The Jaguars quarterback met his longtime love in high school.
Updated Sep 03, 2025An Exclusive Look Inside Jérôme Poirier and Elona Karafin's Parisian, Aviation-Inspired Wedding
The travel influencers exchanged vows at Shangri-La Paris in front of 75 guests.
As luxury travel content creators, Jérôme Poirier and Elona Karafin have explored every corner of the world together. So, when the time came to decide where they would get married, it only made sense to go back to the place where their story began: the City of Love. The couple's romance took flight in Paris, France in 2018. Poirier was living there while juggling his passion for photography alongside a full-time career, and Karafin was passing through during a solo trip to Mongolia. Wanting to explore the city and shoot content with a fellow creator, Karafin tapped her network for suggestions. A mutual friend recommended Poirier, and Karafin got in touch.
A few months after their Parisian adventure, Poirier moved to Karafin's home base, New York City, and they landed in the same circle of photographers. They struck up a fast friendship and their travels took them to over two dozen countries together, including Afghanistan, where they helped build a school and a library. "Five years later, while we were in Uzbekistan, something shifted," Karafin tells The Knot in an exclusive interview. "One day on a long drive, I was napping with my head on his lap, and when I woke up, he was covering my face with his hands so the sun wouldn't bother me. It was such a small thing, but that's when I started to realize how much he cared."
Karafin began giving him subtle signs that she felt something more, and before long, he reciprocated. "I wasn't sure if he'd ever make a move, and I figured he probably wouldn't want to risk our friendship—but a couple of days later, he kissed me," she recalls. "When we got back to New York, we never left each other's side. I moved in a few days later, and that was that. We never even had a formal dating conversation. It just happened naturally."
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Poirier proposed on top of a glacier (literally) during an excursion at White Desert, one of the world's most remote luxury campsites in Antarctica. "We actually think it might be the only proposal that's ever happened there," Karafin says. They pulled the trip together in a matter of days, and Poirier FaceTimed his girlfriend's parents for permission while she hunted for extreme weather gear.
After carrying the ring with him for days, Poirier finally dropped to one knee at the glacier's summit following a two-hour hike. He proposed with an emerald-cut diamond engagement ring set on a pavé band with a hidden halo and diamond bridge. "He said, 'You know that male penguins bring little stones to their mate as a sign of building a home together. Well, when in Rome, do as Romans do. It's my turn to give you a stone,'" Karafin says. "That's when it clicked. I had no idea it was coming. I was so shocked that the only thing I could say was, 'You're joking!' I don't even remember if I ever actually said yes."
Alas, she did accept the proposal, and the couple began planning their destination wedding at Shangri-La Paris. "I remember visiting years ago and snapping a quick photo of the Grand Salon, completely awestruck by its beauty," Karafin says. "I never imagined I'd one day be standing there saying my vows."
The first, and most essential, wedding task they completed—which Karafin encourages to other to-be-weds—was hiring a planner. "It was the best investment we made," she says of working with the team at Dream Paris Wedding. "If you have the budget for it, get a wedding planner. The last thing you want on your wedding day is to be a point of contact for vendors or even guests. Your time and energy on this one big day is something you can never get back. A good planner will make you feel like you're a guest at your own wedding. All you have to do is show up and have a good time."
A good time was certainly had by all. With their wedding set to take place on September 12, 2025, festivities began a day prior with a welcome brunch at Château Bouffémont, a castle forty-five minutes outside of Paris. A food truck offered brunch staples like crêpes, caviar and champagne.
Karafin wore a floral ball gown by OKSANA MUKHA, a Ukrainian designer whose creations have been worn by the presidential families of Ukraine, France and the Imperial House of Tokyo—a thoughtful nod to both her and Poirier's heritages. "I wanted something majestic yet ethereal, a bit bold but still romantic," she says. "It had detachable puffy sleeves that gave me a completely new look midway through the day." The groom opted for a custom beige suit, which complemented the venue's bright exterior. He accessorized with a champagne-colored tie and cufflinks engraved with the latitude and longitude points of where the couple got engaged in Antarctica.
Live jazz music set the scene for the wedding kickoff, which also included a traditional nod to the bride's Ukrainian background. "My parents brought out a Korovai, a wedding bread symbolizing unity and prosperity, placed on a hand-embroidered Rushnyk cloth," Karafin says. "Jérôme and I broke off pieces of bread to feed each other, marking our first act of partnership, and then stepped together onto the Rushnyk to symbolize the road ahead." Ukrainian folklore indicates that whoever steps on the cloth first becomes the "leader" in the household, which Karafin says inspired "a little playful competition." The event ended with a surprise display of purple fireworks that lit up the daytime sky.
That night, the bride soaked in her view of the Eiffel Tower from her room at Shangri-La Paris. "I've been to Paris more times than I can count and traveled through more than half the world, but those sparkles still get me every single time," she says.
Opting to forgo having bridesmaids and groomsmen, the couple invited their closest friends and family to join them while getting ready on the wedding morning. Karafin donned a sparkling long-sleeve ball gown by another Ukrainian designer, Anna Sposa, which had actually been on her wedding vision board before she even met Poirier. "I pinned this photo of a breathtaking gown with a long train," Karafin remembers. "The model was standing on marble stairs surrounded by columns in a space that looked so much like Shangri-La. There was no designer name, just an image that stuck with me."
