This Untraditional Bride Wore A Bright Yellow Dress And Bows For Her Savannah Wedding

Jan 22, 2024

By Elise Taylor

Ellen Van Dusen and Ben Sigerson’s wedding was a long time coming. They first met in elementary school in Washington, D.C., and remained friends throughout high school. After going to college in different states, they found themselves bumping into each other at parties when they both moved to New York post-graduation. However, it took a chance run-in on the subway in 2018 – where they realised that they lived on the exact same street in Bedford–Stuyvesant – for them to go out for a drink. After that, it was (romantic) history.

In August 2022, Ellen, the designer and founder of Dusen Dusen, and Ben, a vice president at a natural language processing firm, were on a walk after dinner. At one point, he handed her a Starburst tube. Such an offering wasn’t unusual – “I’m a candy fanatic,” Ellen explains – but the contents inside were: tucked amid the sweet fruit candy was an engagement ring by Karl Fritsch.

The two wed in Savannah, Georgia, on April 29. The night before, the couple hosted a welcome party at Ellen’s grandmother’s home, planned with help from Gina Berchin. Ellen, a cheerfully bold dresser, wore a Cecilie Bahnsen dress with a red slip underneath paired with coordinating socks, chunky JW Anderson earrings as well as a resin chain necklace and bracelet by Braxton Congrove. She finished her look with an Alaïa bag and Marni shoes. Ben, meanwhile, wore an Issey Miyake suit and a Marni shirt.

On Saturday, Ellen and Ben held an outdoor ceremony at The Wyld, a waterside restaurant upon Savannah’s Countryside Creek overseen by Tara Skinner Events. The couple and their wedding party arrived via boat as storm clouds rumbled above them. It was a dramatic entrance: Just as they got under the covered dock, a torrential downpour began as Ellen’s brothers played “Moon River” on pedal steel and acoustic guitar.

Yet, what could have been a dreary day had plenty of colour. Ellen eschewed a traditional white wedding gown for a yellow dress by Lela Rose, adorned with a giant flower appliqué. (“I fell in love with it right away,” she says. “I ordered it immediately and luckily it showed up a couple of days before I left town.”) Their officiant Tasha Goldthwait, meanwhile, wore a blazing red Narciso Rodriguez look. The three of them all stood in front of a powder blue orb made by Ellen’s father and painted by the couple themselves. “Between my yellow dress, our officiant’s red dress, Ben’s dark suit, and the blue dot we had a nice primary palette happening,” the bride says.

After heartfelt remarks from Tasha that prompted the couple to both laugh and cry, the two exchanged mood rings from Claire’s. (Amid the craziness of wedding planning, they ran out of time to get formal ones.) “Ben and I were both nervous, and with the crazy storm in the background it all just felt like chaos – but in a wonderful way,” says Ellen of the ceremony. They walked back down the aisle to “Love is Strange” by Mickey and Sylvia, with Ben’s niece accompanying Ellen’s brothers on the tambourine.

For cocktail hour, guests enjoyed a traditional oyster roast before a tented dinner of steak, grilled fish, and succotash began. Ellen, whose kaleidoscopic, geometric textiles and homewares are sold everywhere from the MoMA Design Store to Nordstrom, made all the tablecloths and napkins herself. (Her signature Dusen Dusen for Areaware wastebaskets doubled as beer buckets.) Sarah Murphy, her maid of honour, made papier-mâché vessels for the white florals from August Designs.

Their friend, ceramicist Helen Levi, created all 150 of their bespoke wedding plates. “Ben and I spent many, many Saturdays painting each plate individually with Helen, who then glazed and fired them herself,” Ellen says. At the end of the evening, each attendee took their plate home with them, along with canvas tote goody bags by Lorien Stern and Dave McPeters. “We had a lot of friends contribute their time and artistic prowess towards the wedding,” Ellen says. “[It] made the whole thing feel super personal.”

During dinner service, the Austin-based musical group Spliff and Kazoo played what Ellen describes as “Hawaiian and old country music.” (During their song “Sleepwalking,” they jokingly bumped into people and furniture.)

Then, it was time to party. Indie-folk artist Faye Webster sang Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One” for Ellen and Ben’s first dance, a moment Ellen describes as “very special.” Then, her brother assumed the role of DJ and put on a custom playlist with all their favourite songs, mixed with voices from family, friends, and even their dog Snips. It got everyone moving for hours on end – with only a brief pause to cut a gator-head-shaped cake from Wicked Cakes: “I think everyone left Savannah with at least one new friend,” says Ellen.

Looking back at it now, Ellen and Ben wouldn’t change a thing – even the biblical weather. “The rain really threw a wrench into some of our original plans, but the chaotic element and loss of control ended up making it more fun and crazy in the end,” Ellen admits. “It was a really fun time, and it felt very us. I feel grateful that we have so many generous, creative, fun people in our lives.”

My grandparents built this house from scratch in 1965, and my parents were married here 42 years ago. There was no place more perfect to host our wedding welcome party.

Debuting our day one wedding outfits. Ben wore Marni and Issey Miyake. I wore Cecilie Bahnsen.

I was so happy to have all our friends and family at this house that I’ve talked about for so many years, that very few of our guests had seen in person.

Friday night’s party was outside in the backyard. It was the most beautiful kind of humid Savannah night; nobody cared how sweaty they got by the end of it.

By Lucrezia Malavolta

By Daniel Rodgers

By Liam Hess

Not quite something borrowed, something blue… but close! My bag was Alaïa, borrowed from my friend Allison. My chain bracelet and necklace were made by Braxton Congrove. My shoes were Marni.

We made custom napkins. This one is our dog Snips.

Wedding morning! This is my dress, my maid of honour's dress, and my officiant's. My dress is Lela Rose and my shoes are Prada.

Ben lost his mind picking out an engagement ring that felt like me – until he found a perfect handmade flower by Karl Fritsch. But when it came to our actual wedding bands, we ran out of time and grabbed ocean-themed mood rings from a Claire’s store in an outlet mall. Ben chose a dolphin, and I got a starfish. We might actually end up wearing them forever.

By Alex Kessler

By Alexandra Macon

By Annie Lord