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Olivia Sacks and Anika Bieg are proof that sometimes the connection you’ve been searching for comes at the most unexpected time. The couple met on Bumble in August 2021 and agreed to go on a date. Sacks, a surgical resident at Boston Medical Center, had just gotten out of a long relationship, wary of dating in general, and Bieg proclaimed this date her last for the summer, admittedly tired of the dating scene. Thankfully, they both showed up anyway. “She walked into [the restaurant] on our first date and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her,” shares Sacks.
In December 2022, Sacks proposed to Bieg at Twin Farms in Vermont. “Before we went to eat, she held me as we looked at the view and then asked me to marry her. She didn’t go down on one knee, and I thought she was joking. It wasn’t until she pulled out the ring that I realized she meant it,” remembers Bieg. “It took her a little while to settle into it. I had told her I was way too busy to propose and she would have to do it, but that was all part of my plan,” Sacks recalls. Six months later, Bieg returned the favor and surprised Sacks with a second proposal during a photo shoot meant to capture the couple in their neighborhood. Their wedding took place on February 10, 2024, at the Boston Public Library. The weekend was filled with a welcome dinner, pre-wedding yoga classes, a surprise ceremony, gorgeous complementary Danielle Frankel bridal looks, and endless unique design details that made this wedding so exceptional.
Olivia Sacks: We had an unconventional wedding on Saturday and a ceremony on Friday. We wanted to begin our wedding weekend with a traditional ceremony to bring our families together before the rest of the weekend swept us up in entertainment. It also made more sense to have a religious ceremony because we avoided multiple trips to the courthouse.
OS: We had a handmade Ketubah from Etsy and a local rabbi who works with interfaith couples. We kept it casual, aka didn’t plan more than getting the rabbi (and we did that two weeks before, when Anika realized it would be very hard with my schedule to coordinate the courthouse haha).
OS: The Ketubah reads: “Standing together on the the 10th day of February, in the year 5784 in Olivia Arden Sacks daughter of Douglas and Patricia, Anika Lynn Bieg Daughter of Sonja and Scott (deceased) vowed to one another: As partners in life, love and the pursuit of a more just world, we pledge our faithfulness, our attention, our utmost care to one another for the rest of our days. We will be steadfast in tending to a love without conditions; a love grounded in service, in the mundane rhythms of home life; a love that gracefully accommodates the unexpected, which welcomes imperfection; a love that both anchors and inspires. We will listen more than we speak, practice humility, and create a home where all feel welcomed and accepted as they are. May we remind one another to work passionately in service of our highest values without forgetting to care compassionately for our own simplest needs. We embrace the individual and shared journey of growth and change that we embark upon today, honoring the lessons and traditions of our families as we shape a new future together, guided by our love for one another, the earth, and all life.”
Anika Bieg: On Friday, we got dressed together. Olivia [did her] hair and makeup with her family and [her mom] Sonja. We all had our hair done by our longtime family hairdresser, Chris Lospalluto. Danielle Librizzi and her team did our makeup.
OS: Both of our looks were reminiscent of shells. Originally unplanned, this went very well with our venue being a Venetian wine bar. Anika felt strongly that the colors of our whites needed to match, and that worked out as well. The tones were creamier on Friday night rather than stark white. And I wore brown Gianvito Rossi shoes, which tied in with the cream. Anika wore insane cheap huge bright-blue shoes, which I knew were going to give her blisters, and they did basically 10 minutes into the first night.
OS: After the Friday ceremony, we [had] a welcome party at SRV, which was so incredibly beautiful. We love going to eat there because they just curate a really great experience—amazing service, great food, and wine, and it was no different Friday night at the welcome party.
OS: People were wowed by the service and the food, and our friends gave toasts, which were the highlight of the night for us.
WWW Weddings Tip: “If you can, have a welcome party to catch up with people before the big day. This way you can spend more time dancing of course.” — Sacks & Bieg
Mara Hoffman
Full Circle Kana Dress
Danielle Frankel
Anika Bustier
OS: Once again, we got dressed together. [More] importantly, our friend Colin who works at La Ligne came and helped us steam everything and [made] sure everything looked right. We couldn’t have done it without him. I’m so appreciative. He also came with us to [our] fittings for the dresses.
We actually went dress shopping together, so there was never a plan for first looks.
AB: I was adamant that our shades of white were the same for the wedding, so we bought looks from the same Danielle Frankel collection.
