A New York City Elopement That Made the Avenues Its Aisle

A Closer Look

Cassandra and Breno's elopement wasn't about skipping the big day. It was about refusing to wait for it, and about letting all of the important things a wedding does breathe a bit instead of expecting one day to hold every expectation. Why celebrate love once when you can celebrate it twice?

There was no walk down the aisle. Instead, Cassandra and Breno walked through the city streets. The first steps outside and everything they encountered along the way, became the wedding. They married at New York City Hall but found their glamour in that understated cool that only Manhattan can deliver.

Olga Prudka and Serendipity Storytellers followed them like a documentary crew and stayed close. The two kissed beside a subway entrance as a passerby blurred past, laughed their way across crosswalks and rode through town in a yellow cab. Corners and shop windows became the portraits, and her Tender Florist bouquet of white blooms and trailing greenery came along for every block.

The design stayed minimal, with a white-focused palette and no excess, but it changed as they went. It began moody. Cassandra wore a tailored white suit with an ankle-length skirt, Breno wore dark brown, and the frames held deep shadows. Then the day turned lighter. Her hemline rose to a short blazer dress, a short veil turned the whole outfit playful, and Breno changed into taupe. Even the sun warmed and flared down the block.

At La Goulue, a French bistro, glasses went up around a candlelit table. Their big Brazilian wedding was still to come the following year.