Over their 17 years together, writer Barnaby Harris proposed to designer Suzie Kondi on three separate occasions. The first proposal (and a Tiffany Schlumberger diamond band) came shortly after Suzie gave birth to their daughter Stevie, who is now 14 years old. The second came along years later with a more traditional diamond engagement ring. “This is the interesting thing—I’m constantly saying yes,” Kondi says. Despite years of repeated engagements, the pair continued on with their lives together as a couple raising their daughter, who would occasionally ask them why they hadn’t tied the knot yet. “Then, we finally did it,” says Suzie.

Barnaby proposed for the final time while the family was out to dinner on a trip to Paris. “He was acting sort of fidgety and strange. I was a little concerned,” says the designer. He then pulled out a vintage watch and ring that belonged to his mother, along with another wedding band. “He said, ‘I know this is the third time, but let’s do this,’” recalls Suzie. “Our teen daughter, who is very witty, said, ‘Does this mean you’re going to get married or is this just another proposal?’ We were fueled by that and thought: This is it.”

The Brooklyn-based couple, who were both married previously, decided to not having a grand wedding. Instead, they opted for a New York City courthouse ceremony, followed by brunch with a small group of friends. “We always said if we’re going to do it, let’s just do something small and really, really simple,” shares Kondi. “My parents got married in a city-hall-type situation in Australia and they were married for 47 years. We have a home together. We have a child together. We have all this together. So it was like, when are we going to do it and how are we going to do it?”

The date was set for February 26, 2025, with a brunch reservation afterwards at Balthazar. “It’s a New York institution and we do go there a lot,” says Suzie of the restaurant. “It’s so central and beautiful as well. It couldn’t have been lovelier and easier for our friends.” Suzie also notes that given how often she travels to France for work, she loved the brasserie’s classic French feel: “I’m trying to somehow think of myself as a French person—which I’m not at all—but there were all these elements that felt right.”