Our moms look on as Grant gets a congratulatory bump from Michael Azizi and I take in Ryan Weiss cheering. Photo: Norman and Blake
Actor and producer Sophia Bush met entrepreneur and real estate investor Grant Hughes on a New Year’s trip to Nicaragua almost 10 years ago. “We became fast friends but only saw each other a few times a year because both of us were traveling all of the time for work,” Sophia says. But at the start of the pandemic, the two began sharing books, articles, and philanthropic initiatives. That segued into long FaceTime sessions and, eventually, dating.
They got engaged in August of 2021 on Lake Como in Italy. “Grant booked us a sightseeing tour on a classic Riva boat and popped the question during golden hour,” Sophia remembers. “We shared the news publicly a few days later because we’d been spotted in Puglia by a group of very sweet Gen Z girls, and I watched them clock the ring on my finger. Their eyes went wide, they gasped, they looked at each other and back at me, and I knew that if we didn’t tell the world, someone else would tell the world for us.” Back at the hotel, she drafted a quick caption for an Instagram post.
Much to their surprise, their engagement story was picked up by media outlets around the world. “Happiness is apparently big news,” Sophia reflects. “And while it was lovely to be met with so much unabashed positivity—as a political activist I am all too familiar with the tendency of the internet to be abusive to women—it was also jarring. I play other people on TV for a reason.” But then she realized: If this personal news could travel so far, so fast, imagine what a wedding might do.
Listening to speeches given by wedding-party members. Photo: Norman and Blake
“When I thought about that spotlight, my activist brain turned on,” Sophia says. “Global attention is a hell of a platform, and as someone who doesn’t love attention but does love collective activism, I knew that this could be an incredible moment to spin the privilege of attention. And so I looked at Grant and said, ‘Honey. I think we should get married in Tulsa.’ He blinked. ‘Oklahoma?’ he asked. ‘Yup. Imagine what we could do if we turned our wedding into an event to showcase Tulsa: the Greenwood leaders we work with. The cultural renaissance happening there. Tech. Philanthropy. Civil rights justice. The art. The leadership. We could focus all of this attention and turn the spotlight on them.’”
Grant is from Oklahoma originally, and the couple spent much of their time in Tulsa over the pandemic. “Tulsa is a place where so much progressive justice work is happening, so much deep history has been uncovered and is at long last being honored, and so many people are building a deeply inspiring future,” Sophia says. “When thinking about the purpose of our wedding, we wanted our community that pours into us to pour into a community at large that we love and that deserves all our attention.”
Sophia and Grant enlisted Alison Events to help pull it all together. Ruth Skidmore led the team and worked alongside Bows and Arrows Flowers to execute the couple’s vision for a full weekend of events.“
We are so lucky to be in community with Tiffany Crutcher, one of the most fearless and dedicated social-justice leaders of our time. The Terence Crutcher Foundation works to dismantle oppressive systems and builds coalitions to close gaps in society. We were deeply honored to have Dr. Crutcher open the afternoon’s tours at the Greenwood Cultural Center, where she told her story as a descendant of the Tulsa Race Massacre and a leader in the community today. Photo: Courtesy of Sophia Bush
It all began with welcome drinks at Lowood restaurant on Thursday night to ensure that our guests could become intimately acquainted with Tulsa and her history,” Sophia says. “On Friday, we worked with Tiffany Crutcher of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, community leader Brentom Todd, Nehemiah D. Frank of The Black Wall Street Times, and the Greenwood Cultural Center to facilitate tours of historic Greenwood. These included the entire Crutcher Foundation team speaking to the group, Dr. Crutcher leading the audience in prayer, and a walking tour through Reconciliation Park and the Greenwood Rising Museum. We then rented out Lefty’s on Greenwood for a post-tour regroup and took friends to meet Venita Cooper of Silhouette Sneakers to show some love to her business as well as Trey Taxton’s 19&21.”
Friday night, the couple wanted to host guests for a night-before evening of dinner and music so that everyone would feel like they knew each other and could really celebrate together on Saturday. For this, they gathered at Westhope, a historic Frank Lloyd Wright home in Tulsa.