OS: I originally did not want to wear white at all, but it was important to Anika, and once we found [Danielle Frankel], we were really pleased with the looks.
AB: Olivia had her hair done by her longtime hairdresser, Chris Lospalluto. There was some conversation about doing a big haircut reveal, but thankfully she chose a less dramatic style.
OS: I did want to do a pixie [cut] because I thought it would be shocking and cool, but then I realized I didn’t want my hair to detract from the love between me and Anika. Also, my sister is @mrsdowjones on Instagram, and she [polled] her one million followers about whether I should get a pixie [cut]. The resounding answer was NO.
OS: Anika did her own hair.
AB: I always wear braids in my hair, so it was important that I kept with my true self even on my wedding days.
OS: I always say that my gender is female, but not dress. I don’t like wearing dresses, really, and I never saw myself in a wedding dress. So I liked that [Danielle Frankel] had non-dress options. I loved both the bustier and the suit so much [that] I wore her looks both Friday and Saturday night. Also, the bustier was called the Anika, which I really liked.
I wore simple white mules by The Row for photos but ended up changing into silver Gucci slingbacks by the time we walked down the aisle just because I felt they were easier to walk in.
OS: Anika wanted her dress to be sexy. She liked the backless option and something tight and formfitting. I really commend Danielle Frankel because it took many iterations to get the fit right, and at the end, it really looked stunning.
AB: Olivia helped me with my six-inch heels, which were a massive mistake.
OS: Yes, once she blew her wad on Friday night with the cheap shoes (I can’t convince Anika to spend money on any clothing), she already had blisters (which I knew she would because we’ve been through this before at other events), and she was in so much pain from the moment she put on her bedazzled Steve Madden shoes on Saturday night. She also was too stubborn to break them in before the wedding. She changed into sneakers pretty early into the wedding after the ceremony.
AB: Molly Kars, Olivia’s friend, is an artist based in California. It was important that the invitation could be saved as a piece of art if people wanted to. Molly paints spirit animals, so we chose the lions of the Boston Public Library, and she drew the arch from the library in the background. She filled the rest with purples and greens, which were the colors for the wedding.
My friend Max said that his young daughter still loves and cherishes the invite even months after the wedding. My friend Rebecca framed it for her house. This is exactly what we wanted!
OS: There are not many inside venues in Boston. We knew we wanted a winter wedding. We were lucky those filters landed us at the Boston Public Library. Also, Anika felt strongly that she wanted a place we didn’t need to build out a ton so that we could keep waste (weddings are so wasteful) to a minimum if possible.
AB: Olivia had to help me with my train throughout the night. I loved how dramatic it was, and don’t regret it, but getting into the car took a few extra minutes [that] night.
OS: The choker I wore at the wedding is by Monica Riley. She made a bracelet of this, and I saw it online and asked her to make the same thing but as a choker. It was subtle but so cool. I love it, and it will be a piece I cherish forever, not something I wear once.
WWW Weddings tip: “Be yourself and have what you wear and how you look feel like you. You are not a different person on your wedding day than you are any other day, just a little more dressed up!” — Sacks & Bieg
OS: We had everyone fill the cocktail room with no direction. There were no chairs or formal ceremony setup. Once everyone was in, we parted the crowd and entered under a chuppah carried by Anika’s mom and sister and [my] mom and dad. It was heavier than expected, and I think my dad had a mini tantrum, but it was so beautiful for them to be so close to us. It’s traditional that the family holds the chuppah on the opposite side of their child so they can watch them the entire time.
OS: We walked into an instrumental version of “Warm Love” by Van Morrison. After we kissed and broke the glass, “Honeybody” by Kishi Bashi played.
OS: We decided to marry ourselves early on in the wedding planning process. There was no officiant that inspired us, and we wanted to do something different than a traditional wedding because gay people have been systematically excluded from weddings and marriage for so long. Instead, the obvious plan was to marry ourselves.
WWW Weddings tip: “You can do whatever you want on your wedding day. Don’t accept what society has provided as a template for how you show your love. Think about what you care about and who you care about.” — Sacks & Bieg
OS: There was a small moment of time when we considered no ceremony but ultimately felt like a ceremony would bring the guests together. Our guests live all over the country, so there hasn’t been much opportunity to have our groups mix. A ceremony gives people the chance to all share a common topic. We also felt like then our guests would have some stake in the relationship if my people could hear why Anika loves me and her people could hear why I love Anika. So we wrote our vows to each other and shared them the first time that night.
