When Nova and Reemo Styles decided to tie the knot, they threw tradition out the window.
The New York City couple included a series of non-traditional choices that left everyone talking, starting with their wedding invitations—or, shall we say, lack of invitations.
Instead of traditional invites, every single guest had to buy a $333 ticket to be part of their grand 12-hour-long festivities.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Bronx residents had a whole list of other unconventional things they did for their nuptials, which they are sharing on their social media pages in a series called “Non-Traditional Things We Did At Our Wedding.”
Nova and Reemo Styles took a non-traditional approach to their wedding, starting with their (lack of) invitations
Nova and Reemo tied the knot on June 24, 2023, at the iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral, followed by a reception at One World Trade Center.
It was no ordinary affair. Guests wore denim outfits, the groomsmen wore shorts, and the couple had Fifth Avenue shut down for the special first dance. The whirlwind wedding day also included transporting guests in a customized double-decker tour bus to visit different NYC landmarks to celebrate the city they love.
The kicker was definitely the $333 that each guest had to pay to attend.
“Did We Really Sell Tickets to Our Wedding!?” the couple wrote in the caption of the first video in their “Non-Traditional Things We Did At Our Wedding” series.
Spoiler alert: they did.
Instead of chopping down their initial wedding list of 350 guests, the couple came up with a strategy of asking their guests to buy tickets for the “Styles Wedding Experience.”
Their strategy saved them $70,000, as only 60 people finally showed up.
Instead of receiving traditional invites, every guest had to buy a $333 ticket to attend the 12-hour-long wedding festivities
“We had a 350-person guest list, with only 60 invites because of the dynamics of the day,” the 30-year-old bride, Nova, said in the video.
“They chose us,” she added. “They ‘hashtag’ trusted the process by purchasing a ticket to attend our wedding.”
In the rest of the “Non-Traditional Things We Did At Our Wedding” series, the newlyweds shared other unorthodox elements that were part of their wedding.
“Our guests had no clue what’s going to happen on our wedding day,” the groom said in the part 2 video.
“They blindly purchased tickets for $333 to our 12-hour wedding, not knowing what’s going to happen, only knowing that we were getting married and that they will be with us for 12 hours,” he added.
The Bronx couple shared their unique wedding experience on TikTok with a series called “Non-Traditional Things We Did At Our Wedding”
The part 3 video in the series was all about the dress code.
“No theme here. Only dress code: a dope New York City street-style denim look. It was a 12-hour day, and people are conditioned to be formal for weddings. We wanted our peeps to be fly, comfy, and beyond the conditioned beliefs,” said Mrs. Styles.
The next element covered in the “Non-Traditional Things We Did At Our Wedding” was the outfits worn by the wedding squad. The bridesmaids were dressed in mountain-dew-colored dresses, while the groomsmen wore pink “80’s jackets.”
“Honing into our colorful love story, we wanted to paint the city pink and green,” Reemo said in the part 4 video.
The couple’s custom wedding outfits were the subject of the next video. The Styles revealed that they paid “homage” to their individual styles without knowing what the other was wearing.
The couple’s wedding took place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the reception was at One World Trade Center
“We graciously adorned ourselves in that white and bling blow,” the lifestyle influencer bride said.
“We Matched in His and Her Looks On Our wedding Day and Didnt Plan It!” the pair wrote in the caption.
The next non-traditional thing they did for their wedding was shutting down Fifth Avenue for their first dance after leaving the church.
“We shut down Fifth Avenue, one of the busiest streets in Manhattan, to dance our newlywed hearts away. Filled with love, style, confidence, and New York grit, we two-stepped to our own melodic bliss into our first moments of our heightened love journey,” said the bride.
The couple had Fifth Avenue shut down for their first dance, adding a touch of NYC grit and glamor to their celebration
The rest of the installments in their nuptial series covered the NYC landmarks that guests were transported to in the double-decker bus, as well as the goodies the newlyweds included in their guests’ gift bags.
The series continues on the Styles couple’s social media page, redefining the wedding game.
While some TikTokers were quite intrigued by their series so far, others found some of their tactics “greedy,” “tacky,” and “cringe,” starting with their pay-to-attend approach.
“What a joke! These people are cheapskates!” one wrote. “They want the bling, but are too cheap to pay for it. They expect their friends to pay for their wedding! I would sever my friendship with anyone who tried this.”
The decked-out double-decker bus took guests on a grand tour of NYC, visiting some of the city’s most iconic spots
“Oh you broke broke,” read one comment on Instagram.
“Only 60 guests out of 350. That says a lot,” said one TikTok user, who admitted they “would be totally offended [at] being asked to spend $333 per guest.”
“If you can’t afford it, don’t do it,” they added.
The couple defended themselves in the comments section and said selling 60 tickets to their wedding wasn’t enough to cover their expenses, and they had to pay for it from their own pockets.
“It’s silly to think 60 tickets could pay for the 12-hour wedding day that we had!! It DEF didn’t and we paid for all of our wedding ourselves!!” they said.
The couple also told the New York Post that they want to use the $70,000 they saved from their wedding budget to start a family.
The couple’s approach sparked conversations online, with some calling it smart and others labeling it “tacky” and “greedy”
Some people were all for the Styles couple’s idea, with one agreeing that “weddings are expensive as hell.”
“Hey, if they’re willing to pay it means they wanted to be there,” one comment said, to which the couple replied: “Bingo.”
Getting hitched in 2024 is no small financial feat, with the average wedding expense climbing to a pricey $33,000, up from $29,000 in 2023, according to Zola—a popular wedding planning platform.
The cost of walking down the aisle also depends on which state you are tying the knot in. It turns out that Rhode Island is the most expensive state to get married in, with an average cost of $49,207. The cheapest state to say “I do” in would be Alaska, with an average cost of $14,444, according to the Zola website.
By selling 60 tickets, the couple said they managed to save $70,000, which they plan to use to start a family
These hefty budgets are not only meant to include the standard wedding elements—venue, catering, band or DJ, photographer, flowers, cake, hair and makeup, and others—but also to accommodate the personal likes of the bride and groom and their loved ones.
A wedding “involves two families bringing together traditions, cultures, and expectations,” Elizabeth McKellar, the founder of wedding design and planning company Nouveau Romantics, told CNBC Select.
“Certain dynamics get magnified and it brings up a lot of emotions and feelings,” she added.
Thus, it’s no surprise that many couples choose to splurge on one of the most special days of their lives and even ensure that their personal style shines through—just like Nova and Reemo Styles did with their own non-traditional wedding.
Some netizens went as far as saying the Styles couple are scammers, but several people appreciated how they brought their own flair to their wedding
