The Bride Wore Vintage Valentino for Her Rainy Day Wedding in Hudson Valley (2024)

Fate almost thwarted Emma Thorne and Serkan Piantino’s first date. An hour before they were supposed to meet, Serkan’s car got towed in the streets of New York. While he searched, it began to pour rain—an inconvenience on any normal given day, but an actual problem in September 2020, when restaurants only offered outdoor dining due to COVID-19 restrictions. “I was concerned about how we were going to have this date, but Serkan was ever positive and undeterred,” Emma says. When the two finally sat down, he asked the waiter to bring them the weirdest wine on the menu. She laughed, finding the slightly ridiculous request “delightful.”

Two years later Serkan, a tech entrepreneur, proposed to Emma, an actor, on the Ponte degli Angeli in Rome—a city of deep importance to Emma, whose father served as the American Ambassador to Italy under President Barack Obama. She said yes as the sun set over St. Peter’s Basilica.

In April 2024, the couple wed at their farm in Upstate New York, in an event planned by 42 North. They never considered anywhere else, as the farm is where they fell in love: early on in their relationship, Emma accidentally put an electric kettle on their gas stove, causing smoke to erupt and alarms to go off. She expected him to be annoyed after the whole fiasco. “Serkan, after dealing with the fire department which had just arrived sirens blaring, came back inside with a thoughtful look on his face,” Emma says. Then, he told her he needed a new kettle anyway. “I think that was the moment I fell in love with him,” she says.

On Friday night, they held a welcome dinner at Stissing House. “We love their food so much and the experience of being there feels warm and easy,” Emma says of their favorite restaurant, which they dine at every Thursday night. The bride wore a tiered lace vintage Valentino dress, sourced from Happy Isles Salon with help from bridal stylist Gabrielle Hurwitz. Guests enjoyed baked trout and wood-roasted chicken on candlelit tables, as well as slices of coconut cake for dessert.

It rained on their wedding day. Actually, “rained” doesn’t do it justice: “Not only was it pouring, it had rained four inches twice in the past two weeks. So the ground was a complete Woodstock-level mud pit,” Serkan says. “We had trucked in literal tons of gravel to reinforce the road around the property, and still everything with wheels was getting stuck and had to be towed out.” As Emma got ready in her second vintage Valentino wedding dress, which she paired with Ralph Lauren flats, vans carrying guests got lodged in the mud.

But just like their first date, the weather didn’t dampen a thing. “The rain made the interior world of the ceremony and celebration feel that much more warm and intimate. It ended up being absolutely perfect,” Emma says. The bride and groom, wearing a custom P Johnson tuxedo, officially wed amid a torrential downpour. “The way we celebrated each other in our vows was my favorite part of the day,” adds Serkan. “We both thought so deeply about what we find beautiful in the other person.”

Afterwards, Emma, Serkan, and their dog Bob headed into their reception tent for a moment alone together. (Although, “Tent is such a terrible word for what [42 North] erected on our lawn,” Serkan says. “It was basically a full building. We’d have been pretty screwed without it.”)

“We got to sit in the quiet with the rain rushing around us and savor this sweet first moment together,” says Emma.

The quiet was short-lived. The bride describes the reception as “an explosion of music and laughter.” They did their first dance to “How Deep is Your Love” by the DJs, and once their guest joined them on the floor, very few left. (Except to visit the ice cream sundae bar.)

Halfway through, Emma ran back to the house, barefoot and in the mud, to change into her after-party dress by Naeem Khan. Inside, waiters—half wearing Red Sox hats, half wearing Yankee hats—handed out concession stand snacks like hot dogs, chicken nuggets, fries, and popcorn from corn grown on the farm. (Although Serkan, a New York sports fan, says he swears he saw “way more Sox hats—suspicious!”)

The rain never did let up. But to Serkan and Emma, it didn’t matter: “Defying the rain made everything even more fun and special,” says Serkan. Indeed, they ended up with the exact feeling the old “rain on your wedding day” adage said they would: “We are so lucky to celebrate the beginning of our lives together."