Ciao Lucia Founder Lucy Akin’s Wedding Was a Masterclass in Fashion and Personality

When Lucy Akin, founder of cult fashion brand Ciao Lucia, married chef Luke Reyes in her hometown of Tiburon, California, she brought the same curatorial eye to her wedding that she brings to everything else. The result was one of the most personally expressive celebrations we have had the privilege of photographing, intimate, elevated, and completely, effortlessly cool.

This was not a wedding built around trends. It was built around two people and the specific world they inhabit, where creativity, fashion, and genuine warmth collide. For couples who want their wedding photography to feel editorial without feeling performative, Lucy and Luke's day is the blueprint.

A Vision Rooted in Personal Style

Lucy approached her wedding the way a fashion director approaches a shoot. Every element was considered, nothing was generic, and the overall effect felt curated without ever feeling stiff. Her ceremony look was a vintage Chanel gown sourced from The RealReal, altered to feel more elegant. Her welcome party look was a 1992 Chanel piece that had been worn on the runway by Linda Evangelista. Both choices said everything about who she is without saying a word.

The aesthetic references ran deep. Lucy drew inspiration from The Graduate and classic Hitchcock films, women driving up the California coast, old San Francisco, the particular energy of a small town suddenly overtaken by tattooed creatives from Los Angeles and New York. Tiburon, she noted, had no idea what hit it.

A Weekend Designed to Actually Be Enjoyed

Lucy was deliberate about keeping the weekend streamlined. On Friday, guests gathered at a beloved local waterfront spot for a welcome party with jazz, seafood towers, personalized napkins, and a relaxed energy that set the tone for everything that followed. Children were welcomed, speeches were kept short, and the night ended at a reasonable hour.

For the ceremony, the couple chose St. Hilary's, a historic church set on a hill overlooking the bay. Maurice Harris of Bloom & Plume, Lucy's longtime friend and one of Los Angeles's most distinctive floral designers, took over the space completely. The flowers were wild and abundant. The woman who worked at the church reportedly said she had never seen anything like it. That was the point.

Lucy and Luke had seven flower girls and two ring bearers, and watching them make their way down the aisle was exactly the kind of unrepeatable moment that defines a great wedding gallery. These were not manufactured moments. They were real ones, and our job was simply to be in the right place when they happened.

Photography That Matched the Day

For couples like Lucy and Luke, our approach is to disappear. They were never pulled away for long portrait sessions or asked to perform for the camera. The photography that came out of this day feels like what it was, a real celebration, full of real people, captured by a team that had done enough homework to know what mattered.

Abby Jiu Photography has spent over fifteen years photographing destination weddings and editorial events across the country. What drew us to Lucy and Luke's day was exactly what draws us to all our best work: a couple with a genuine point of view, a willingness to trust the process, and a room full of people who were actually having fun.

The reception brought that energy to its peak. Big Moon Band played. Pop Rocks followed with a set Lucy had personally curated down to the Italo Disco finale. There was caviar. There were big cheese urns. Everything was over by eleven, which is exactly how Lucy wanted it.

This is the kind of wedding that reminds us why we do this work. Not because every detail was perfect, but because every detail was intentional. Lucy and Luke built a day that felt completely like them, and our job was simply to make sure it looked that way too.

Planning and design: Roque Events | Photography: Abby Jiu Photography | Venue: Corinthian Yacht Club | Florist: Bloom and Plume | Stationery: Wildhorse Design Co. | Rentals: The Ark BBJ La Tavola Encore Event Rentals | Cake: Flour and Bloom Cakes | Cheese Carving: Sarah Nep | Ice Sculpture: Chisel It Ice | Band: Pop Rock SSF | Lighting: Twilight Design