This Vogue Editor Wore a Watteau

Dec 28, 2023

By Elise Taylor

Sarah Spellings and Donald “Don” Rhodes’s relationship began with a little white lie. In 2017 Sarah, Vogue’s fashion news editor, spied a cute guy on her friend Katherine’s Instagram Story. She promptly DMed asking for a setup. Katherine responded with an enthusiastic yes—should they all hang out as a group? “Turns out, despite Katherine telling me all week how excited Don was to meet me, he didn’t know I was showing up until five minutes before I arrived,” Sarah recalls.

Katherine’s gamble worked. The two began to date—even when, four months later, Don moved back to his home country of Australia. After two years of long-distance, he returned to New York to pursue a master’s of law. The two quickly made up for lost time: A few months later New York City shut down due to COVID-19. Don and Sarah went from being a 20-hour flight away to just 20 feet apart in their Upper West Side studio. “Extreme long distance to extreme short distance—a trial that was brought up many times during our wedding,” Sarah says.

So perhaps it was fitting that Don, now the director of compliance for the Center for Popular Democracy, proposed two years later at their second apartment together in Brooklyn. “I got home from work, and the apartment was suspiciously clean, and there was a jewelry box next to the stuffed lion he got me when we were doing long distance between New York and Sydney,” Sarah says. Inside was a ring designed by Daniela Cardenas at Gemmita.

A Dallas native, Sarah always knew she wanted to marry in the Texas Hill Country. She and Don quickly settled on Camp Lucy, a resort and vineyard in Dripping Springs.

With the help of Madison Didier with Pearl Events, the couple held a Lone Star State–meets–Sydney wedding in mid April. On Friday night Sarah’s godparents, aunts, and family friends (“all women who basically raised me,” she notes) threw them a welcome party at Moonshine Grill in Austin. She wore a custom white shirtdress by Interior paired with gold cowboy boots by Miron Crosby. (While most would consider the latter a style statement, Sarah, like any good Texan, insists they’re a staple: “They’re something I can wear over and over,” she says.) Guests ate shrimp corn dogs and fried green tomatoes, while for dessert, they served koala- and kangaroo-shaped iced cookies. “Since Don is Australian and we’d have a lot of people making the long trip to Austin, we wanted to give them a party worth all those miles,” Sarah says.

On Saturday the two wed among the sun-drenched vines. The bride wore an asymmetrical silk swag-sleeve dress with a Watteau train by Danielle Frankel. “I knew from the beginning that I wanted a Watteau on my wedding dress—that was the detail that stuck in my mind,” she says of her choice. “Then I was assigned to review her collection for Vogue Runway, and that’s when I saw the Skylar. Four months later I couldn’t get it out of my head. So I bought it.” She accented her look with white Coco mules from The Row and opera gloves she bought on Etsy for $100.

When it came to her beauty look, Sarah wanted to feel like herself. She sent her makeup artist, Erica Gray, film stills of Adrienne La Russa in Psychout for a Murder as inspiration. “Strong brows, clear skin, little bit of a wing on the eyes: That’s what I wanted,” she says.

The bride walked down the aisle while carrying a bouquet of gladiolus as an ode to her maternal grandmother. “They were one of her favorite flowers,” Sarah says. “I hate most wedding bouquets but loved the drama of carrying a pageant-style bouquet of gladiolus.” (It was one of many familial nods: “I have three grandmothers and wanted to honor each of them on the day. I wore my stepgrandmother T’s spiral diamond earrings on the big day and my dad’s mom’s charm bracelet to the rehearsal dinner,” she adds.)

Waiting under an arch of eucalyptus and strawflower was Don in a custom suit from Australian tailor P Johnson. The couple found unlikely fashion inspiration from a character in Succession: “I became obsessed with the cream herringbone fabric after watching the season-three finale,” Sarah says, laughing. “Tom Wambsgans wears a suit in a similar fabric, and I was like, ‘That, that’s it!’ Bit of an inauspicious reference for a wedding, but oh, well.”

Sarah’s sister-in-law, Reverend Kathryn Harper-Spellings, officiated the ceremony while their siblings and their respective partners did the readings. Don’s brother-in-law, Tim, brought people to tears with his rendition of Frank O’Hara’s poem “Having a Coke With You.” After Kathryn proclaimed their union, they walked down the aisle to “Tougher Than the Rest” by Bruce Springsteen, played by the local quartet the Foxgloves. “Had to have a little bit of Bruce—the Spellings and Rhodes families are big fans,” Sarah says.

Afterward they gathered in the vineyard for dinner, where two long tables were set up between the rows of grapes. Guests found a heartfelt surprise in their seating assignments. “One special thing we did was write a small note to everyone as their escort card,” Sarah says. “Everyone got an envelope with their name on it, and there was a handwritten note from me and Don inside. It took about a month to do all of them—around 100 cards all together. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to talk to everyone and wanted to thank them in a deeper way for being there.” After a dinner of herb-grilled salmon as well as chili-and-pineapple-braised short ribs, the two cut their five-tier Victoria sponge cake from Lady Quackenbush’s Cakery adorned with toppers by artist Janie Korn. They then toasted with a pair of champagne glasses belonging to Sarah’s parents.

Come nightfall it was time to party under a starlit tent. Don and Sarah chose “Moon River” by Frank Ocean for their first dance, which DJ Bambi Wilson with Dart Collective segued into “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston. One song, in particular, got the guests going: “Did you know that there’s a line dance to ‘Nutbush City Limits’ by Tina Turner that is a massive hit in Australia? These are the things I’ve learned since meeting Don,” Sarah says. “It wasn’t on our must-play list, but one of our guests made an impassioned plea. It turned out to be a hit, and the dance floor was full of everyone dancing the Nutbush.”

One could metaphorically say the evening hit a high note when Aidyn Mentry, a baton twirler for the University of Texas, Austin, performed to “That Don’t Impress Me Much” by Shania Twain in a pair of silver glitter cowboy boots. However the literal high note came from a guest belting out Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” after the couple set up a karaoke machine in the tent. “Karaoke is one of our favorite pastimes,” says Sarah. “We ended the night with some scream-singing.”

The next morning they woke with sore muscles from the dancing, scratchy throats from the singing, and a newfound sense of gratitude. “We truly couldn’t have asked for anything more. It was emotional and romantic and felt very much like us,” Sarah says. “I hope everyone will say that it was worth the trip.”

My welcome-dinner dress was designed by Jack Miner and Lily Miesmer of Interior NYC, a brand I have followed and loved since its inception. I paired it with my late grandmother’s charm bracelet and gold cowboy boots from Miron Crosby. All pieces I still wear often!

Coordinating cowboy boots for the bride and groom

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The welcome party was thrown by some of my close family friends, godparents, and aunts. One of them sourced these antique vases for the flowers.

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