We’ll have a more formal celebration next year in the Hamptons and dance to ‘Hava Nagila’ then. Please note that Az would like for me to point out that the only reason he got ‘kind of drunk’ was because he was operating on an empty stomach caused by his inability to sit and eat any of the wonderful food at dinner because his wife was so busy entertaining guests and he wanted to be with her the entire time.” Aw.

After the wedding, the newlyweds took off for a nearby hotel at around 12:30 a.m. “Both of our families were in town for the festivities, and we had decided to selflessly allow them to take over our respective living spaces—so we booked the best room at a pretty shitty hotel that will not be named,” laughs Az. “The only reason we landed there is because it is between both of our houses. As soon as the reception ended, that’s where we went. It was an early evening—and we loved it!”

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