Hi! I’m Lia. This is How Cakewalk Came to Be
I didn’t start Cakewalk because I loved weddings.
I started it because my own wedding sort of got away from me.
The initial plan was something small, contained, fun, and relaxed... I don’t even remember the exact moment it tipped, but it just happened. One decision led to another larger, more expensive decision, and suddenly I was losing sleep over the length and color of tablecloths.
I thought often: What even is this? What am I doing? But I kept on doing it.
The day after the wedding, I sat on my couch with my new husband, completely exhausted and stunned. I felt this strange sense of disbelief at how much time, money, and emotional energy had been poured into so many things that didn’t actually matter. If I’m being honest, I didn’t even think it looked all that nice! I had fun though. The music was great. The bar was flowing… Anyway.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can also say this honestly: planning something that big, for that long, made it easier to ignore some important realities. The wedding slowly became about the wedding itself, not the marriage. I’ll let you deduce what I mean here.
So, cut to a few months later — COVID hit.
I watched friends who had similarly sized weddings planned suddenly pivot. Ceremonies got smaller. Guest lists shrank. Some people got married in parks, on stoops, in backyards, with just their closest people around. The photos were beautiful. The days looked calm. Intimate. Honest.
I felt a surprising mix of jealousy and clarity.
It made me realize that when you strip a wedding down to its best parts, what’s left is incredibly powerful. The ceremony. The commitment. The people you actually want there. The place you’re in. The feeling of the day.
That idea stayed with me.
Cakewalk was born out of a desire to do weddings differently. To prioritize simplicity without sacrificing beauty. To be honest about pricing. To create space for meaning, intimacy, and presence. And to take care of the logistics that quietly cause the most stress, so couples don’t have to carry that weight themselves.
At its core, Cakewalk is about stripping things back to what matters, and then doing those things exceptionally well.
Today, Cakewalk focuses on ceremony-only weddings in New York City. We work in publicly permittable spaces and thoughtfully chosen private venues. We handle the details people don’t realize are complicated until they’re already in it, especially timelines, location flow, and marriage license logistics. Our goal is to make the experience feel calm, intentional, and fully supported from the first conversation to the moment you walk away married.
I live in Brooklyn with my dog, Ruca. When I’m not planning weddings, I’m usually running around to different softball fields all over NYC, playing as often as my 37 year old body will allow. I unfortunately love the New York Mets, I have a Nintendo 64 I sometimes l play, I get the New York Times delivered every weekend and almost never read it, and I make Spotify playlists like my life depends on it. Because it kinda does.
Cakewalk is a reflection of how I want people to feel every day, but especially on their wedding day: present, cared for, and focused on the good parts. Because I really do believe life is way too short to waste time doing things that you’re not completely, 100% stoked about.
If that resonates with you, I’m glad you’re here.
