Alexandra Lane and Michael O’Neill met as Notre Dame students and later admit that they both had crushes on each other as undergrads. However, Mike didn’t ask Alexandra out to dinner until she was in her first year of law school in New York. He slid into her DMs and said he was in the city for work. “Unbeknownst to me, Mike was actually at home in San Francisco when he sent the message,” Alexandra laughs. “When I accepted Mike’s dinner invitation, Mike quickly booked a flight to New York, took me out to dinner, and we’ve been together ever since.”
After four years together, Mike proposed in the South of France, and the two quickly knew they wanted to get married at their alma mater, Notre Dame. “Notre Dame weddings book out years in advance, so Mike actually booked the wedding before he even proposed,” Alexandra smiles. “Although we love Notre Dame, we wanted the wedding to be our own and to feel like a beautiful wedding rather than a Notre Dame tailgate or event, so we made sure to choose colors that are different from Notre Dame’s and tried to transform the ballroom as much as we could.”
To help bring their vision to life, the couple hired Kelly O’Brien of Shannon Gail, and Mary Dougherty was behind the lens all weekend. Taylor Near set the tone for everything with a beautiful invitation suite.
When it came to choosing a wedding dress, Alexandra wanted to wear something that was timeless but not too simple. After going back and forth on dresses, she finally fell in love with a strapless floral Oscar de la Renta look with a sweeping veil and Manolo Blahnik heels.
On the day-of, the bride got ready with makeup artist Shannon O’Brien and hairstylist Erin Graham, who made her feel like the best version of herself. Bridesmaids complemented Alexandra in white Amsale dresses and matching bouquets by Life In Bloom, and the mothers of the bride and groom looked beautiful in Carolina Herrera and Ralph Lauren.
For Alexandra’s golf, welcome party, and after-party looks, the bride turned to Anny Choi of Over The Moon Styling for assistance. Anny first found the Renwick Golf Sweater, which perfectly matched the couple’s green logo for their tournament, and the Tory Sport skirt was easily styled with it. “Anny introduced me to Patricia Voto of One/Of to create my custom welcome party dress,” Alexandra explains. “We kept it very classic in the front but added a large blue bow in the back, which was a little unexpected and out of my comfort zone. I am still getting compliments on it!”
The bride wanted something shorter she could dance in for the after-party. Anny found the Alex Perry Elyse dress, and Alexandra instantly loved it. “Additionally, Mike had given me a customized Edie Parker ‘Mrs. O’Neill’ clutch for Christmas, so we knew I needed to carry that,” the bride shares.
On the wedding day, Mike looked handsome in a Ralph Lauren tuxedo with monogrammed Tiffany cufflinks—a gift from the bride—and Stubbs & Wootton shoes. For his “second look,” he donned a shamrock blazer that he had worn to football games years prior.
In the basilica on Notre Dame’s campus on June 17, 2023, guests gathered for the church ceremony. “Ever since our first date, there was never a day that I didn’t think I would marry Mike, so I felt really calm during the ceremony; like I was exactly where I was supposed to be,” Alexandra shares. “Mike, on the other hand, couldn’t stop crying. In all our pictures, he is wiping away tears, and I have the biggest smile on my face.”
“Although I was trying to avoid making it too much of a ‘Notre Dame’ wedding, Mike’s mom surprised us by putting our names and pictures on the Jumbotron in the football stadium and organized us taking pictures on the field during cocktail hour,” the bride says. “It was the best surprise ever, and I give her so much credit for pulling it off!” Then, the newlyweds entered their reception and kicked things off with their first dance to “This Will Be.”
After heartwarming speeches and a delicious dinner by LaSalle Grill, Alexandra shared a father-daughter dance to the Masters Tournament theme song. “Golf is the number one thing we have in common, so it was a natural choice,” the bride states. Mike and his mother’s choreographed dance routine brought the house down. “At one point, Mike laid down on the floor, and Mike’s mom stood on his back like a surfboard.” It set the tone for the night with Downtown Band Entertainment to say the least.
Contrary to the wedding design, the after-party in the stadium concourse with 27 Entertainment leant into Notre Dame school spirit heavily. Mike’s golf groom’s cake by Flourish Cake Design was also revealed. “It was so fun to see all our guests in their tuxes and gowns, dancing on the 50 yard line in the concrete stadium concourse and getting food and drinks from the stadium’s snack bars,” Alexandra shares. “The whole after-party was such a fun juxtaposition to the very formal wedding.”