Welcome to Wedding Day Countdown, a series where we ask friends and tastemakers for a peek inside what *actually* happened on their Big Day. From the morning of, to the final countdown, to the minute after, we’re bringing you an exclusive look at some of your favorite must-see weddings.
Love really is in the air—because model Kate Bock said, “I do” to NBA star Kevin Love this weekend at a Gatsby-themed soirée held at the iconic New York Public Library—and it was timelessly chic. From the super-thoughtful (not to mention, stunning) gift Kevin gave her, to how they honored their late grandparents, there were so many personal, aww-inducing elements that made their day one to remember.
For a high-profile couple, Kate and Kevin’s day was all about togetherness and feeling as relaxed as possible—not an easy feat on anyone’s wedding day! Personal touches were a recurring theme (like Kate’s custom Ralph Lauren gown), and guests were included in that sentiment: With Air Force 1s as party favors, the vintage-inspired, romantic affair turned into a dance party that lasted ‘til the wee hours of the morning.
We chatted with the Sports-Illustrated-model-turned-entrepreneur shortly after the celebration, to find out about all the incredibly sentimental in-between moments that made their classic New York wedding truly unforgettable.
Carats & Cake: Where did you spend the night before your wedding? Did you and Kevin spend the night together, or have any special moments just the two of you on the eve of the Big Day?
Kate Bock: We chose to spend the night before our wedding together at The St. Regis and got ready together—and kind of did everything together. I [had] made a million mood boards for this weekend, and I have them digitally, but I also actually posted photos to bulletin boards in our office, so Kevin's been staring at them for months. And there was one picture on the board that was of a pair of vintage earrings that I had put there sort of for mood and feel, and he surprised me and found the exact pair of earrings that I had saved on there. They were from the 1920s in London, and he gave them to me [before the rehearsal dinner at The Polo Bar]. He's very, very thoughtful with gifts, and just likes to give them in special moments, so it was right before we were going to get dressed, he gave them to me and I was just totally speechless. I wore them on the wedding day and it was very, very, very special.
C&C: What is the first thing you and Kevin did on your wedding day? Did you do anything special in the morning to start the day off on the right foot?
K.B.: Our first date was having a coffee in the lobby of the St. Regis, so we ordered coffee to our room and had coffee to kind of start the day off a little bit chill and relaxed.
Then Kevin went to meet his best friend and have a minute between the two of them while I got a facial in our room. My facialist Cynthia Rivas came to our hotel and did a really nice facial that was more lifting than products. We put spa music on, and I put the robe on, [it was] just so lovely. We have a really nice relationship because we've been working together for many years now. It was such a calm, serene, really nice start to the day, just her and I, totally quiet. It was just a really nice relaxing way to start a chaotic, amazingly special day.
C&C: Where did you get ready for the wedding, and who did you choose to have with you?
K.B.: [Kevin and I] didn't want to have any sort of separation or reveal moment because we just wanted to do it all together, so we could spend as much time together as we could. [So we got ready on] the second floor of the St. Regis—I think it used to be an apartment back in the day, so it really had an old school feeling to it, and we used that whole space. We had a wardrobe space, a hair and makeup space, and then we had breakfast and lunch catered throughout the day. Coffees and mimosas and salads and eggs. And then we had another room that just had my wedding dress and his tuxedo and we just used that space with our family and friends with people in and out all day. It was just a perfect flow of having our closest people be able to be with us, having enough space, and doing it all together.
C&C: How did you get from the hotel to the ceremony location?
K.B.: We had a vintage car lined up, but it actually overheated so we weren’t able to drive in it! But we took a couple pictures outside, then just took a black SUV to the side entrance and snuck into the library so no one would see us.
C&C: Were there any memorable moments from the time between finishing photos and the beginning of the ceremony?
K.B.: My flower girls gave me a hug and told me I looked like a princess. I took a moment with them to tell them that one day they're gonna get to pick flower girls, how much it meant to me that I got to have them with me, and that I'll remember it forever and hope that they do too. I just think it was really, really special having them with us.
C&C: What song did you walk down the aisle to, and did anyone walk with you?
K.B.: We had a children’s choir that sang, “I Choose You” by Willie Hutch when I walked down the aisle [with my parents], which was really special. Their voices were unbelievable and just sounded so beautiful in that marble room in the library. It was really special and captivating and everything we wanted it to be.
C&C: What was the most memorable part of your ceremony?
K.B.: The vows are for sure one of my favorite parts of the ceremony, but the other was that we chose to do the Seven Blessings, which is a Jewish tradition, and we were wrapped in the tallis of my grandfather. We had our eyes closed and our foreheads touching each other for about two minutes while they were being read by a very close friend of ours. That was a really special moment: being able to be in a room full of all the people that love you on your wedding day, then close your eyes and have your forehead touch the person you're marrying, and for two minutes just kind of take it all in. We were whispering to each other in that moment. It felt almost like an out-of-body experience.
C&C: How did you and Kevin make your big exit?
K.B.: [The choir] also sang for our recessional, "Find Someone Like You" by Snoh Aalegra, while we were walking out. All of the guests stood and clapped while the children's gospel choir sang. And once we got up to the top of the stairs after we left the ceremony, at the library you can kind of peek over the edge looking back down, and we stood with our flower girls and watched our guests all stand and clap and sing with the choir.
C&C: What was the first thing you and Kevin did after the ceremony?
K.B.: We went back upstairs to the room we got ready in at the library (we had kind of a private space there). His grandmother, who's no longer with us, always made a special dessert for him for the holidays and birthdays, and we had our caterer make little bites of the same recipe which were waiting in the room for us. So our first meal together was little bites of something that his grandma had always cooked for him. We actually also gifted them to all the guests at the end of the night.
C&C: What was your first dance song, and how did you choose it?
K.B.: We did Sam Cooke, "That's Where It's At." We are just really big Sam Cooke fans and it just felt right, the lyrics to the songs were perfectly meaningful to us and the day and the moment.
C&C: Were there any other particularly special moments during the reception?
K.B.: My grandmother passed away earlier this year, which was really sad, but while we were at her shivah, my aunt found the cake topper from my grandparents' wedding in the 1930s. So for our dessert, Kevin and I had a cake with my grandparents' cake topper and a black and white photo of my grandparents [next to it]. And then our second dessert was the cake that his grandmother used to make him as a kid, so we had that as the other served dessert with a photo of her in black and white. It really just came out beautifully.
C&C: What's the last thing you and Kevin did before leaving the wedding festivities for the night?
K.B.: We walked home from our after-party, which was directly across the street from the library. We closed the place down, and they kicked us out when all the lights were turning on. But we chose to gift our entire wedding guest list a pair of [Nike] Air Force 1s, so everybody was in sneakers and really comfortable. So we really stayed the entire night!
