ESPN’s Malika Andrews and Dave McMenamin Marry in Bay Area Wedding

Malika Andrews and Dave McMenamin are newlyweds!

via People:

On Saturday, Aug. 24, the Los Angeles-based ESPN reporters got married at Cavallo Point Lodge, a national park resort located at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito, Calif. — a location that fit like a glove, McMenamin, 41, told Vogue.

“We always knew we wanted to get married in the Bay Area, where Malika is from,” the NBA reporter, who hails from Philadelphia, told the magazine. “When we arrived at Cavallo Point for the first time, it just felt right.”

“Getting married in the Bay Area, where I am from, was important to me,” Andrews, 29, later added. “Some of the steel in the Golden Gate Bridge was sourced from Chester, Pa. — just outside of Philadelphia where Dave is from. Getting married at the base of the bridge felt like the perfect place.”

Enhancing the Bay Area feel of the ceremony, the couple revealed, was the weather. “It poured the morning of our wedding,” Andrews said, per Vogue. “But in classic Bay Area fashion, it was beautiful for our evening ceremony and reception.”

With her gown for the ceremony, the NBA Today and NBA Countdown host paid tribute to McMenamin’s Pennsylvanian roots with a Grace Kelly-inspired gown from New York bridal shop Lotus Bridal. 

“I loved the nod to Grace Kelly, a Philly gal — where Dave is from,” Andrews, who worked with stylist and friend Leon Gray on her wedding looks, said.

The reporter also revealed that the lace, Kelly-inspired gown was a far cry from what she initially imagined for herself, telling the magazine that “the one thing I said I didn’t feel would work for me was a dress that included lace!”

“It was important to me that the dress was not only timeless but also had a sense of modernity; by using a unique lace pattern with hand-placed appliqués and an almost sheer base along with a clean and feminine skirt shape, we were able to achieve that,” she added.

While wearing the lace dress — which included a train over four feet long — the bride glided down the aisle to composer Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.” Meanwhile, McMenamin, who wore a blue tuxedo, and the wedding party, who wore all black, walked down the aisle to the Beatles’ “In My Life.”

After reading their vows — “Dave and I wrote our own to share with one another,” the bride said — and saying “I do” in a ceremony that blended Andrews’ Jewish traditions with McMenamin’s Catholic ones, the couple headed back down the aisle to “An Everlasting Love” by Etta James. 

“Funnily enough, neither one of us remembers even hearing it—we were just so happy,” Andrews told Vogue. But, she added, “We nailed the dip! We had been practicing.”

Later, the newlyweds had their first dance to “I’ll Cover You” from Rent, and, more specifically, a “beautiful rendition” performed live by their friend, American Idol alum Elliott Yamin.

Naturally, the couple — who first met in 2017 when they were both assigned to cover the same NBA game and got engaged in late 2022 — also included lots of nods to their shared love of basketball, starting with their wedding date, which was homage to both of Kobe Bryant’s numbers when he played with the Lakers.

McMenamin took the tribute to the late NBA legend a step further (literally) by wearing his “Mambacita” sneakers at the reception at Cavallo Point’s ballroom. Andrews, meanwhile, changed into a disco ball-inspired mini dress and matching purse.

At the reception, the newlyweds’ “hoops-inspired” seating chart was organized like a March Madness-style bracket with a functional basketball hoop in the center. Per Andrews, the couple asked guests ever-so-punnily to “please be seeded.”

Also at the post-ceremony party, guests — including basketball and sports journalism greats like Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee and NBA legend Richard Jefferson — were treated to a three-drink menu featuring another sporty nod. 

“Dave loves a Manhattan. I enjoy a dirty vodka martini. I surprised Dave, a proud Syracuse University alum, with a signature drink that was a nod to The Orange,” Andrews told Vogue. “The toothpicks had basketballs on them.”

From its rainy start to its sparkling finish, she told the magazine, it was “the happiest day of my life.”

The couple spent time surrounded by the people they love and the sport that brought them together. Plus, the NBA Today host noted, the newlyweds “held hands all night.”

“My cheeks still hurt from smiling so much on our wedding day,” she added. “Worth it.”

Congrats to them!

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