Lara Abigail Glaister, vice president of operations at Knockout Beauty, and Nicholas Mullane Ferrarone met at a holiday party thrown by mutual friends at their Tribeca loft in 2014. After exchanging numbers and going on a few dates, Nick celebrated New Year’s Eve with Lara’s entire family, which he met for the first time all at once, in Harbour Island. “I picked Nick up from the dock in the golf cart, and as we puttered along getting closer to the house, I could see my father aggressively waving towards us wearing a long white kaftan and white harem trousers . . . . With thoughts of swerving into the sea, I pulled up to the house instead and thought, well this could go one way or the other,” Lara admits. “Luckily, Nick fit right in with my family,” Lara says. Four years later, he proposed during a picnic in Central Park.
“Having no clue with what was going on, I texted all of my friends to come meet us in Central Park,” Lara says. “Nick then had to quickly divert them all and break the news that he was proposing and ask if they could please refrain from all 840-acres of the Park.”
Lara wasn’t picking up on Nick’s romantic cues, so he ultimately ended up blurting out, “Will you marry me?!” and presenting her with her late grandmother’s ring, given to her by her late grandfather, actor Kenneth More. When they arrived back at the apartment, every single member of their family was waiting with champagne, and the friends, who had been told to stay clear of the park, joined in later.
When thinking about where they wanted to host an intimate wedding, Lyford Cay Club seemed like an amazing idea, since the bride’s grandmother was a regular visitor and even owned a restaurant in Nassau called Cumberland House in the ‘50s. The date was set for exactly a year from their engagement on June 15, 2019, and Araxie Avron from Wildflowers Events & Occasions was hired as the planner and designer, along with Philippe Sahnoune and his team at the club.
Working in beauty meant that Lara was focused on feeling her best and having her skin remain clear throughout all the festivities ahead. With Knockout Beauty’s founder, Cayli Cavaco Reck, they came up with a skin regime filled with products, facial treatment schedules, micro-needling, a derma-roller, and nano-currents to create the most natural, healthy look. For her day-of look, Aseel Nixon and Gigi Lenora took care of the bride’s hair and makeup.
Friday’s welcome party was a beach barbecue followed by barefoot dancing on the sand. Lara based her whole outfit around a puka shell bib necklace, which she paired with a silk, two-toned cream and mushroom colored bias-cut dress from Lee Matthews and Stuart Weitzman Nudist heels.
Like many brides before her, and most definitely after her, Lara referenced Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s Narcisco Rodriguez wedding dress, when she was thinking about her own. Her boss, Cayli, sweetly introduced her to Zac Posen, and together, they came up with a modern take on the iconic gown. To finish the look off, the bride wore her cousin’s veil, which she brought from London, that was made in Spain for her wedding in Seville. The bride’s mother-in-law gifted her her mother’s blue embroidered handkerchief, which all the women in the family have used since Nick’s great-great-grandmother.
The groom looked his best in a linen and silk, cobalt blue custom suit from Suit Supply with a pink tie and custom Turkish Kilim shoes. To dance at the reception, Lara’s sister, Eliza, helped her pick out a sequin mini dress (a nod to Paco Rabanne’s ‘60s disc dresses). Eliza showed Bergdorf Goodman’s Linda Fargo the outfit, and she pointed out the most beautiful hot pink, feathered Ranjana Khan earrings to pair it with.
On the day of the wedding, it poured—“something that the Bahamians say they had never even seem before!” Everyone piled into St. Christopher’s Church to attend the lively ceremony by Father Cartwright. Lara walked down the aisle with her father to “Let It Be.”
“The minute I heard Mr. Richardson’s Gospel Choir start singing ‘God Only Knows,’ I lost it, and the tears started,” the bride says. After being pronounced as husband and wife, the newlyweds and their guests walked outside to “Oh Happy Day” and clear skies.
The reception kicked off with cocktails off of the terrace in the main club. Shortly after, everyone was led to the Little Club under a pink and white striped tent for dinner. Nick and Lara had their first dance to Chuck Berry’s “You Can Never Tell,” “à la Uma Thurman and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction,” the bride notes.
After the formal evening, guests were surprised with the Bahamian tradition of a Junkanoo band. “This was the perfect start to dancing—you cannot help but move to the amazing rhythm,” Lara says. “And then, the Bahamian band, Visage, kept the dance floor full the whole time! I don’t think I stopped dancing once.”
For the after-party, a late night disco started, and there were grilled cheeses, French fries—and sequins! “My sister told everyone to change into sequins,” Lara says. “Even Nick and his brothers had sequined shirts on. It was the best surprise ever!”
