Ronnie Fieg, the founder, president, and CEO of street-gear retailer Kith, was doing what most of us do these days before we close our eyes to go to sleep—scrolling through his Instagram feed. “I saw a photo that my cousin Yael posted in which she was standing with two girls, and one of them was stunning,” he remembers. “I hadn’t spoken to my cousin in a few months, but I texted her, saying, ‘Hey, who is the girl on the left in that picture you just posted?’ She texted me back superfast, saying, ‘How did I not think of this? She would be perfect for you!’” Yael ended up sending Ronnie her friend Shir Yaakov’s number immediately. “I didn’t hit her up because I’d never done something like that before,” Ronnie admits. “Two days later, Yael asked me if I had reached out, and I told her no. She told me that I should hit her up because she’s not the type of girl to ever give her number out, and the fact that she did says a lot. So I texted Shir, and we started talking a little bit.”
Ronnie was going to Miami in two weeks to look at a building for a new Kith store and invited Shir to lunch. They ate at Soho House and talked for hours. “We completely lost track of time . . . even during that very first conversation, it felt like nothing else mattered,” recalls Ronnie. “Nothing was more important than what was happening right in front of me. That’s how I knew this was different.”
Ronnie immediately knew Shir was the one and bought an engagement ring four months prior to proposing. “Waiting was the hardest part, but I wanted the moment to be absolutely perfect,” he says. “I ended up taking her to Florence to celebrate her 23rd birthday. She had no idea I was also planning to propose!”
For dinner on Shir’s birthday, Ronnie rented out a traditional trattoria restaurant with a winery perched on a cliff. “I started by giving her a bracelet as a birthday gift,” Ronnie remembers. “She was shocked, because for the past few week I had been telling her I was going to give her something homemade. Then I pulled out another small jewelry box and said that I’d gotten her matching earrings, as well. When she opened it and saw the ring, she started shaking. It was the happiest moment of my life until the day of my wedding.”
Choosing the venue was a process. First, Shir and Ronnie wanted to have a small wedding in Greece. Then they looked at places in California, as they wanted to make travel easy for friends. Finally, Ronnie’s mother asked if they could have the wedding in Israel, and everything clicked. “Shir and I are both Israeli-Americans and have extended family there,” Ronnie explains. “It was the perfect opportunity to show our friends our motherland and have them experience our culture.” They chose Kochav Hayam as the setting because it has a spectacular view of the sea and a big outdoor area.
The couple worked closely with their wedding planner, Vanessa Ohayon, to create an intimate and refined aesthetic. “Shir’s taste is very minimal and clean, so we used lots of white—from the flowers to the fixtures,” Ronnie says. “We wanted an elegant setting that still felt modern.”
In anticipation of the wedding, Ronnie approached longtime friend Tommy Hilfiger about creating a custom tuxedo. “Tommy didn’t just agree, but offered to work on my groomsmen’s tuxedos as well, which was very kind of him,” Ronnie says. “All of the tuxedos were bespoke and personalized, and the inspiration behind the fit was James Bond. Tailored, tapered, clean, but classic in every way.” The groomsmen wore peak lapels, while Ronnie sported a shawl collar. For the reception, Ronnie changed into a bespoke suit he worked on with his friends Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow of Public School.
For Ronnie, a veritable footwear connoisseur and one of the most influential people in sneakers right now, what his attendants were going to wear on their feet was never going to be an afterthought. Any old shoe just wouldn’t do. So he partnered with Nike to design sneakers for he and his groomsmen. “We worked on a low-top Blazer silhouette that we executed in premium materials and colored black to fit the occasion,” he explains. “We also made white Air Force 1 lows for the bridesmaids. We removed the medial swoosh from both the Blazers and the Air Force 1s and replaced it with our wedding logo. Each pair was personalized and came in special packaging. I am so grateful for my close friends and wanted to make sure I gave them something unique as a token of my appreciation.”
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The bride wore a lace and pearl dress handmade by Shlomit Azrad. “It felt very French and romantic with the lace, which I loved,” Shir says. “It was different, but perfect for me. Very elegant but sexy at the same time. It’s a dress I know I’ll be able to look back at in 20 years and be proud of.” For the reception, she changed into a mermaid-style gown by Dany Mizrahi.
Their ceremony was outside at Cohav Hayam on the edge of a cliff overlooking the beach. “To us, there are few things as beautiful as an Israeli sunset,” Ronnie says. “It was a very heartfelt and emotional moment. Hearing that beautiful music play as I watched my wife-to-be walk down the aisle is something I keep playing back in my head. It was perfection. Standing together with our families and seeing all the hard work come together in such a crescendo was otherworldly.”
After Shir and Ronnie had been pronounced husband and wife, the celebration commenced. “Our Israeli family loves to party, so there was a lot of dancing. I don’t think I sat down the entire time,” Ronnie says. “So much positive energy filled the room! Late night, all of the older family members left, and Sky Gellatly deejayed and played a hip-hop set. We served fried Oreos, Popsicles, and other snacks. There was a schnitzel station, and we even handed out flasks filled with Avión 44!”