The florals nod to Japanese ikebana, as Frank Lloyd Wright drew inspiration for much of his architecture from studying Japanese design. He once said Japan is “the most nature-inspired country on earth.” Ceramics by Heather Rosenman. Photo: Norman and Blake
The wedding took place on Saturday, June 11, 2022, at the Philbrook Museum of Art. “From the moment we got engaged, I knew what I wanted my dress to be,” Sophia says. “I’d seen a photograph of a Monique Lhuillier dress taken on Lake Como, and I had a vision of creating a personalized version of it, in what I have always thought of as a heritage print: a print of flowers from California, Oklahoma, and Italy, to honor the heritage of our families—where we come from and how we are all coming together to map where we are going.”
Sophia FaceTimed with Monique Lhuillier herself, and when she asked if this would be possible, the designer shouted, “Of course!” They created a palette of peach Oklahoma tea roses, deep orange California poppies, warm green and deep inky Italian olives, and butterfly ranunculus. They scanned imagery of the couples’ bees and placed them among the flowers, as creating a beehive was their very first project together as a couple.
In keeping with the floral theme, Sophia and her stylist Kevin Michael Ericson chose diamond floral earrings from Briony Raymond New York that pulled the entire look together. The bride wore those and her engagement ring only. “The dress didn’t need anything else,” she says. “We finished the look with a pair of Monique Lhuillier heels in a perfect shade of pale, peachy pink.”
Monique and her team created a stunning print, achieving my Midwestern-sunset-colors goal perfectly. I had the most incredible, creative, loving, and generous experience working with Monique on my dress. I always knew it would be her. She is a tremendous visionary and an even lovelier friend. I feel so lucky! Photo: Norman and Blake
Matthew Collins did Sophia’s hair, creating a simple, classic bun, and makeup artist Afton Williams handled the bride’s beauty. “A blooming rose became our phrase to describe the look we were going for—warm, romantic, and tender,” Sophia says. Maria Caruso Martin of the Bella Rosa Collection made the bride’s handbag, custom embroidered to match her dress.
Longtime friend Jessica McCormack created the couple’s wedding rings. “She is working with fair-trade gold on her wedding bands now, and it felt very meaningful to not only work with someone we know and have a relationship with but to do so with materials that are gentle to the earth,” Sophia explains. “That felt very aligned with my company, Fashionkind, and our mission at large. To that end, we had another friend and Fashionkind designer, KATKIM, make my diamond band.”
Photo: Courtesy of Sophia Bush. I had bandanas from The Great stitched for Grant and me with our last name on them. Our rings were made sustainably. My diamond band is from Fashionkind’s Katkim, and our unbroken bands are from Jessica McCormack.
At the start of the ceremony, Sophia and Grant’s parents walked together as the first members of the procession. “We wanted our parents’ love and equitable partnerships to open our ceremony and to walk in their footsteps,” Sophia says.
The parents were followed by the wedding party—a mix of men and women on each side. And then, in another effort to honor the mothers in their lives, they had three of their best friends—Mandana Dayani, Sophia’s partner and co-founder of I am a voter; her best friend Lily Lasuzzo of Poste & Co; and Jessica Lawmaster of Kindred Leaders—walk their daughters down the aisle as the flower girls. The girls wore dresses from Doloris Petunia.
Once everyone had walked, Sophia and Grant descended the stairs on either side of Villa Philbrook’s galleries. “We met in the middle, took one another’s hands, and together we walked into our wedding,” Sophia says. “As we got up to the aisle, we slowed to look at everyone there—our friends and loved ones. It was such a sight to behold. And then up the aisle we went, to meet our emcee, longtime best friend, and prolific author Jedidiah Jenkins.”
“We chose to walk into our wedding together,” Grant says. “We are a team. This moment, which we created according to our vision and values, felt important to experience together. We got to walk in and experience the love of our closest community. It was magic.” Photo: Norman and Blake
The couple asked Jedidiah to speak about community. The couples’ friend, activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham, was also called up first to read her piece, Freedom Is a Community Project, written for the John Lewis flag. Next, Sophia and Grant’s relationship coach, Laurie Gerber, officiated the couples’ vows. Laurie spoke of her work with the couple, who completed her multiyear marriage prep course in a matter of months, and how theirs would be a teaching marriage because they personify her creed that love is, in fact, a verb.
“I have truly never felt so much positivity at once, so much clarity,” Sophia says of the ceremony. “As a person who suffers anxiety, it felt incredible to experience a sheer absence of it. I couldn’t stop smiling.”
