A Little Help From My Friends

An off-the-rack gown is pretty much out of the question for a bride-to-be who happens to be a designer. But Behnaz Sarafpour went above and beyond just designing a dress for her nuptials last summer. She came up with her entire look, from head to toe, with some high-fashion help from Tiffany & Co., Stephen Jones, Lemarié and Christian Louboutin—names that wouldn’t be out of place on any bride’s wish list. “I thought it was exciting to work with other designers I admire but might not otherwise get a chance to collaborate with,” says Sarafpour, who married Evan Shumeyko, a management consultant at Leveraged Technology, on July 28 in Bermuda. “It’s fun. Then you’ve got others’ creative input too.”

Clockwise from right: The wedding party, from left: Shumeyko, groomsman Peter Cipriani, bridesmaid Starret Zenko, Sarafpour and best man Lance Le Pere

Indeed, tony teamwork was Sarafpour’s idea from the beginning. Whereas most engagements start with a ring, hers began with a loose diamond and a trip to Tiffany. Last February Shumeyko proposed with his grandmother’s diamond, a brilliant round-cut solitaire from the Twenties, knowing his bride would want to do something special with it. The one-carat gem wasn’t the only thing with history. Three years ago, Tiffany sponsored Sarafpour’s spring show, which she staged at the jeweler’s Fifth Avenue flagship; since then the company has provided jewelry for celebrities she’s dressed. “I knew they’d make something really personal for me,” she notes. “I wanted something with a little Art Deco feeling to it, and I knew that would be good with the history of Tiffany. They were really great about taking this old diamond and designing something around it.” The couple came up with the idea of working an S, the initial of both their last names, into the design. All parties thought the shape of the letter worked best with two stones. Thus Tiffany matched the antique gem with a new one, similar in weight, cut and clarity, and presented three double-stone sketches inspired by current Tiffany styles: the Legacy and Jean Schlumberger’s Bud and Ribbons rings. Ultimately, Sarafpour and Shumeyko chose a combination of all three, which features the two diamonds bezel-set side by side, the antique set in gold, the new one in platinum, traced in pavé diamonds in the shape of an S. “We wanted the S to be obvious,” says Sarafpour. “And timeless,” adds Shumeyko.

Things were less sentimental, though no less stylized, when it came to the hat and shoes. Princess Deena Abdulaziz (her husband is a nephew of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia), a bridesmaid who is a personal friend of Louboutin’s, hooked the bride up with custom stilettos in honor of the “something blue” tradition. The result: ivory satin peep-toe pumps with ribbon rosettes and robin’s egg blue soles, a special-order touch previously offered to brides.