Brooklyn-based business owners honored their local story and success by celebrated their big day alongside only local brands and vendors.<\/p>\n
Weddings, one of the most universally\u00a0practiced and culturally significant milestones in human history, serve as the formal introduction to the institution of marriage. As\u00a0with\u00a0many traditions, people often personalize the ceremony of reciting nuptials in front of family and friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taylor Tankson and Kareem Wallace, cofounders of Brooklyn-based lifestyle brand Tribe &\u00a0Oak<\/a>, kept the personalization strictly business by keeping every vendor local and community-rooted for their big day, supporting the companies that have been part of their own small-business journey.<\/p>\n Unions of love and business don’t always\u00a0blossom overnight.<\/p>\n “We met through friends. He knew I was from Detroit, so he started sending me all of the worst things that happened in Detroit,” said Tankson.\u00a0“He would send me those memes on Instagram, and that kind of cultivated a friendship. And then friendship led to us dating.”<\/p>\n The couple met in NYC in 2018, began dating in 2020, and started Tribe &\u00a0Oak in 2021.<\/p>\n For a brand with Tribe in its name, what better way to exemplify family-first energy than by including their day-one\u00a0businesses?\u00a0<\/p>\n The New York City wedding industry is an economic engine that hummed along to the tune of approximately $1.6 billion in annual consumer spending in 2025,<\/a> across venues, catering, photography, entertainment, florals, planning, fashion and other wedding services. Intentionality and adherence to concept can be challenging with a plethora of vendor options that NYC offers from the cake to the venue.<\/p>\n These are the companies that Tankson and Wallace used for their wedding:<\/p>\n Food:\u00a0Taste of heaven Black- and family-owned<\/p>\n Drinks: Brooklyn Tea, Black- and family-owned<\/p>\n Cake:\u00a0Mia\u2019s Brooklyn Bakery, family-owned<\/p>\n Venue: Bathaus, woman-owned<\/p>\n Hair: Courtney.j (Courtney Jamilah), woman-owned, and ShamekLloyd (Shamek Lloyd), Brooklyn-owned<\/p>\n Tribe & Oak has\u00a0been rocking with their wedding’s vendors since bootstrapping their business in 2021.\u00a0They said it made sense to use\u00a0their dearest friends and amazing Brooklyn-owned businesses for all of their wedding needs.<\/p>\n