On Saturday, August 15, model and entrepreneur Jordyn Woods and New York Knicks center and NBA champion Karl-Anthony Towns married surrounded by family and friends at a private home overlooking the ocean in Malibu.
The couple first met nine years ago in Los Angeles, in 2017, where Karl was spending his off-season and where Jordyn grew up. “We connected over a game of Uno, and he thinks that he won,” Jordyn remembers. “We both have a very competitive nature. When we play games, we are not on the same team—we are in it to win.”
The two became close and were good friends for two years before they eventually started dating in 2020. “I lost my dad at 19,” Jordyn says. “And during COVID, his mom got sick and passed, and I was able to be there for him in a different way.”
After six years of dating, they got engaged on Christmas Eve 2025. “Ironically, he didn’t know that my parents got engaged on Christmas Eve, so it was a real full-circle moment,” Jordyn shares. “He was very private and didn’t tell anyone, but he asked me if my family was coming to town for Christmas.” He insisted that they come, so Jordyn’s older brother, sister, and mom, and Karl’s dad and sister, made the trip. (Her younger brother wanted to be there, but he is a police officer and couldn’t get time off from work.) “None of us had any clue,” Jordyn says. “But Karl kept asking if I’d had my hair done.”
“She always said, ‘If you ever do it, I better have my hair done,’” Karl says, laughing.
“I’m a very intuitive person, so my antenna was up,” Jordyn admits. “I wore a white dress that I had, and the proposal was very personal. I tend to be very shy, and he knew exactly what was perfect.”
Karl even designed the ring himself. “I originally wanted a totally different cut,” Jordyn notes. “But he went with an emerald-cut diamond. Now I can’t imagine having anything else.” The ring features a gradient of pink diamonds going down the band, and both of their deceased parents’ birthstones sit alongside theirs—one on each side. The inscription on the inside reads “I love you, my heart” in Spanish (Karl’s mother, Jacqueline Cruz, was Dominican) and is written in Karl’s handwriting. “The ring looks like a glacier on her finger,” Karl says of the approximately 15-carat De Beers diamond.
After they got engaged, Karl was very clear that he wanted to get married during the summer. “We didn’t want to wait too long,” Jordyn says, noting that due to the timing restrictions of Karl’s basketball season, they decided to dive right into planning and marry six months later. “I’m a Libra—if I wait two years, I’ll change things 45 times.”
They had been to plenty of destination weddings during their courtship, and as much as they were intrigued by the idea of getting married in the South of France or Rome, ultimately they knew they wanted to host their families and friends locally. “I grew up in California,” Jordyn says. “Malibu is a place that we love when we want to decompress and just enjoy and reflect. When my dad passed, I would drive the Pacific Coast Highway and look at the ocean. Malibu is also a destination for people coming from the East Coast. It doesn’t feel as destination-y, but it is just gorgeous.”
The wedding was held at a private estate situated on a cliff high above the ocean, and the couple worked with event planner Mindy Weiss to execute the entire weekend. “I’ve known her for about a decade,” Jordyn says. “Comfortability and working with someone who understands my vision were important to me. Also, when you have a six-month timeline, someone who makes it feel manageable. She never once stressed me out.”
After hiring Weiss, the next part of the planning process for Jordyn was finding her dress. She set up four appointments in New York, the first of which was with Danielle Frankel. “I just kept coming back to that first dress. I loved the fabrics. They were so luxe,” Jordyn says. “I worked with Danielle’s team on adding my own touches, things only I would know. We took a dress and made it me, and it’s different from any other design she’s done so far. From what she has told me, it inspired her next collection.”
Karl was similarly decisive when it came to his wardrobe. He knew from the start that he wanted to wear Ralph Lauren. “Ralph is always a part of my life,” he says. “It is the epitome of being attainable but high class. I was a big Macy’s credit-card person. [Growing up], Macy’s was our Rodeo Drive. It had it all, and Polo was everything. Ralph has always meant elevation and sophistication, while also feeling relatable. I knew that I was going to wear the brand, and now with the position that I’m in, there’s not a label that I align with more in my life—and it’s New York. Our designers are all New York–based designers. It’s where all of our dreams have come true.” The groom’s made-to-measure Purple Label double-breasted Italian wool dinner jacket had peak satin lapels, and he paired it with a white Sea Island cotton Aston pleated tuxedo shirt, black barathea tuxedo trousers, and a black silk bow tie.
