The first time Haley Cavinder visited the Biltmore Hotel in Miami, where she married Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson on Saturday, the former Miami Hurricanes basketball star felt like she was on an official college recruiting visit. Right away, she knew she wanted to commit. “I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, this works! Let’s get married here,’ ” says the 25-year-old influencer and model.
Ferguson cited the hotel’s old-school vibe as a major selling point, perfect for a “big party with all our people.” And while the groom jokes that his role in the wedding planning was to know when to show up, his one big request was to have a ranch dressing fountain at the reception. “He’s obsessed with ranch,” Cavinder confirms.
For the ceremony, Cavinder wore a custom lace princess gown from the designer Galia Lahav, who also dressed Paris Hilton, Simone Biles, and Vanessa Hudgens for their weddings, as well as Beyoncé for her 2019 vow renewal with Jay-Z. Cavinder says she connected with the brand on Instagram, and after initially turning down the first gown she was presented with, she eventually said yes to the dress on the second go-round. Ferguson, meanwhile, sported a Bond-esque white dinner jacket tailored by Mitch Purgason of Stitched by Mitch, who has made nearly every suit the 27-year-old Wisconsin native has worn during his four seasons in the NFL. This time out, Ferguson says, he gravitated to a white jacket-black pants combo because it’s “all Miami action.”
The couple entered the venue to “Fergalicious” by Fergie and shared their first dance to “Then” by Brad Paisley, with Ferguson’s former teammate Will Grier officiating the ceremony. Ferguson, 27, and Cavinder, 25, chose to get married in Miami because of the crucial role the city played in their origin story. In 2023, they began circling one another online; three years on, there’s still some lighthearted banter about who threw the first digital stone.
“This is where the debate happens,” Ferguson says. “She liked a couple of my pictures, the typical social media thing, and then I slid into her DMs.”