On the day of the wedding, the formal ceremony was short and sweet. “We wanted our guests to feel like they were part of the wedding, and we wanted it to reflect our personalities,” Kristina explains. Instead of rows of chairs and a big bridal party, tables and couches were scattered around the pool, over which there was a bridge to the area where the couple said their vows—although most guests ended up standing and watching with cocktails in hand.
Steven’s friend from college Steve Thomas officiated the ceremony. “I’ve gotten to know him well and love him dearly,” Kristina says. “He has a beautiful way with words and such a warm demeanor. Sadly, he’s also battling cancer so it’s incredibly meaningful to us both that he performed the ceremony.”
Meanwhile, Kristina and Steven wrote their own vows. “I knew that Steven, being a comedy writer, couldn’t resist slipping in a few laughs so I set out to match him,” Kristina says. “But public speaking isn’t my forte, so I was really nervous. Steven held my hand the entire time though, and once I saw all our friends and family’s smiling faces, I relaxed a bit and started my vows with a joke. Fortunately, it got a big laugh, and from that moment on, it all just felt magical. I’m so glad I could express how I feel about Steven in a fun but meaningful way because that’s the dynamic of our relationship. We really do try to make each other laugh every day.”
After the ceremony, guests move to a cocktail hour on the upper lawn where a jazz band was playing, before eventually moving to the reception area. Kristina and Steven wanted the food to be less stuffy, so they leaned into serving some laid-back personal favorites, including Jon & Vinny’s chicken parmesan.
At some point, in the middle of dinner, the band played Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” “I looked over and Steven had tears in his eyes,” Kristina remembers. “We then had a few great and really funny toasts from Steven’s grown children and two of my best friends.” At the end of the meal, tequila shots were passed around to get guests out on the dance floor.
“While everyone was dancing, my friend Keegan-Michael Key actually got up on stage and surprised us with a killer version of ‘Tennessee Whiskey,’ which blew the place away,” Steven remembers. “We wanted it to feel less like a formal wedding and more like a killer party—which it was. I had the time of my life.”
Looking back, it all turned out exactly as Kristina and Steven envisioned it. “I loved the band, the backyard, the food, my dress, the cocktail hour, and all the memories we created,” Kristina says. “Our wedding was everything I wanted. Everyone told me it would go by in a flash and they were right. It went by even faster than I could have imagined.”
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