Julia Eshaghpour and Kevin Hollidge first met as sophomores: Kevin had transferred to Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Julia was helping run orientation. “I have a memory of us both standing in Kevin’s doorway on that first day and talking endlessly,” remembers Julia of their 2014 meet-cute. “We had a lot of shared interests and curiosity about each other’s lives. It was an immediate connection, and things moved quickly.” Over the years, their relationship grew—and so did their creative collaborations. In 2021, the pair founded decorative arts studio Sunfish, where they work on made-to-order furniture, custom commissions, exhibitions, and spatial projects.
While Kevin says “it was always obvious she was the one,” he waited until January 2025 to begin looking for a ring. “After hours and hours of research and looking, I finally found a perfect vintage art-deco ring from Jack Weir in Beverly Hills, but unfortunately it was taken offline when I went to buy it,” he says. That May, he clicked on the link again, saw the ring was back on the site, and bought it right away. The following month, he took Julia on a date to The View in Times Square and The Grill. “Julia and I together have a fondness for Midtown, skyscrapers, and Times Square,” says Kevin. “It’s touristy, but it’s also perfect in its own way. I had initially imagined I would propose right in Times Square during the walk to The Grill, but when we got outside I got cold feet as it was way too busy.”
However, when he noticed the street in front of Radio City Music Hall was closed to car traffic, Kevin took the opportunity to propose in the middle of the street. “We had a really nice moment, and then bystanders proceeded to clap for us,” he remembers. “Then we had a celebration meal at The Grill, where the staff was really generous and celebratory with us. It was a perfect night.”
On May 30, 2026, the couple would head to another iconic Midtown destination—the Russian Tea Room—to tie the knot. “Since Kevin and I are designers, thoughtful interiors and architecture are important to us, and we’ve always felt that they have the power to influence mood and tell a story. So finding the right setting for our wedding held special significance to us,” says Julia. “When we first entered the Russian Tea Room, it just dazzled us. I remember seeing Kevin’s electrified eyes and open smile and knew this would be the setting of our union.”
The designers hired planner Layne Kula of Penny Layne in November to help with crafting their wedding on a shorter-than-normal timeline. “We endured some outside voices of concern about our unconventional wedding venue choice. (Is it too visually loud for a wedding? Is it ok to move between floors? How will it be to have long tables instead of rounds?) Layne encouraged us and approached the challenge with enthusiasm, copious amounts of energy, vision, and drive,” says the bride. They also worked together to thoughtfully blend Jewish and Persian traditions. “Could we maintain the Jewish tradition of waiting until sunset, the end of Shabbat, to get married while serving shrimp at the cocktail hour? Could I, the bride, make an appearance and actually attend the cocktail hour before the ceremony? In Persian tradition, that would be a no,” says Julia. “We broke a lot of rules.”