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After conducting a reverse image search, Karafin traced the dress to Liza Ray Bridal in New York and began the four-month creation process. The 22-pound design featured a bodysuit that allowed the bride to completely transform the look during the wedding day: "I wanted a real wow moment, and that dress absolutely delivered."
The couple shared a first look in the Grand Salon of the historic hotel. While its natural beauty is undisputed, the couple's vendors brought their "aviation-chic" theme to life with thoughtful decor. "We designed a fresh spring garden in soft shades of white, pink and lavender, featuring hydrangeas, roses, delphiniums and lisianthus as the main flowers," says the team at Dream Paris Wedding. (Editor's note: If you love the couple's wedding aesthetic, tap the heart icon on their photos to save them to "Your Favorites" in your account on The Knot and create a mood board inspired by theirs.)
Every moment of the day was intentionally and thoughtfully personalized, beginning with their entrances: Poirier, a huge football fan, walked down the aisle to the Champions League anthem, as the song "makes his heart skip a beat," per Karafin. The bride was escorted by both of her parents; the trio walked out to a recording of her late uncle, Yevgeniy, playing Sonata no. 39 by Joseph Haydn. "I had to have him with me on my wedding day," she says. "I listened to hours of his concerts to find the piece that I deeply connected with."
The couple's close friend, fellow content creator Jorden Tually, officiated the ceremony and delivered a meaningful message tailored to the couple's love story. "Jorden is someone that knows us well, and he has this incredible energy and charisma that made him a perfect fit." Unsurprisingly, their personalized vows featured a nod to their shared sense of wanderlust. "We both wove in our love for travel and our promise to stay on a lifelong honeymoon," Karafin explains.
Following the ceremony, the newlyweds treated their guests to an after-party unlike any other. "Cocktail hour took place aboard 'Jelona Airlines,' a concept we dreamed up with RêvARTe Entertainment," Karafin says. "Ballerinas dressed as cabin crew guided guests through the celebration, while the staff wore 'Jelona Air' tags and cabin-crew accessories. We even had a custom airline trolley serving champagne, and dancers performed with paper airplanes printed with snippets of our old text messages."
Guests dined on black caviar and wagyu bites while sipping bubbles from bottles of Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 1993, which the groom's parents saved from the year they were both born. As self-proclaimed foodies, the menu was just as important as the vibe. Karafin says they wanted dinner to feel like "an upscale lounge party that evolved into a club." In Ukrainian culture, she adds, "Guests don't spend a lot of time sitting at the tables. We dance, eat, drink, repeat."
Standout dishes provided by Shangri-La's culinary team included flambeed yellowtail sashimi, pan-seared Norman rib-eye steak and tuna tataki.
As the sun began to sink into the Parisian skyline, the couple snuck outside to slice into their hazelnut praline cake in front of the Eiffel Tower.
While Inness Illustrations created custom portraits of guests for favors, Karafin slipped into a second dress, her third Ukrainian-designed look of the weekend: a fitted, off-the-shoulder Luce Sposa gown with a lace skirt that she paired with sheer gloves.
For their first dance, there was perhaps no song more fitting than Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," which the couple says honored their love for traveling the world and the gratitude they feel to have explored so many unique places together.
Throughout the rest of the night, their DJ, Loïc Jandia, curated a selection of afrobeats, hip hop, R&B and top hits from Japan, the Middle East and Ukraine.
Looking back, the newlyweds say their intention for the weekend wasn't just about having their dream wedding, but rather giving their guests a taste of one of their favorite cities in the world. "People kept telling us, 'The wedding is all about you, do whatever you want,'" Karafin reflects. "While that's true to an extent, for us it was equally about our guests. Every detail, from the custom luggage tags and personalized menus to the sketch artist creating drawings for each person was meant to make them feel appreciated and to give them a memory to take home. We wanted everyone to have a truly memorable time in Paris, so that whenever they return or think back to that weekend, they'll say, 'Wow, that was an incredible experience.'"
Jérôme Poirier and Elona Karafin's Wedding Vendors
Photographer: Aude Lucas; Videographer: Tommy Vision, Terry Liu; Wedding Planner: Dream Paris Wedding; Wedding Venue: Shangri-La Paris; Welcome Party Venue: Chateau Bouffemont; Florals: Hibiscus Events; Wedding Dress: Liza Ray Bridal; Reception Dress: Luce Sposa; Welcome Party Dress: OKSANA MUKHA; Jewelry: Natkina; Hair: Christina Oliva Cinque; Engagement Ring: Fergus James Diamonds; Wedding Rings: Under the Crown Jewelry; Invitations: Bliss & Bone; Catering & Desserts: Shangri-La Paris; Officiant: Jorden Tually; Master of Ceremonies: Naïm Terrache; Violinist: Santiago Falcon; DJ & Sound System: Loïc Jandia; Cabin Crew Performance: RêvARTe Entertainment; Fireworks: Blackstone Agency; Brunch Catering: À La Tête Du Client; Live Illustrator: Inness Illustrations; Transportation: Blifted France