On Tuesday, August 11, the couple secretly made things official by heading to the Santa Barbara courthouse for their civil ceremony. For this preliminary wedding-weekend event, Jordyn wore a white silk crepe tailored jacket with duchesse satin details and a matching pencil skirt by Thom Browne with patent leather wingtip pumps and channeled Bianca Jagger in a hat by New York–based milliner Gigi Burris. Karl wore classic Ralph Lauren for the occasion.
On Saturday, the morning of the wedding, Jordyn woke up before Karl. “I had to leave before him to get ready, so I showered while he was still in bed,” she remembers. “As I was walking out, I looked at him and said, ‘See you at the aisle.’ From that moment on, we stayed apart until the ceremony, which made seeing each other again feel even more special.”
The ceremony took place at a private residence on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific. After the flower girls walked down the aisle, lined with white roses and hydrangeas arranged by Celio Design, in their custom dresses by Maison Ava, the bride followed wearing her custom Danielle Frankel gown and carrying an all-white bouquet of cascading calla lilies wrapped in lace.
“I was already crying before I even started,” Jordyn recalls. “But once I reached the altar, everything else disappeared. All I could see was him. I wasn’t thinking about the dress, the flowers, the guests, or any of the details we had spent so much time planning. I was just looking at the person I was about to marry.”
During the service, Jordyn and Karl exchanged matching Sixteen Stone by Tiffany & Co. wedding bands. Afterward, the couple took a private moment to read vows they’d written. “I loved that we chose to keep that part just for us,” Jordyn says. “With so much of the day being shared with the people we love, having those few quiet moments together felt incredibly special.”
Once they’d recited their vows, the newlyweds took portraits and mingled with their families during cocktail hour. Jordyn’s dress was then bustled and they headed into the glass tent for dinner. The reception tent was draped in lace, organza, and satin fabric, and all of the tables were different shapes and draped in sage green satin cloth, except for the head table, which was covered in lace.
After guests made their way inside the tent, the celebration really got started, and Jordyn changed into her second Danielle Frankel dress: a custom layered Chantilly and elderflower lace strapless gown with an asymmetric pickup drape at the hip. The bride’s mother and the groom’s father both gave toasts, and there were four wedding cakes by Cory Pohlman Cakes, one being the focal point with a vintage cake topper.
Celebrities reportedly in attendance at Karl-Anthony Towns and Jordyn Woods’ wedding.
— Complex (@Complex) August 18, 2026
Kylie Jenner
Timothée Chalamet
Justin Bieber
Hailey Bieber
Michael B. Jordan
Teyana Taylor
Jada Pinkett Smith
Ben Stiller
Christine Taylor
Tracy Morgan
Gayle King
Jalen Brunson
Chris Paul
Nic… pic.twitter.com/WxlUMz23wQ
“The band was incredible, the food was amazing, and the energy completely shifted into a party,” Jordyn remembers. “It felt like everyone could finally exhale and just celebrate.” Jordyn and Karl wanted the evening to feel elevated and old school, and Weiss delivered with a 15-piece band followed by a DJ. “We wanted there to be real connection and for everyone to put their phones down,” Karl says. “We wanted that pre-phones 2000s vibe.”
“We didn’t want it to feel performative,” Jordyn adds. “This has been one of the best, most successful years of our lives—being in the NBA Finals was surreal. And everything [at the wedding] was beautiful, but what I remember most is the feeling in the room. There was so much love surrounding us, and you could genuinely feel how happy everyone was to be there witnessing that moment with us.”
The star-studded guest list included Timothée Chalamet, Kylie Jenner, Hailey and Justin Bieber, Gayle King, Jaden Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Ben Stiller, and Michael B. Jordan—plus, of course, a host of Karl’s Knicks teammates, including NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and his wife, Ali Marks. After dancing until the early morning, the newlyweds ended the night sitting outside among their friends eating In-N-Out burgers.
Vogue Magazine shared photos from Jordyn Woods and Karl-Anthony Towns' wedding reception! From the decor to the cake to the guests, everything looks top-tier!! pic.twitter.com/yZEIc2ZAqh
Now that the wedding weekend is over, the message Jordyn keeps receiving from family and friends who were there is that they left feeling inspired by the amount of love they felt in the room. “That means so much to me, because that was exactly what we wanted,” the bride says. “We were incredibly intentional about every detail, not just how everything looked, but how we wanted people to feel. It was authentic to us, it was filled with love, and I wouldn’t change that experience for the world.”
Original article appeared on Vogue
