Inside Taylor Rooks’s Glamorous, Star-Studded Secret Wedding in NYC

On Saturday, July 19, one of the most prominent figures in sports media got secretly married.

Taylor Rooks—a journalist and broadcaster for Thursday Night Football, Bleacher Report, and TNT—tied the knot with Shane Fowler at a lavish ceremony in New York City’s Gotham Hall. “He is so perfect it’s hard to believe he’s real,” Rooks tells GQ. “His vows moved the entire room to tears. I’m still replaying them over and over in my head.”

The two met while Fowler was in his final year at Harvard Law School; he proposed by staging an elaborate scavenger hunt across the Big Apple that ended with a backroom dinner at Fini, their favorite pizza spot. With roughly 190 friends and family at a no-phone, no-posting ceremony, the couple enjoyed a wedding meant to evoke classic New York glamour, “vintage and timeless,” as she describes it.

Rooks wore a Monique Lhuillier Isa dress and Lauren B jewelry for the ceremony, then changed into a Monique Lhuillier Mon Cheri dress and Shay Jewelry diamonds for the reception. Fowler opted for a bespoke suit by CADRÆ, a Philadelphia brand founded by Eric White and Alyssa DiMarcantonio Schemer. Guests—a group that included NBA stars Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell, and Draymond Green, as well as rapper Jack Harlow, who Rooks calls “my best friend”—wore tuxedoes and deep tone, floor length gowns to create the classic feel that the bride and groom were going for.

Both the ceremony and reception were held at Gotham Hall in Midtown. “The beautiful columns, high ceilings, luxe draping, and dramatic lighting was exactly what we wanted,” Rooks says. “We wanted a venue that already possessed lots of character and depth.” Rooks walked down the aisle to “Ribbon In The Sky” by Stevie Wonder; her first dance with Fowler was to Lauryn Hill’s “Nothing Even Matters.”

“It was incredibly important that the entire wedding happened in one spot,” Rooks said. “Sometimes getting in the car and going from a ceremony location to a reception location can kill the vibe.” But the afterparty required a change of venue: Following the reception, a fleet of Sprinter vans whisked the attendees to the downtown members-only club Zero Bond for festivities that lasted until nearly four in the morning.

The secrecy of the wedding was also important to Rooks and Fowler, who went to Greece for their honeymoon. In addition to not allowing phones, there were also no big announcements on social media beforehand. Everything from finding a venue with the right brand of old New York charm to the Minted stationery was very intentional. “I’m an incredibly private person because it’s important to have a life that belongs to you,” Rooks explained. “Our relationship belongs to us. Our love belongs to us, so it’s only right that the moment belonged to us.”