OS: There were two signature cocktails. The sweet one we didn’t feel strongly about. They sold us on a cucumber margarita type thing at our tasting, which we chose. It was refreshing. And then we had martinis, which is my current favorite cocktail—gin martini with olives. They were delicious, and passing martinis is so fun because they are strong; it really gets the party started.
Our seating cards were bookmarks, so guests could bring them home and use them after the event. (Plus, they went with the library theme.)
WWW Weddings tip: “No one remembers the food at our wedding, but I’ve had so many people ask about our cocktails and wine.” — Sacks & Bieg
OS: We had a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful raw seafood bar, which we felt we had to because it’s Boston and that’s basically the only good thing to eat in Boston. Putnam Flowers did this gorgeous ice sculpture with frozen flowers behind the raw bar.
I really like how the catering company, The Catered Affair, passed some plates of apps that had a few of each type of app so people could choose from everything and didn’t have to constantly keep an eye out for their favorites. It felt important that there was a sense of abundance, especially with the apps because it’s so annoying to go to a wedding and have to stand by the kitchen to get one little hotdog.
WWW Weddings tip: “Don’t skip your cocktail hour for photos. Do them literally any other time. I will never care about the group photos we took, but I was sad to miss cocktails.” — Sacks & Bieg
The couple enjoying the reception and sharing their first dance.
OS: I really wanted a monochrome scene for our wedding. And I wanted it to be inspired by our invitations. So we chose monochrome purple with little accents of green and did small purple flowers (I wanted people to be able to see each other across the table), as well as veggies, which our friends took home at the end of the night (artichokes and eggplants).
Stef [our wedding planner] and her team (shout-out to Neely) are just brilliant, and Stef knew that we really wanted these leg candles, but we couldn’t do fire because it’s illegal in Boston (and it was a library), so they made these incredible butter molds in the shape of legs. That was my favorite detail.
WWW Weddings tip: “Think about the environment—our tablescapes have fruits and vegetables on them, and many of our friends took them home after and enjoyed after the party. Also remember that if you choose a beautiful venue, you need to decorate less.” — Sacks & Bieg
OS: For the food, we did family style, because in my family, we always order “for the table.” Plus, I felt like that way people could try a little of everything. We [also] had a vegan option, which was important to Anika.
OS: We did speeches by my parents, Anika’s mom, and all our sisters during dinner.
The couple enjoying the reception speeches.
OS: We were originally going to dance upstairs at the library, but we had much less drop-off on the RSVPs than we expected, and the wedding was too big for the room we originally planned to dance in. So we moved people back downstairs where were had cocktails, where there was a huge dance floor and a band (and then a DJ at 12 a.m.).
OS: We ran down the grand stairs from Bates Hall and immediately took the dance floor. As people upstairs gathered their belongings, we had a song to ourselves and then “Silk Chiffon” came on, which was sort of our third wedding song (“Honeybody,” “Crowded Table,” and “Silk Chiffon”). We thought everyone would just dance with us, but they actually gathered around us, so it truly was like another first dance.
OS: In the room next door, during cocktails and throughout the evening, the Bumbys, a performance art group that wears masks and rates people’s outfits in poem form, were there for entertainment.
The raw bar turned into an ice cream bar—no cake needed. We’re sundae people and had J.P. Licks ice cream with a very Valentine-themed sundae bar. Unfortunately, Anika and I didn’t even eat the ice cream! We were too busy dancing.
AB: Olivia and I were chasing this part of the night. Everything we did was for the dance party, which is why we didn’t have any ice cream! And we missed the photo booth.
OS: “Silk Chiffon” by Muna played, and we danced until 2 a.m. surrounded by our friends and family. We took the wigs from Olivia’s bachelorette party and a few silly hats and brought those out when the DJ came out at midnight. I remember a friend saying, “This is my first gay wedding! It is so much fun!”
WWW Weddings tip: “Take fewer staged photos and more dance floor photos. We love those the most.” — Sacks & Bieg
Photographer: Sasithon Pooviriyakul
Wedding Planner: Stefanie Cove & Co
Welcome Dinner Venue: SRV
Wedding Venue: Boston Public Library
Makeup Artists: Kimberly Richards and Danielle Librizzi
Hairstylist: Chris Lospalluto
Florist: Putnam Flowers
Catering: The Catered Affair
Music: Element
Rabbi: Rabbi Jen of Modern Jewish Couples
Videographer: Love Brian
(Image credit: Who What Wear)
