Their Friend Rigged the Gala Seating Chart. It Worked.
Malu Byrne and Andrew Kuo were set up by a mutual friend. Two years later, her father and their officiant, David Byrne, called their love story “inspiring.”
Malu Byrne and Andrew Kuo were married at their home in Ghent, N.Y., on May 2. She was eight months pregnant at the time. [Photo credit: Sarah Murphy and Stefaan duPont/Miles & Miles]
In the months leading up to their wedding on May 2, Hong-wei Andrew Kuo and Malu Abeni Valentine Lutz Byrne were buzzing with creativity.
They planned their 20-guest backyard wedding themselves. Teams of landscapers, plumbers and electricians swarmed around their home in Ghent, N.Y., for renovations. And business for Mr. Kuo, a creator and producer of the talk show “SubwayTakes,” was booming.
Ms. Byrne, 35, who was eight months pregnant at the time of the wedding, felt a similar surge of creativity during her first pregnancy in 2019, when she was expecting her now 6-year-old son, Bo. That was when she founded EN Studio, a jewelry line, with her business partner, Rick Van Streain Low.
“The moment we realized that we’re having a baby, business with ‘SubwayTakes’ just absolutely started going crazy,” Mr. Kuo, 42, said. “The channel exploded. But you hear that there’s always this creative burst of energy that flows through when there’s a baby and a new life coming in.”
When they met in April 2023, business was not booming for Mr. Kuo. In fact, SomeFriends, the media company he founded with Kareem Rahma, was “floundering,” he said. “SubwayTakes,” a show they created together, hosted by Mr. Rahma, was a “nothing burger” with only a few episodes at the time. Mr. Kuo had also just gone through an intense breakup and was going through a rough patch.
So when his friend, Karen Wong, invited him to a black-tie gala she would be hosting and told him that he would be seated next to a woman he should meet, Mr. Kuo, who goes by Andrew, was a bit hesitant. But Ms. Wong convinced him when she explained that “she’s interesting and cool” and “so creative” — and by showing him a picture of Ms. Byrne.
Ms. Wong also told Ms. Byrne that she would be seated next to “a smart, handsome bachelor,” Ms. Byrne recalled.
“Andrew sat down right next to me,” she added, “and it felt like I’d known him forever.”
The couple walked down the aisle together while David Byrne, the bride’s father and wedding officiant, performed “Heaven.” For their altar, Mr. Kuo’s close friend, Peter Vickrey, crafted an 8-by-4-foot arched structure. [Photo credit: Sarah Murphy and Stefaan duPont/Miles & Miles]
The two were so engrossed in conversation that they neglected to introduce themselves to others at their table until the end of the event. “It actually in hindsight was very rude,” Mr. Kuo said.
They took an Uber together to the after-party in NoHo and at one point, she offered to get him a glass of water — a small gesture, but one that showed him how caring she is.
“She was so different from anyone that I had ever really met in the city,” Mr. Kuo said. “Malu is so calm, grounded and so creative. Not flashy, and not trying to flex.”
They talked about dating apps, and Ms. Byrne said she had never been on any. “I was kind of really taking my time to re-center myself after separation and being a single mom,” she said.
Mr. Kuo mentioned that he had just joined dating apps for the first time, and he adjusted his settings so that he would only match with people who were within a half-mile radius of where he lived. Too many logistics are involved with dating someone who lives far away, he said.
Ms. Byrne grew up in Greenwich Village, the only child of David Byrne, the musician and artist, and Adelle Lutz, a costume designer and actress. When she met Mr. Kuo, she lived in Catskill, N.Y., about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from his Lower East Side apartment. But he liked her so much that he was willing to make it work.
Ford Wheeler, left, and Terry Allen, Ms. Byrne’s godfathers, and David Byrne, whom the couple jokingly called “the three wise men,” led the ceremony. [Photo credit: Sarah Murphy and Stefaan duPont/Miles & Miles]
The following Saturday, they went on their first date to Barney Greengrass on the Upper West Side for smoked fish and bagels, which made Ms. Byrne feel nostalgic because it just so happened to be right by the high school she attended, the Calhoun School. They made their way to a wine bar nearby afterward and enjoyed a few drinks in the late spring sun.
“What I had planned on being a more brief date ended up being six hours,” Ms. Byrne said, “and I kept postponing picking up my son.”
On their second date at Rivertown Lodge, in Hudson, N.Y., Ms. Byrne told him she felt that unconditional love can be dangerous because it evades the active nature of loving someone. She said she later feared that he thought she had “a heart of stone.”
But Mr. Kuo didn’t interpret it negatively. “I read it more as just someone who was really protective of their heart and really prioritizing themselves and their child,” said Mr. Kuo, who grew up in West Bloomfield, Mich., a suburb outside of Detroit, with his parents, Shau-Fen Kuo and I-Wen Kuo, and his sister, Vicki Kuo Romero. He graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a Bachelor of Business Administration. He also earned a law degree from the University of Chicago.
“The emotional stakes were actually much higher here,” Mr. Kuo said. “In hindsight, you realize there was an order of complexity that is not typical of other random dating in New York.”
That summer, they saw each other every weekend. Ms. Byrne drove into Manhattan, or Mr. Kuo took the Amtrak up to Catskill with his dog, Marcus. (“He is a pro of Penn Station,” Mr. Kuo said about Marcus.)
Mr. Kuo’s dog, Marcus, also made many train trips to visit Ms. Byrne in Catskill, N.Y. Ms. Byrne wore a necklace that included Marcus’s birthstone (a diamond). [Photo credit: Sarah Murphy and Stefaan duPont/Miles & Miles]
Over Labor Day weekend, the two went to Saint Lucia, where they said “I love you” for the first time. After the trip, he met her son. Together, they took Bo to the American Museum of Natural History, followed by lunch at Serafina, where they drew together with pencils and pens.