The couple entered the reception and began their first dance to friend Jack Garratt playing a rendition of Sunday Kind of Love by Etta James, backed by the band. Sophia knew there would come a time during the evening when she’d want to change into something sleeker. “My gown was exquisite but also took up a lot of space, and we had dancing to do!” she says. “So Kevin and I worked with Emilia Wickstead to create the second dress. She has long been one of my favorite designers, and I had just worn her to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.”
When the evening turned into pure dancing, I changed into my reception gown. Custom made by Emilia Wickstead, the strapless cloque column with a detachable waist cape lined in floral brocade—a nod to my wedding gown—was perfect for dancing in the crowd. I loved being able to wear a series of looks by incredible women on my wedding day. It was truly special. Photo: Norman and Blake
The designer sketched multiple options for the bride, and they settled on a strapless gown in an ivory textured cloqué with a detachable train—which Sophia and Kevin dubbed “the waist cape”—that perfectly hit the floor, creating a waterfall below the hemline of the dress. “We sent her imagery of my Monique gown, and she sourced an incredible floral brocade silk to line the inside of my waist cape, to iterate on the floral theme,” Sophia explains. “And we dyed a pair of satin Jimmy Choo heels to match the ivory shade and stitched two matching brooches from Beladora Jewelry—sewn on by Grant’s best man!—to the corners where the cape attached to the back of the gown. Matthew had taken my hair down for our first dance, and we let it be for the change.”
We arranged for disco balls to be installed for the party, and in keeping with the theme, I changed into a Cristina Ottaviano minidress that looks like a wearable disco ball. Paired with ivory-and-silver cowboy boots, it was the perfect dress to dance in. I am wearing vintage diamond starburst earrings from Briony Raymond. Stylist Matthew Collins tied my hair half up in a velvet ribbon. The whole look was very country-western glam. Photo: Norman and Blake
At the after-party at Leon Russell’s Church Studio, Justin Boreta spun dance music all night. Matching all the disco balls that the couple had installed for the occasion, Sophia changed into a Cristina Ottaviano minidress. Paired with ivory and silver cowboy boots, it was the perfect dress for dancing until 5 am. “I swapped into another pair of vintage diamond earrings from Briony Raymond that looked like midcentury starbursts, and Matthew tied my hair half up in a velvet ribbon,” Sophia says. “I felt very country-western glam!”
As for the wedding registry? Bush and Hughes turned that tradition into a moment of giving as well, launching the Bush Hughes Foundation for Progress to raise money and awareness for organizations advancing progress and justice in Tulsa.
Below, take a closer look at the most beautiful images from Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes’s Tulsa wedding
Grant is wearing a custom suit by Rich Fresh with Tom Ford shoes. I am wearing a dress by Khaite, sustainable diamond necklaces by Or & Elle for Fashionkind, bracelets and earrings by Jessica McCormack, and shoes by Jimmy Choo. Afton Williams did my hair and makeup. Photo: Norman and Blake
Touching history: This storefront on Greenwood was rebuilt after the massacre fires, and bricks from the destroyed businesses were used as a reminder and to honor what was lost. Photo: Norman and Blake
Bars, custom built by our friend and Tulsa native Jon Stauffer of Good Grain Construction in partnership with Gilbert Designs, were painted in another shade of terra-cotta matched to the florals. Photo: Norman and Blake
We then took friends to see Venita Cooper at Silhouette Sneakers, down the block from Lefty’s. Venita—of course wearing one-of-one Nikes—has one of the best selections for sneaker lovers anywhere in the country. And she is passionate about the legacy of Black-owned businesses in Greenwood. Photo: Norman and Blake
Photo: Norman and Blake. The dress code for the night before was elevated cowboy. I’m wearing a Roksanda Ilincic gown, and Grant is wearing a tuxedo by F.E. Castleberry, made in terra-cotta to nod to the famed Oklahoma red earth.
