Nina Kempner and Chris Huston first met in Los Angeles in May of 2021. Chris has just relocated to LA from New York City and moved in with his best friend from high school and college, who Nina had become friends with, and the two were introduced at a party. “I thought Chris was so cute and wanted to know more about him,” Nina remembers.
“Shortly thereafter, I hosted a dinner party for 10 people at my apartment in West Hollywood, where I invited the two of them.” That night, Chris knew immediately that Nina was the one. “He said he loved seeing me in my element as the ‘consummate host,’” Nina, who is a restaurant and hospitality publicist, explains. “I love to entertain. It’s one of the things that makes me the happiest.” After that night, Chris asked Nina out on their first date to Marvin, one of her favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, and the two have been together ever since.
In September of 2023, the couple took a trip to Italy that included stops in Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Lake Como, and Milan. One of the stops they were most excited about was the hotel Borgo Santo Pietro in Tuscany. Their suite was called Il Vecchio Forno, and incorporated an 800-year-old bread oven, which felt apropos given Nina’s love of all things foodie.
On their first evening, Chris invited her out onto the suite’s balcony for a “drink before dinner,” and proposed right then and there, overlooking the vineyard and rolling hills. “It was just the two of us—so intimate and special—it was truly perfect!” Nina says. Afterwards, Chris had planned a private candlelit dinner at the hotel’s Michelin-star restaurant, Saporium.
A little over a year later, on October 19, 2024, Nina and Chris got married at The Grill and The Pool in New York City. “I’m extremely indecisive, and it took me a while to decide on a location. I threw around ideas such as Mexico, Nassau, Southampton, and the Cotswolds, but ultimately, Chris and I decided none of those places were truly us,” Nina says. “One night as we were cooking dinner, we threw out the idea of New York City, and we both immediately fell in love with it. We have such special ties and fond memories of the city having both grown up on the East Coast.”