Sara Sodine, an experience researcher at Airbnb, and Samuel Parr, CEO of daily newsletter The Hustle, met at a bar in San Francisco, which is ironic because as Sara explains, “Sam is sober and neither of us like to party!” After four years together, he proposed to her after Thanksgiving with both of their families in St. Louis. “He whipped out the ring without saying a single word! He’s a very talkative guy, so that was one of the few moments when he was utterly speechless.”
As Sara grew up in New York, Manhattan was the perfect setting for their wedding. “Sam loves history, especially American titans of industry, and he wanted to get married at a historical institution,” Sara says. The iconic Carnegie Hall was perfect for the reception, and it’s conveniently in the bride’s parents’ neighborhood. For their September wedding, they hired NYLUX Events to help them plan everything and Carlos Rivas for their florals and decor.
To say, “I do,” Sam chose a navy tuxedo with black lapels from Bonobos. “Funny story—Sam built his muscles up between the time he bought the tux and the day of the wedding, and when he tried on the jacket on the wedding day, it barely fit!” the bride explains. For her wedding dress, Sara looked to none other than Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy for inspiration and ended up finding her sleek, square neck Alexandra Grecco gown on the first day of shopping. Bridesmaids complemented her well in dark Katie May dresses.
Sara never thought she’d get married in a church; however, the tradition of it all seemed to draw them to her parents’ church, St. Paul the Apostle. The bride walked down the aisle with her parents and then met Sam for the Catholic ceremony. Once the two were announced as husband and wife, they recessed to Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.”
Everyone regrouped at Carnegie Hall’s rooftop terrace for cocktail hour, followed by dinner inside. “The dining room has signed photos of famous performers that performed at Carnegie Hall, and it made the room feel like a cool art gallery,” Sara explains. After the delicious dinner and dessert, the party continued upstairs in the Music Room with DJ Stef Nava, who was spinning hits from Drake and Kanye West.
The newlyweds had their first dance to “LOVE” by Kendrick Lamar.” We wanted something untraditional, and it’s a song that we love to listen to together,” the bride says. And in true NYC fashion, after the night had come to a close, the two wanted a slice of 99-cent pizza. “I got a lot of attention wearing a wedding dress to the dollar pizza joint at 1:00 a.m.”
Since COVID-19 has somewhat derailed their honeymoon plans, they’ve decided to drive from city to city with their pup, Sid, and live in different Airbnbs across the country—talk about turning lemons into lemonade.
