Paulina Porizkova and television writer Jeff Greenstein have married in an intimate Italian wedding that placed their families at the center of the celebration.
The couple exchanged vows on July 3 at Villa Bossi, the lakeside town hall in Orta San Giulio, before 78 guests. Porizkova’s brother Kym and Greenstein’s sister Jill helped write the vows and served as the couple’s officiants alongside the official conducting the legal ceremony.
Porizkova’s sons, Jonathan and Oliver Ocasek, and her stepson Eron Ocasek provided the processional music. Oliver played violin while Jonathan and Eron accompanied him on guitar for Bedřich Smetana’s “The Moldau.”
The bride wore a custom silver House of Gilles gown designed to move “like water,” while the reception continued at Villa Crespi, a 19th-century hotel Porizkova first visited during a modeling assignment three decades earlier.
The Ceremony Became a Family Production
Porizkova, 61, and Greenstein planned the celebration themselves, choosing July 3 because it fell exactly three and a half years after their first date in New York. Getting legally married in Italy required months of paperwork, but the couple told Vogue that they wanted to leave the ceremony officially married rather than hold a symbolic event abroad.
The bride encountered one last complication when she arrived at the town hall without her bouquet. Two friends began pulling flowers from the garden and assembling a replacement while the city official overseeing the civil ceremony allowed them to continue.
Jonathan, Oliver and Eron then performed “The Moldau” as the wedding party entered. Greenstein’s sister Jill and Porizkova’s brother Kym had exchanged drafts of the vows while living in different states and presented the final version during the ceremony.
“For me, family is my sense of safety, so having family walk us through the vows was profound,” Porizkova told Vogue. Greenstein ended the ceremony by stomping on a glass, and the newlyweds exited to the Raspberries’ “Go All the Way.”
Porizkova Wanted a Dress That Moved Like Water
Porizkova worked with Gilles Mendel and Chloe Mendel Corgan of House of Gilles on a custom pleated gown with a plunging neckline, fitted waist and layers of gauzy fabric. She ruled out a traditional white dress after wearing numerous bridal gowns during her modeling career.
“I wanted the color to be sort of a not color,” she told Vogue. “Something ineffable and elusive.” Her references included Lauren Hutton’s Halston dress from the 1975 Academy Awards, Grace Kelly’s blue gown in To Catch a Thief and the architecture of Villa Crespi.
The House of Gilles team also created a coordinating veil and fabric flower for her hair. Porizkova wore small teardrop earrings that Jonathan and Oliver gave her for her 60th birthday.
She designed the couple’s wedding bands herself, and Peter Norman Jewelers in Los Angeles made the finished rings. Greenstein wore a bespoke blue wool suit created for his 6-foot-7 frame, along with black Church’s oxfords, suspenders and a 1946 Rolex Oyster Perpetual.
The Celebration Continued at Villa Crespi
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After the ceremony, the guests walked through Orta San Giulio to Villa Crespi while “Go All the Way” played from a portable speaker. Porizkova had discovered the Moorish Revival hotel during a photo shoot about 30 years earlier and returned there with Greenstein in 2024.
The reception tables were named after Italian film directors, with an additional table honoring Czech filmmaker Miloš Forman. Chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo prepared a menu that included linguine with baby squid and soused trout. Porizkova and Greenstein performed their first dance to “Moon River,” a song connected to the flowers he sent after their first date. They had begun practicing the waltz together in New York before deciding to include it in the wedding.
Greenstein’s son Henry was scheduled to give the only formal speech, but the groom’s brothers, Porizkova’s sons and her mother also delivered toasts. The reception later included a Jewish hora and a Czech tradition in which Porizkova was taken to a nearby bar and Greenstein had to pay a small “ransom” to bring her back. The couple’s cake was topped with figurines previously used at Greenstein’s parents’ wedding 63 years earlier.
Their Romance Started With a Raya Match
Porizkova and Greenstein connected on Raya in January 2023. Because she lived in New York and he was based in Los Angeles, they began with text messages and increasingly long FaceTime conversations before she asked when he planned to visit her.
Greenstein traveled to New York exactly one month after they matched, and the pair met for drinks at the Hotel Chelsea. He later relocated to Manhattan, and they launched the relationship podcast 20 Good Summers.
Greenstein proposed in July 2025 while Porizkova was filming in the Czech Republic. The proposal nearly went wrong when the antique Art Deco ring appeared to be missing from a music box, but they later found it inside his bag in the car.
After the wedding, the couple planned to travel through the Greek Islands and other parts of Europe before returning to search for a new Manhattan home. “We have no return ticket yet,” Porizkova told People. “We’re just going to hop around until we’re tired.”