Adam Baidawi and Alex Marxsen’s New York Wedding Was a Love Letter to Their New Home City

Adam Baidawi and Alex Marxsen’s love story spans well over a decade and unfolded across four continents. Adam, the global editorial director of GQ, first met Alex, who works in global marketing for Lululemon, in their hometown of Melbourne, Australia, in 2014. “I was 21, and Adam was a few years older,” Alex remembers. “We were both still living with our parents in the suburbs, and I think I’d been abroad twice… and yet somehow, the relationship became more international than we ever could have imagined.”

Two months after they met through mutual friends as they began falling in love, Alex left Melbourne for a long-planned study abroad exchange program. “I thought I’d made the biggest mistake leaving Adam and this new relationship,” she adds. “I was beside myself for weeks but quietly hopeful we’d find our way back to each other. Adam was attempting to play the cool and indifferent older guy, but eventually cracked and flew over to meet me in the States after I wrapped my exchange program. We then took a wild trip from Madrid to Marrakech to Los Angeles, and have been together ever since.”

The couple spent the next few years of their life criss-crossing the globe. First, they moved to Dubai, where Adam launched GQ Middle East in 2018 with a groundbreaking cover starring the Egyptian-American actor Rami Malek promoting his Oscar-winning performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, and Alex worked as a marketing manager for one of the Gulf region’s largest sports retailers. In 2021, Adam relocated to London to take up a new role as ​​deputy global editorial director of GQ and head of editorial content at British GQ.

Then, in 2024, Adam decided it was finally time to pop the question. “He’d privately agonised over increasingly theatrical ways to propose—in London, in Australia, wherever,” Alex remembers. “Then, while on our usual summer holiday in Greece, we found ourselves at a low-key taverna perched on a quiet beach overlooking some distant islands. Adam later told me that he was overcome by the beauty of the scene.” Adam ordered Alex a Mythos beer, said he'd be right back—and unbeknownst to her, drove to the hotel, got the ring, drove back to the beach, and proposed on the spot, right as the sun was beginning to set. “The owner of the taverna kept the ouzo and beer flowing all night,” Alex says. “We'd been together for like a decade at that point, so you'd think I wouldn't have been surprised, but I totally was. It was so special.”

In February 2026, their lives were upended again when Adam was announced as GQ’s global editorial director, necessitating a move to New York. “The loose outline we had of a 2027 wedding by an Italian lake faded away quickly once we learned that we'd have to marry before moving to New York,” Alex says. Somehow, in between packing up their lives, adjusting to Adam’s new role, and moving across the world, they found the time to get married… and fast. “We ruled out London and Australia owing to timing and learned that New York was one of the cities where you can legally get married in like, 24 hours,” the bride continues. “It suddenly made a world of sense to start our new lives in the city this way. We loved that we’d have no choice but to make quick decisions, radically simplify, and embrace the chaos.”

Bookings for weddings at New York City Hall open three weeks before the date, and Fridays are especially in demand. Alex didn’t let that deter her, logging on on a Friday morning and refreshing the page incessantly until a slot opened up. “In a matter of seconds I'd secured the date, marking the beginning of our three-week countdown to find everything—the photographer, the dress, the shoes, the rings…” she says. The bride describes the following weeks as “a blur,” frantically pulling everything together over WhatsApp and late-night emails and regularly finding herself touched by how willing their friends were to help bring their wedding day to life. (Both Adam and Alex cite Baz Baker, Adam's executive assistant, as a key player: “Nobody was more heroic or more crucial in this process,” the couple says.)

As for the fashion? “We wanted to nod to this transatlantic moment in our lives by wearing British and American designers,” Alex says. “I embraced America while Adam wore head-to-toe British.” Adam had fallen in love with classic British tailoring while living in London, and turned to Dunhill for his classic tuxedo, paired with Cartier cufflinks. (“Since we were getting married in the afternoon—and, I'm told, a tuxedo is strictly meant to be an evening suit—he asked Dunhill's creative director, Simon Holloway, for his blessing to wear it during the day,” says Alex. “He happily obliged.”)

The bride, meanwhile, turned to Danielle Frankel for her last-minute wedding look, gravitating towards the designer’s Mimi dress, which she accessorized with Manolo Blahnik Maysale bridal kitten mules and Cartier Trinity earrings. “I thought it would be impossible to get an appointment at Danielle’s atelier in time for the wedding,” Alex says. “Thanks to Baz, I found myself running across New York’s garment district up to their atelier on the 42nd floor at a moment’s notice. I didn’t even try on any other dress—partly because I didn’t have time to deliberate—but also because I knew. The luminous silk drape across the decolletage, combined with the mini length, made for the perfect contrast. Plus, the scarf drape train added a little drama.” For their rings, the couple headed to Tiffany & Co. on New Bond Street in London on a quiet Saturday morning to select a pair of classic matching gold wedding bands.

The wedding day began on April 10 at one of the couple’s favorite hotels in the city, Nine Orchard, where they were joined by their best friends James Birch and Lauren Roffle. (While Alex and Lauren got ready with makeup artist Gianpaolo Ceciliato and hair stylist Korey Fitzpatrick, Adam and James headed to Russ & Daughters for a bagel—the first of many classic NYC institutions that would feature throughout the day.) They did their first looks in the hotel’s Swan Room—“maybe the most beautiful bar in the city,” Alex says—where they sipped martinis and posed for their photographer Peter Fisher and his assistant, Laura Bregman. “Peter and Laura made up half of our wedding party, so it also helped that they were extremely fun,” Alex laughs.

The group then walked from the Lower East Side to City Hall, stopping at some of their favorite spots along the way, including Scarr’s Pizza for classic New York slices and prosecco, and the Grand Street basketball courts for Adam to shoot a few hoops. “ It took a few warm-ups before anything went near the rim—he blames the tux,” Alex says. Eventually, they pulled up to City Hall where they queued for Adam to hand over his Amex for the $25 city clerk fee, before browsing the merch stand and chatting to other couples waiting their turn. “The anticipation in the room was electric,” Alex recalls. “As the last few numbers before ours were called out, it became real.” Before they knew it, they were ushered into the chapel for their two-minute time slot with their celebrant, Deborah. “There’s no time for vows. There’s no room for choreography,” Alex says. “In that way, it’s as pure as a marriage ceremony can be: all you can do is be incredibly in the moment, and try to comprehend everything that led to this point.”

The couple notes that the gravity of the moment caught them off guard. “For months, we felt sad at the prospect of doing this without our families, so we had, at times, been downplaying it,” says Alex. “Adam had even been calling it our ‘administrative marriage ceremony’ and not ‘the wedding.’ But lo and behold, the ceremony was more powerful than we ever could have expected—it was an incredible day. We were humbled by the experience.” They exchanged vows—and, of course, a kiss—then high-tailed it to the Upper East Side for post-ceremony martinis with James and Lauren to the sound of live jazz piano. Next, they headed to The Grill (“Adam loved that the room held some GQ history,” Alex notes) for oysters, steak, and pasta a la presse, as well as a surprise bottle of Champagne from Alex’s family in Australia.

Since the ceremony was brief, the couple took the opportunity to toast to each other at the dinner. “Each of us raised a glass and spoke,” Alex recalls. “The red wine brought out no shortage of courage, earnestness and candour.” (A framed photo of the newlyweds’ cat, courtesy of Lauren and James, also joined them at the table.)

Looking back on the day now, the couple describes themselves as feeling both surprised and humbled. “Being married has added even more layers of depth and connection to our relationship, something we didn’t even think could be possible after being together so long,” Alex says.