Ashley Spitz and Mikael “Miki” Hamaoui first crossed paths at Soho Beach House in Miami. “Once we started talking, we realized we shared the same pre-school teacher in NYC and lived seemingly parallel lives for quite some time but had never crossed paths,” Ashley says.
Two years later, Ashley and Miki embarked on a grand Italian road trip. The couple traveled through Tuscany, Sorrento, and Capri before finally arriving at Le Sirenuse in Positano. One evening, while on a sunset cruise, Miki proposed. “At some point during the sunset, my favorite song ‘Going Home’ by Kenny G started playing, and I knew he was about to get down on one knee,” Ashley says. “I ended up walking down the aisle to that very same song.” The couple enjoyed a few extra days on the Italian coast before celebrating the engagement with their parents in Nice. “We had an intimate engagement dinner at Vidaa at Moulin du Mougins. The DJ, Arnaud Wyta, who was playing that night was who we chose to DJ our wedding.”
“We knew we wanted a destination wedding,” Ashley says. “Our very first international trip together was to the South of France.” As Miki is originally from Nice and Ashley had spent summers with her family in the town of Goult, Domaine des Andéols in Provence proved a perfect venue for the summer ceremony.
While Ashley planned the wedding herself, she enlisted day-of coordinator Lucy Till French Weddings to ensure the timeline ran smoothly. Tiara Comte took care of the florals, and The Bridal Press created the invitations for the event.
The bride headed to Vera Wang’s Madison Avenue showroom in search of her wedding dress. Ashley never had a particular vision in mind for what she’d wear down the aisle, but once she saw the Iris dress in ivory with a nude underlay, she knew it was “the one.” It was the first dress she tried on, and after getting ready with makeup artist Joana Ronquillo on the day-of, Ashley put on her lace veil with an 11-foot-long train.
To kick-off the weekend, Ashley and Miki welcomed guests with an elevated French-style garden party. The bride stunned in an Oscar de la Renta dress paired with a Jennifer Behr hair piece and a Tiffany & Co. sapphire ring that had been passed down from Ashley’s late grandmother—it served as her “something blue.” Casa Felix created the menus and place cards that decorated the tablescapes throughout the weekend.
On June 21, 2022, Rabbi Marc Phillippe conducted the traditional Jewish ceremony. “Looking out to see 160 people who traveled so far to celebrate us was really special,” the bride recalls. Ashley and Miki tied the knot in a field full of lavender as photographer Oliver Fly captured every moment.
Following the ceremony, guests enjoyed a cocktail hour featuring smoked burrata and foie gras stations. At the reception, the couple shared their first dance to “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole and “I Love To Love” by Bon Entendeur. Miki’s sister, opera singer Sandra Hamaoui, gave a performance of the aria “O Mio Babbino Caro” that left the bride and groom in tears. “It was very moving and she literally left jaws on the floor. It was truly such an incredible performance,” the groom shares. Sandra was then accompanied by an LED violinist who ushered guests onto the dancefloor with a remixed rendition of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
The next day, the newlyweds hosted a pool party before departing on their honeymoon. The couple’s European summer began with a “friend-moon” in Nice, followed by a mini-moon in Puglia and Sicily’s Taormina and Noto. “We’re a couple that feels the best things are to celebrate and enjoy ourselves with our close friends,” Ashley says. A sentiment that Miki echos. “For our friends, we organized dinners at Paloma Beach in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, a party lunch at Anjuna Beach in Eze-sur-Mer, and cruised the coastline on tandem catamarans of the French Riviera.” The couple then sailed through Sardinia and Corsica with their families before finally landing in Morocco to spend 10 days visiting Marrakech and Essaouira—alone at last.