Grant is wearing Old Gringo Black Hawk cowboy boots from Kemo Sabe. Photo: Norman and Blake
The two of us. Photo: Norman and Blake
With elevated cowgirls and my partner activists at I am a voter, Debra Messing and Mandana Dayani. Photo: Norman and Blake
Invitations created by Poste and Co. The stamps reference both California and Oklahoma flora and fauna, public libraries, voting rights, democracy, love, and, of course, bees. Invitations were made in terra-cotta and incorporated the green of Grant’s wedding tuxedo and the florals from my wedding gown. I hand-stamped each invitation with a bee. Photo: Norman and Blake
The Cuyana cases were filled with a range of beauty products from La Mer—which I have worked with on ocean-conservation efforts—including hydrating masks that everyone used that morning to prep and my favorite Droplette skin-care device complete with collagen pods. The girls were each gifted a pair of my favorite silk pajamas from London-based designer Olivia von Halle. Velvet slippers from Birdies—the gents on my side had slippers waiting for them too!—in taupe were monogrammed for the bridal party. Each of the ladies in the wedding party received a Fashionkind favorite Zahava Heirlooms star token necklace in pavé diamonds, engraved with a personal message and paired with each ladies’ birthstone on a charm. My partner at Fashionkind, Nina Farran, surprised me with a 1960s calendar charm necklace with a diamond marking our wedding date. Photo: Norman and Blake
The gardens at the Philbrook Museum of Art. Photo: Norman and Blake
Three of our flower girls arriving in their Doloris Petunia Isabelle dresses, with their mother, Jessica of Kindred Leaders. Photo: Norman and Blake
Grant in the galleries before the ceremony, wearing bespoke Rich Fresh. Photo: Norman and Blake
Making sure everything is in the right place before heading to the ceremony. Here you can see my pink satin Monique Lhuillier heels, which matched my dress. Photo: Norman and Blake
The first time we visited the museum together was on the Centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, for an event hosted by Build in Tulsa. The flag was on display during the events honoring Tulsa’s history, and having met with Dr. Crutcher for the first time earlier that day, the immensity of Tulsa’s legacy made a profound impression on us. It was reinstalled at our request for the weekend so that each and every guest would be both reminded and inspired upon arriving at the wedding. Photo: Norman and Blake
We asked each of our parents to walk each other into the ceremony to honor the decades of marriages that each of our parents share, in hopes of following in their footsteps as we enter into our own marriage. Here, Dave and Paula Hughes make their entrance. Photo: Norman and Blake
My parents walking arm in arm. My father is wearing Ralph Lauren, and my mother is wearing Monique Lhuillier. My mother and I did all of our fittings together with Monique in Los Angeles. Groomsman Blake Lasuzzo can be seen behind my parents. Photo: Norman and Blake
Skye P. Marshall, Sahar Sanjar Dejban, Debra Messing, and Rory Uphold look on as Mandana Dayani, Jessica Lawmaster, and Lily Lasuzzo walk their daughters—six flower girls in all—down the aisle. We asked the women to walk with the girls to specifically honor mothers and their profound roles during the ceremony. Photo: Norman and Blake
Laurie Gerber, who officiated the vows portion of the ceremony, and Kenny Laubbacher look on as I read my vows to Grant. Unbeknownst to us, we both ended our vows with the same line. This brought the house down! Photo: Norman and Blake
Grant made me laugh during his vows. Photo: Norman and Blake
This moment! The love was almost overwhelming. I’ve never felt anything so magical. We were beaming. Our friends were beaming. If I could bottle that feeling! Photo: Norman and Blake
A moment with our sweet, sweet flower girls before they headed home to bed. Photo: Norman and Blake
Best. Day. Ever. We snuck off to take a few moments to ourselves after the ceremony. Everyone says it goes by so fast, but my goodness, it really does! Photo: Norman and Blake
In the tent, tables were decorated with florals in terra-cotta pots hand-thrown by Adam of Bows and Arrows. They were paired with peach candles in ceramic holders as well as in glass hurricanes. The bistro chairs were selected as a nod to my great-grandfather. Photo: Norman and Blake
Everyone gathered round for the first dance, which was sung by our friend Jack Garratt. He did a rendition of “Sunday Kind of Love,” a nod to our love of the Sunday New York Times. Photo: Norman and Blake
Immediately after our first dance ended, the bridesmaids quickly bustled my dress while the band called everyone to the dance floor. As it got crowded, they launched into “Witchoo” by Durand Jones & The Indications. The entire tent was bouncing! Photo: Norman and Blake
The bride’s best friends Bethany Joy Lenz and Hilarie Burton Morgan—of the trio’s Drama Queens podcast—laugh. Photo: Norman and Blake
“Indescribable,” Grant says. “Peak joy!” Photo: Norman and Blake
Originally published in Vogue.com
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