Andy Baraghani and Keith Pollock’s Classic New York Wedding Included More Than 15 Fantastical Desserts

In 2017, Andy Baraghani noticed a cute guy on his floor at Condé Nast. Andy, a food writer, knew that they didn’t work at his magazine, Bon Appétit, so he did some reconnaissance. His mystery man, he soon learned from coworkers, was Keith Pollock—the then digital director of Architectural Digest. “I not so subtly maneuvered my way for someone to introduce me to him,” Andy says. After a prolonged “flirty friendship,” says Keith, the two began to date.

Keith proposed to Andy in March 2023. “Whenever we discussed marriage, it was always acknowledged that a proposal would come from me, since he had initiated our relationship years prior. It was my turn,” Keith says. He kept his word—but when the time came for Keith to get down on one knee in their Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, he ended up nervously rushing through the big question. “The actual proposal was clumsy,” he says, laughing.

Just over a year later, the two married at the Gilded Age–era Park Avenue Armory on New York’s Upper East Side. The grooms planned their nuptials meticulously with Josh Hamlet and Sue Chan of Care of Chan. “Andy works in food, I work in design. Both of us are incredibly opinionated about everything. We’d spend hours looking for antiques for our altar, or gathering songs for our playlists. We’d lay in bed researching fonts for our invitation,” Keith, now the senior vice president of creative at West Elm, says of the process. “Our tastes are always aligned, so there was never a moment of disagreement. I may have had to sell him on having these red sculptural flower moments…but we got there,” he says. (One thing they immediately agreed on? A “black tie-ish” dress code, which would allow their many creative, fashionable friends to put their own spin on tuxedos or floor-length gowns.)

At first, they didn’t think they wanted a ceremony. Just a dinner and a big party. However, “a friend wisely suggested we do a ceremony so that the event would have what he called ‘an emotional anchor,’” Andy says.

Andy, who is Iranian, asked Keith if he’d like to incorporate a sofreh—a Persian wedding tradition that has the couple sit in front of a table adorned with symbolic items representing their union. “Design + food, I thought. It’s so us. . . candlesticks and vintage textiles and vessels filled with pastries, fruit, and ingredients. It’s such a sweet tradition, and many of the guests had never experienced a Persian wedding before. Myself included,” Keith says.