“It was such a beautiful first meeting, and they were holding hands by the end,” Ms. Byrne said. “Bo started crying in the car when we had to leave because he wanted to keep hanging out with Andrew.”
Around Labor Day in 2024, the couple spent a week on a private catamaran on the coast of Croatia with no one around except for a captain and a chef. They slept on the boat, docked at small ports every night and visited small coves in private areas. “We would just dive and drink rosé, and we read books to each other,” Mr. Kuo said.
“Oh god, it’s so cheesy,” he said when asked what book they read aloud to each other: “The Course of Love” by Alain de Botton.
On the catamaran, they spoke about their future together: getting married, living in their new home in Ghent, which Ms. Byrne purchased in December 2023, and having another child together. (They also maintain a residence on the Lower East Side.)
Lunch, catered from Table BK, was served inside the couple’s home. The menu included fried chicken, pasta and roasted carrots. [Photo credit: Sarah Murphy and Stefaan duPont/Miles & Miles]
That fall, Ms. Byrne got pregnant. And Mr. Kuo met with Mr. Van Streain Low, her jewelry partner, to design an engagement ring. They knew she liked less delicate jewelry, and landed on an old mine cut diamond, set horizontally within a heavy handmade gold band.
Asking her father for his blessing was a challenge for Mr. Kuo. “I wasn’t sure how he would receive it, and I honestly just had to get over it,” Mr. Kuo said. He went to his apartment in November 2024 and brought a pink pineapple as an offering.
“He did grill me, to be clear, he definitely grilled me,” Mr. Kuo said. “He’s ordinarily a pretty chill guy, but he really went into full dad mode: ‘How are you going to take care of the family? What are your future plans?’ Like really old school.”
“It was very old-fashioned and sweet,” Mr. Byrne said of Mr. Kuo’s visit. “I obviously said yes, but I also asked a lot of pointed questions. I was amazed at how much of an old-fashioned dad I am. My care for Malu suddenly came pouring out. Andrew passed with flying colors.”
On the day after Christmas, after putting Bo down for a nap, the couple sat on their porch in their snowy backyard, with the sun shining on them. Mr. Kuo began reciting the words he had prepared, but barely made it through a few sentences before asking her to marry him.
Afterward, they celebrated with dinner at Casa Susanna in Leeds, N.Y., with Bo, Mr. Byrne and his partner, Mala Gaonkar.
“She was so different from anyone that I had ever really met in the city,” Mr. Kuo said. “Malu is so calm, grounded and so creative. Not flashy, and not trying to flex.” [Photo credit: Sarah Murphy and Stefaan duPont/Miles & Miles]
On May 2, the couple were married by Mr. Byrne, who was ordained by the Universal Life Church. Ms. Byrne’s two godfathers, Terry Allen, the singer and artist, and Ford Wheeler, a production designer, helped lead the ceremony. The couple jokingly referred to them as “the three wise men.”
The couple walked down the aisle together while Mr. Byrne sang “Heaven,” a song performed by his former band, Talking Heads.
When the song ended, Mr. Kuo lifted Ms. Byrne’s veil, and the ceremony started. “The three wise men” shared some personal remarks.
“I noticed what happened after Malu met Andrew,” Mr. Byrne said in his speech. He was dressed in an all white ensemble, with red shoelaces on one sneaker and blue shoelaces on the other.
He continued: “I saw a new person emerging. A person who is strong, with increasingly growing confidence, visible happiness and quiet bravery. I see them both facing the future without fear. It’s inspiring personally for me, as these are times in which one could easily succumb to fear. Their union speaks to a hope and optimism about the future. They are both champions to each other. It’s an inspiration to us all.”
A few months before the wedding, while walking on a street outside, Mr. Kuo had a vision of the two making their entrance together to “Heaven.”
“I literally started crying on the street,” he said. “I was in my 40s, and, like, I obviously dated other people, and it never turned out the way that I hoped. And to realize that you’ve gotten there was just so heavy. It was actually happening.”
He started tearing up and said, “I made it.”
On This Day
When May 2, 2025
Where Ghent, N.Y.
The Dress Ms. Byrne’s dress was designed by Christy Rilling. Since she was eight months pregnant, Ms. Byrne wanted a Grecian-style dress that draped off her body and that she could get tailored if the couple decides to have a larger wedding party in the future.
The Necklace Ms. Byrne created a golden lariat with the birthstones of their family: tanzanite for Mr. Kuo, peridot for Bo, baroque pearl for Ms. Byrne, a diamond for Marcus and a space for a stone to be added for their child on the way.
A New Family Heirloom Mr. Kuo’s close friend Peter Vickrey, a woodworker, made an 8-by-4-foot arched structure that the couple has repurposed as an entrance for their vegetable and flower garden. The plan is that it would become a family heirloom, and that their children could have it in their gardens and get married in front of it one day.
Recently published on The Gradient: The Bootleg T-Shirt Show I, II, III by Emmet Byrne
For many designers the term “bootlegging” seems to resonate with our impulse to exhume the past, our ongoing quest for production of meaning, and a desire to both participate in and critique the broader industries that commodify the artistic act. Here Christopher Schulz and Jordan Nassar discuss how a T-shirt can be a publication, how bootlegs create community, and the radical spirit of generosity that curator Shannon Michael Cane brought to the world of printed matter.
Above: Andrew Kuo: MIV
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