A Poet Wore Three Outfits for Her Surprise Themed Wedding

Rachel Rabbit White radiates flirtatious style. Whenever the former sex worker and current poet has been profiled or interviewed, the journalist always makes note of White’s outfits: a blazing hot pink Juicy Couture sweatsuit or a baby blue slip dress accessorized with white fishnet leggings. She is pint sized, but her kittenish style packs a punch. (Most recently, she walked for designer Anna Bolina’s New York Fashion Week show in an itty-bitty tube dress.) Her bridal style was no different. This past month, she got married for the second time to her husband, Cherry author Nico Walker, in an impromptu ceremony masked as a poetry reading at the Lower East Side’s KGB bar. “The theme of the wedding was love is danger,” says White. “It’s feral passion and desire.”

The two met in December 2019, while Walker was living in a halfway house after serving an 11-year prison sentence in Mississippi for robbing 11 banks in four months. (He was released on probation after serving nine years.) The two started talking over email—Walker reached out to White about her writing—then FaceTime and eventually met in person in March 2020. On June 12, 2021, they eloped in Biloxi, Mississippi, partially because of COVID and because Walker is legally unable to leave the state except for work. This time, Walker was allowed to leave to go to New York City, where White chose to hold the ceremony among both friends and strangers who are fans of her writing.

The idea of a themed wedding came to White after she read a passage from Tommy Lee’s memoir, Tommyland, in which he interviews Pamela Anderson about their rotation of weddings. “They talk about how they threw themed weddings at parties just for fun, to get married over and over,” says White. “They did a space-themed wedding, a New Age wedding, a Christmas wedding.” White and Walker’s wedding had no formal guest list—her friends in attendance didn’t know it was happening, and neither did the people who were there for the poetry reading. A full house turned out to hear White recite her poems; some of her friends were turned away and had to text someone to get in. Her friends read a series of poems, and then White read her own poetry. Finally, her friend introduced Walker and White, recalling their story, and the wedding ceremony began. “I think people still maybe didn’t know what was going on!” says White.

White had three outfits that adhered to the Cupidcore dress code. Her first outfit was a pink Yuhan Wang dress, which she calls her “bait-and-switch dress.” She wore it for the reading then changed into a red vintage silk gown from the Williamsburg vintage hub Le Grand Strip for the ceremony. She was styled by the store’s eccentric and beloved French owner, CC McGurr. “When I turned around, I was floored,” says White about her reaction to the dress. “The fit was perfect.” Walker wore a red tie with his Paul Smith suit. White’s shoes of choice were hulking Giuseppe Zanotti heels. “The heel itself is as tall as the iPhone!” she says. As for the after-party, she chose an Hervé Leger bandage dress. “I’m happy I didn’t get rid of mine!” she says. During the reception, White danced in a floor routine to Nina Sky’s remix of “You” by Creep. “Everyone was so wasted, I don’t think anyone has a video of that,” she says. Finally, the two cut into two cakes, a remake of John and Jackie Kennedy’s wedding cake that read “double suicide or it wasn’t love” in frosting. An unorthodox wedding indeed, but White did keep one tradition: She matched her dress to her waist-length veil.