Jocelyne Katz and Alberto Chehebar met more than two decades ago at a dinner thrown by a mutual friend. The Chilean former model and the art collector began dating shortly after. But even as the years passed, they felt no desire to have a wedding.
“We never thought about getting married. We didn’t feel we needed it. Why change something that is working so well?” Jocelyne tells Vogue.
Everything began to change as they approached their 20th anniversary together. The couple wanted to mark the milestone in a meaningful way—and for a while, they thought maybe they’d do something with close friends and family. “Then after imagining for a while where and how we wanted it to be, we decided.
..why not make it official?” Jocelyne says.
“After 20 years together we both knew we wanted to be together forever.” They enlisted the help of planner Melissa Sullivan, of Studio Sully, to plan their long-in-the-making affair—and on a sunny January afternoon earlier this year, Jocelyne and Alberto finally married at their artist friend Brigitte D’Annibale’s home studio and site-specific installation in Malibu, California. The bride did her own makeup and wore a Gabriela Hearst dress for the occasion.
“At the beginning, I was totally against a white dress,” she says. “Never in my life had I dreamt about my wedding, so at my age, I wasn’t going to suddenly change this.” Jocelyne was converted just a week before the nuptials, when the couple happened to walk by the Uruguayan designer’s boutique on the corner of Rodeo Drive.
“Alberto saw an off-white long dress and asked me to try it on,” she says. “We both loved it.” She accessorized with pearl earrings and Hindu prayer bracelets, while Alberto opted for a three-piece pleated suit by Issey Miyake and Prada shoes.
On the big day, the couple walked out hand in hand with their grandchildren as a flutist played on. Their friend Joyce Braverman officiated their union. “It was a beautiful, simple, unique and spiritual ceremony,” says Jocelyne.
“Everyone could feel the love. Having my three children and their children there with us was the biggest gift of all.” Afterward, they held lunch in the garden with the Santa Monica Mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.
The couple had a lucuma meringue wedding cake (Jocelyne’s favorite from growing up in Chile) while chefs Oren Zroya and Jennifer Naylor made an elaborate dessert display for guests. Afternoon soon turned into evening—and the real party began. “When the stars showed up, we danced like no one was watching,” she says.
As they wanted to honor the spiritual side of their union, Jocelyne and Alberto decided to end their wedding with a cacao ceremony, an ancient sacred Mesoamerican ritual that promotes love, connection, and deeper healing. “We sat around the fire and meditated under the guidance of Zohar Chiprut, a magical girl from Mexico who is a great friend,” says Jocelyne. “Together we expressed gratitude for our lives and for the magical moments we all shared.
” Now that it is all over, Jocelyne says their wedding was more than worth the 20-year wait. “Break patterns, wear comfortable clothing, invite people you really love, have delicious food and music, be close to nature, and just be yourself,” she says. “You won’t regret it.
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