Dress: Joni by Rime Arodaky
Where: Alberta, Canada
Studio: New York
Tell us a little about yourself?
Hi! My name is Kelby Mae – I am a born and raised Texan but I moved to New York City at 21 years old to chase my career in Advertising.
How did you meet your Groom?
First things first – my Groom’s name is Kirby. So yes, we are Kelby & Kirby and we think it’s a hilarious coincidence.
We met at the tail end of my internship in my hometown of Austin, TX at a popular tech and music festival by the name of South by Southwest (SXSW). I am a year younger and was graduating in a few weeks, and Kirby was attending SXSW on behalf of his company from NYC.
I was trying to network but Kirby was busy following me around like a puppy dog. He used one of the absolute cheesiest opening lines known to man, but miraculously it didn’t seem to matter – “Your hands are cold. I’m Canadian, let me warm them up!”
When Kirby’s co-workers decided to leave the party, they asked if me and my friends wanted to join them. Admittedly, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to hang with some high-level advertising folks from NYC, so I immediately agreed.
We spent time hanging out at the after party for a while, shared a kiss, but more importantly, our contact information.
I left with my friend thinking I would probably never see him again, but also kind of on cloud nine.
To my surprise, he texted me just a few days later and asked to take me on a date the next time I was in New York (lucky for me, my sister was living in NYC at the time).
I ended up moving to the city about a month after graduating and Kirby and I started dating almost immediately (one drunken night over pizza we decided to call a spade a spade). Flash forward 4 years – Kirby proposed in Astoria Park (near our apartment in Astoria) on March 10th, the 4-year anniversary of the day we met, that night in Austin. We got married on October 5th, 2019 – about a year and a half after the proposal.
How did you come across The Mews?
I had a girlfriend at work who told me “The Mews has really cool stuff, you may not buy anything there but you have to check it out. They just have cool stuff!”
Little did she know….
What styles were you channeling whilst dress shopping?
I honestly had no idea what I was looking for – I knew what I didn’t want, and that was traditional. I wanted something I had never seen before and something that was fun, flirty and felt like a reflection of me.
Tell us about finding your perfect Wedding dress?
Well, I had my mom and sister in town from Texas. We went to probably six stores in a matter of three days, so we were full on shopping. I had tried on so many dresses but never got the ‘feels’ I had heard so much about from other brides.
When I tried on the Joni dress by Rime Arodaky I immediately wanted to start dancing. It was fun and flirty and unique – exactly what I was searching for (unknowingly). My mom kind of shot it down and said it was more of a party dress than a bridal dress. So we left that day but I couldn’t stop thinking about that dress and the way it made me feel.
I went in a few more times to try it on and ended up meeting Rime and her team – that basically solidified my decision. She told me: ‘it was my dress’ and I truly felt the same! Shout out to Eliza for putting up with all my indecisive visits and helping me try on my dress so many times!! She was so lovely to work with and made it easy.
Where did your wedding day take place? Was there any themes or inspiration behind your day?
We were married in Kirby’s home province of Alberta, Canada in a small mountain town named Banff. We were surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains – it had snowed the week before so there was a perfect amount of snow on the mountain tops and scattered around the town.
We married at Mt. Norquay Ski Lodge – it was like we had our own private mountain. Our ceremony was outside with such a beautiful picturesque background and our reception was inside the rustic lodge with string lights hanging around us. We really went with the mountain/ski lodge vibe.
We had shot skis at the bar and really natural wooden touches in our decor and scenery, blankets and cozy fireplaces inside and outside.
What did he wear?
Kirby was quite dapper in a navy suit, with a gray shirt and burgundy heart-printed tie. He wore brown leather accessories and a hand-made pocket square from his mom.
He gave all his groomsmen different ties and personalized tie-clips to play off of the mix-matched bridesmaids. We also incorporated some gold accents on everything as well.
What was your favourite detail of the day?
My dress!! I had been looking forward to wearing that dress for SO long and I was just so happy to be finally wearing it and dancing around with everyone. It made me feel like a million bucks and tied in with the wedding day/theme so well. I also really loved my petite wedding bouquet – it was simple and tiny and perfect.
What advise would you give out to a bride to be about finding the perfect dress?
Pick the dress you want to dance the night away in – something that reflects who YOU are and make sure it has a little something he will love too!
Words of wedded wisdom?
Find moments together in the midst of the crazy wedding day – don’t be afraid to tell people you need a minute alone with your husband. And then continue to find those moments together forever – through the rest of whatever life throws your way! 🙂