Start Slideshow View Grid Start Slideshow 46

The Bride Wore a Custom Black Lace Maternity Dress to Her Moody, Romantic Wedding in Montauk

By Shayna Seid | Photography by 

Predestined In Love

|Planning by 

Mona Lisa Tan

Flight attendant Carolina Tejada-Ficalora and Marley Ficalora, who is an actor, celebrity chef, and helps run his mother’s jewelry brand Helen Ficalora, met in what he jokingly describes as “one of the world’s most romantic places—a Los Angeles nightclub.” After more than a year of dating, Carolina broke tradition and proposed to Marley on a black sand beach in Santorini. “I think he always thought I was joking when I’d profess my love to him and tell him I wanted to propose first,” Carolina says. He later got down on one knee that same day at sunset.

“Montauk holds a special place in our hearts. I grew up in Montauk and have so many great memories there. We love it so much that we named our daughter Montauk,” Marley shares. The two chose to get married at his family’s motel, Breakers. “Marley, his parents, and his grandparents all grew up in the room we stayed in on our wedding night,” Carolina shares. “You can feel the history and the love when you’re there. And who wouldn’t want to get married in the Hamptons!”

As for the wedding aesthetic, the couple wanted to create a moody, romantic atmosphere and play on the bride’s favorite October holiday, Halloween. “We thought it would be perfect to combine our witchy aesthetic with the backdrop of the ocean,” Carolina adds. Black, the couple’s favorite color, anchored the color palette and dark dried florals by Bloomie and driftwood acted as the decor.

The pair were originally going to get married on September 25, 2020, but due to the pandemic, the date was pushed three times and finally landed on May 21, 2022. Planner and designer Mona Lisa Tan brought Carolina and Marley’s elegantly noir wedding vision to life. “I attended my friend’s wedding in 2018. It was so beautiful that I needed to find out who the wedding planner was. She’s amazing,” the bride gushes. “She really understood my vision and was always there to put me at ease when things got stressful.”

To walk down the aisle, Carolina asked her friend and founder of Betsy Moss, Jorge Perez, to design a black lace maternity wedding dress with Morticia Addams-esque sleeves. “I was pregnant and I didn’t want to cover it up,” the bride states. “Interestingly, we had designed the dress in ’20, when I was pregnant with Montauk, but in ’22, when our wedding finally happened, I was pregnant with our second child, Malibu. Thankfully, I still needed a maternity wedding dress, two years later.”

On the day-of, Carolina got ready with Princess Ayaton & Co., who gave her a natural, minimal beauty look. The bride styled her gown with golden branch diamond earrings, made by her mother-in-law, which matched her and Marley’s rings perfectly.

Before the ceremony, guests enjoyed happy hour at the motel bar and then took their seats on the big lawn. As “Moonlight Sonata” played, the couple’s mothers walked down the aisle with Montauk and Carolina and Marley’s nieces. The pair made their way to the altar before splitting ways—Carolina walked outside her family’s side, while Marley jaunted up his side’s area.

Marley’s uncle, Jay Schneiderman, performed the intimate and special service. The to-be-betrothed couple had asked everyone at the wedding to prepare a short speech about what their love has meant to them, and it was so personal hearing all of their words at the ceremony.

After sharing a first kiss as a married couple, the newlyweds sat down for the reception and an all-vegan dinner, curated by Marley and catered by Krisp Events. “The entire wedding did not have any animal products,” Carolina explains. “Marley grew up not eating meat, and we wanted it to be a cruelty-free celebration.”

During the meal, a traditional Bachata and Merengue band performed, honoring Carolina’s upbringing in the Dominican Republic. Then the couple cut their unique cake by Lael Cakes, which was shaped like an anatomical heart.

Later on, the couple wanted to bring the feel of the nightclubs they had grown up going to their wedding with carbon dioxide canons and an electronic “robot” dancer. “I loved when Carolina’s brother took over the mic during the party,” Marley remembers. “He had DJ Charles Young play Bad Bunny and really got the crowd going.”

A month after the wedding, the new mister and missus welcomed their son, Malibu. “Once he gets a little older we plan on taking our honeymoon,” Carolina says. Marley is predicting they’ll go to their favorite place, Bali, while Carolina had suggested the Amalfi Coast—both great options for the happy couple and family.