Candáce Akilah Gregory, who started floral business Mother Of Hundreds, and James Douglas Fils-Aime, who builds exhibits for the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, met by chance at a Lianne La Havas show. She bumped into his sister, who she’d known for a little while, and she introduced her to James. “The honest truth is that I don’t even remember him being with her, and we had never met before this point,” she says. “But he always remembered that encounter.” A few years later, they hit it off at his sister’s house over a dinner party and started dating months later.
After two years together, he proposed in a garden around their New York City neighborhood, and for their early October wedding, Candáce toyed with the idea of hosting it in Prospect Park. She wanted to have people on one of the lawns, but it wasn’t permitted and could only happen in the peristyle. “We liked the classic architecture juxtaposed with the open natural space of the park centered in Brooklyn, so there was a kind of marriage of natural beauty and refined structure,” she says. To help plan everything, they hired T. Marie Florals and Event Concepts, and fleursBella took care of the flowers.
The bride-to-be doesn’t like a lot of fuss, so she wanted her dress to seem effortless and timeless. At a Jenny Yoo sample sale, Candáce ended up finding the one. “I will never forget the moment once I was all zipped up,” she says. “I felt nothing like I had ever felt before.” To finish the look, she had a master seamstress add buttons down the back and wore a pearl veil.
The bride got ready with hair stylist Abigail Longchamp-DeVose and makeup artist Nelia. Bridesmaids complemented her perfectly also in Jenny Yoo designs.
On the day-of, Candáce walked down the aisle with her father to James and their minister. During the ceremony, the minister spoke of the importance of treating each other with kindness, respect, and love and also the importance of commitment to the vow they both took.
After being announced as a married couple, everyone headed to the reception at a loft space in Industry City. Their good friend, Kelly, featured two specialty cocktails: a Negroni and a Paloma, and Arrogant Swine and a local caterer served ribs, fish, and various delicious sides for dinner. The new Mr. and Mrs. spent the rest of the evening celebrating with their guests, and at the end of the night, they retreated to a hotel in the flower district—their first day as a married couple well spent!
