“I think war correspondents are egomaniacs,” Philipp von Bernstorff said to Clarissa Ward when they met at a dinner party in Moscow in 2007. Curiously enough, it was love from then on for Ward, a CNN senior international correspondent, and von Bernstorff, a businessman who is also a German count.
For their November 2016 wedding in London, where the couple are based, Clarissa would again prove Philipp wrong. She bought her dress just six days beforehand (at a Harvey Nichols department store), and she was set to do her own hair and makeup—until her CNN makeup artist staged an intervention.
Instead of a grand party, the pair opted for a simple ceremony at Chelsea Old Town hall followed by lunch at their Notting Hill home for just 46 guests. “Perhaps covering war does give you a slightly different perspective,” Clarissa says. “In the grand scheme of things to freak out about, this is not one of them.”
A career covering conflict in Iraq and Syria did not, however, prepare her for the emotions. “I was weeping so much, but in a beautiful way,” she says, before quickly adding, “I mean not that I looked beautiful but that it was a happy kind of weeping.” «
This story originally appeared in the May 2017 issue of Town & Country.
Leena Kim is an editor at Town & Country, where she covers travel, jewelry, education, weddings, and culture.
