Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes married a month ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Celebrity sightings were reported that weekend and there was a bit of information about the venue, but aside from that details were kept airtight. At the time, I noted that Sophia would probably reveal what she wanted in her own time and she has: she was saving it for Vogue! The magazine published a feature about the couple’s wedding, explaining why they chose Tulsa and all the care that went into honoring the history of the city. And of course there were details about the venues, ceremony, fashion, and 98 photos.
Why they chose to marry in Tulsa: “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. 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.”
The dress: “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.
The ceremony: 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. 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.
The reception and second dress: 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. 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.
The afterparty and third dress: 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 a.m. “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!”
I love that they weren’t precious about the photos or details, which makes sense with their goal of highlighting the location. I thought they only got married in Tulsa because Grant is from there, but the way Sophia explained their full reasoning — that it was to highlight the city and community, its history, civil rights justice, activism — sounds wonderful. It seems that they thoughtfully incorporated those ideas throughout the wedding weekend, from the tours they arranged, to the activists and speakers in attendance, to their request to reinstall the art piece honoring the late Congressman John Lewis. And of the pictures they provided to Vogue, easily a third of them highlight Tulsa and its history and not the usual wedding stuff. That’s a serious flex. (Blake Lively could never with her antebellum BS).
I love the idea of Sophia’s dress and the sentiment behind it, but personally I don’t love the execution. I want to like it because I like her, but it reminds me of the duvet cover in mom’s guest room. I do like the overall color scheme, including with the bridal party (and that it was mixed-gender on both sides). And I really loved all Sophia’s other wedding weekend looks — the welcome dinner’s elevated cowboy glam, the sleek reception dress, and the sexy after-party dress. Happily, there were a few details about the food and cake: there were iced Oklahoma-shaped cookies and spicy pork belly at the welcome dinner; at the wedding there was a baby gem salad, Mediterranean lasagna, trout, and tenderloin; and the cake was carrot cake. The venue looked really lovely in the photos as well. Sophia and Grant seem really well-matched and this looked like an awesome wedding overall.
I wish her the best! I follow her on Instagram and she is so politically active, so outspoken and involved…I really respect and admire her.
Me too! She seems like a smart, thoughtful, kind person. I really wish her happiness!
I like the dress but not the print but she liked it she was gorgeous and it all that matter. Wishing them all the best.
I absolutely love her dress
Ditto! The silhouette looks like dresses from the Italian Renaissance and the floral design reminds me of Botticelli paintings! Absolutely gorgeous!
I love it, too! I want to see more floral wedding gowns.
I love all of this. No cookie cutter wedding dress and they really put so much thought into the details. Lovely!
His changing hair length is driving me crazy lmao! Was the pic with the wide rimmed hats taken earlier, cos otherwise I might have a meltdown
I can’t get my mind off of this now that you pointed it out.
I scrolled through that Vogue story earlier, and it really does seem like such a perfectly executed fantasy wedding, and I love that for her, and admire her for using people’s interest in perfect fantasy weddings to do a gorgeous Vogue spread where she could get people’s eyeballs on a racial justice narrative they otherwise might not seek out or be exposed to on their own. V. admirable use of her particular platform.
though I agree on the dress, unfortunately. I love the shape of it, and the concept behind the flowers, but it’s difficult for a floral print on white, flowy fabric to look like anything other than a bedsheet. A pretty, fancy bedsheet, but a bedsheet all the same.
What lovely photos. She had already done the traditional wedding with CMM, so I can see why she wanted to mix it up a bit. Gorgeous!
She looks lovely and the couple looks so happy, so congratulations to them.
That said, I don’t like any of the dresses.
Wow, she is gorgeous and her look is beautiful!
Showcasing Tulsa’s history, yet no real mention of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre? (Unless I missed it)
From the photos, it looks like the day before the wedding, guests and the wedding party did a walking tour to a number of locations that were significant in the massacre.
“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.“
It’s in the article.
It’s referred to a great deal in the article.
Thanks, I see it now. I read the article, but didn’t look at all photos and captions where it is mentioned so I did miss it. I realize they said “greenwood leaders” so that is why I felt like there was no real mention of the massacre. It is an event that I think many Americans are still unaware of, and I wish that vogue would have shared more about the history in the body of the article.
Read the Vogue spread. They spent the day exploring Black Wall Street and met with those that are spreading the word of the 1921 Tulsa massacre. It was very well executed and I am thrilled that they brought this history into their celebration. More people need to be aware of the history of Tulsa and they showcased it for an entire day. One outing was with a woman that is a descendant from the 1921 massacre, which I think was powerful in itself.
I am very happy for them!! Many they have many years of wedded bliss!!
Gorgeous, all of it!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that dress! It’s stunning. And I love when people think outside the box instead doing just a white wedding dress. I always said if I ever got married I would wear black. She looks beautiful. And I love that she used her platform and the inevitable attention her wedding would bring to showcase Tulsa and its history
My brain kept reading “Grant Hughes” as “Hugh Grant” and I was so confused.
I love how much thought they put into the location, and her dress is just stunning. Classic but still unique.
It sounds like a lovely wedding, and knowing a bit about her, I’m not surprised at all the components beyond just them getting married. She’s got a really good podcast called Work in Progress that’s all about activism, issues, etc.
While not a dress I’d choose myself, the idea behind it and the meaningful flowers is really beautiful, as is the finished product. She looks beautiful and happy.
What a beautiful and meaningful wedding ceremony. She just gets more beautiful with age and yes, Mr. and Mrs. Blake Antebellum Lively and her husband could learn a lesson. I know that he has apologized on their behalf but it still annoys me that they married on a plantation.
My first thought was, “Damn, Hugh Grant got weird looking.”
I like her dress.
I love the dress. It is one of the most beautiful and unique wedding gowns I have recently seen in the past few years. She looks beautiful in it.
She seems like a lovely person. All of that said, the wedding dress is beautiful, however, that hat/dress ensemble reeks of antebellum styling. I get that she put a lot of thought into the execution of this wedding and the informational tours are a nice touch. All the same, I’m side-eyeing the crap out of the last dress.
I used to work at the Hay-Adams hotel and Sophia was an absolute sweetheart when she stayed there for a congressional testimony she was giving last year, she’s such a kind and considerate person.
I love everything about this.
I’ve loved Sophia since One Tree Hill days so I’m really glad to see her so happy. I think this was such a thoughtful event and so well done. I love that she’s still friends with a number of her old cast mates as well. I don’t read into it when ppl don’t stay close after a series but it does warm the piece of my heart that loved a show when I see friendships carry on. The one thing I thought was a teeny bit funny were the number of “best friends” she indicated. Not slamming it at all, some ppl are very much like that and I admire them because I’m not good at building such long lasting relationships. I wish them all the best!