Billy Corgan and Chloe Mendel at their wedding in Highland Park, Michigan on Sept. 16.Photo:Danielle Simone & Co.
Danielle Simone & Co.
Billy Corganand his longtime love, designerChloe Mendeltied the knot over the weekend in a stunning ceremony at their 1929 waterfront estate in Highland Park, Illinois.
When planning their 100-guest nuptials, the Smashing Pumpkins frontman, 56, andMendel, knew that they wanted their ceremony to be intimate.
“Our home is a beautiful, private place,” says Mendel, 31, who is the daughter of famed celebrity designerGilles Mendeland Jenny Mui.
Billy Corgan and Chloe Mendel at their wedding in Highland Park, Michigan on Sept. 16.Danielle Simone & Co.
“It’s like a secret garden. We have English rose gardens, organic vegetable gardens, and native wild grasses all around. So it’s really just a magical place to have a wedding. It just felt really appropriate because we’ve been together for over a decade, so we just wanted to be at home and celebrate our family. It was very personal.”
“He did my dress,” Mendel says of her father. “He’s an incredible designer, and just launched a couture brand calledHouse of Gilles.He made me two dresses — the wedding gown was pleated and very ethereal, very light. It used over 60 yards of lace from France from Solstiss, which is the finest lace mill in the world. It was a wonderful dreamy gown, very much in tune with nature and almost like an homage to a Greek Goddess. And the after party dress was a very different style — it was a crepe dress with lace appliqués all around it. It was much more modern and chic and really fun.” The bride also wore jewelry fromCathy Watermanjewels. Corgan also wore House of Gilles.
Billy Corgan and Chloe Mendel at their wedding in Highland Park, Michigan on Sept. 16.Masato Onada
Masato Onada
The group was then led through wild prairie grasses to a seated dinner inside a tent. “It felt a bit like a 1930s intimate dinner,” says Mendel, noting that she and Corgan prefer to live in the tradition of their 1930s home. “All of our plates, kitchen cups, forks are vintage from that time period,” she says, laughing. “We like to live in our own old Hollywood fantasy.”
Billy Corgan at his wedding to Chloe Mendel in Highland Park, Michigan on Sept. 16.Danielle Simone & Co.
For dessert, Chicago’s popular restaurantKasamaprovided a dessert table. “They’re the new craze of Chicago right now since they were featured onThe Bear,” says Mendel. “I also had a beautiful, woman-owned bakery calledPetal and Moon Pastryprovide the wedding cake, which was incredible. She used Illinois-grown grains, and added foraged wildflowers all around it.”
After the dinner the guests danced late into the night, and Mendel even had a temporary casino brought in for the occasion. As for their famous guests, Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha was in attendance, but Mendel, who is one of seven siblings, says the rest of the guest list was low-key, and they kept the event small for a reason.
“It was really focused on family intimacy and the people closest to us,” she says. “We do shows for a living, we are out in the public eye all the time. So it was like, we don’t need to put on a show. This is just our moment. We didn’t feel the need to invite all of our rockstar friends.”
Mendel and Corgan firstgot engagedlast September during Mendel’s 30th birthday. On Instagram, she shared a sweet Instagram video of the couple and their two children blowing out the candles on her cake, and concluded her caption with news of the engagement.
“The day finished with a wedding proposal,” she wrote. “Of course I said yes. ❤️”
Corgan and Mendel have been dating since 2012, and they also co-ownMadame ZuZu’s, a tea shop, vegan restaurant and performance space in Highland Park, Illinois. They day after the wedding, Corgan played a set at Siamese Dream.
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As for a honeymoon, Mendel says they might do something in the new year. “Billy’s recording a new album, and I’ll be in London for October so it’s crazy times. But we’ve had a couple ideas of what to do. Billy’s always wanted to go on a riverboat down the Nile!”
source: people.com
