Craig Melvin Made a Fashion Snafu on His & Lindsay Czarniak’s Wedding Day in 2011
The TODAY co-host and his sportscaster wife tied the knot in Washington, D.C. over a decade ago.
From meeting as two young journalists to popping the big question in the middle of the ocean, Craig Melvin and Lindsay Czarniak’s love story has been full of memorable moments.
The TODAY co-host and Czarniak — esteemed sportscaster, journalist, and podcaster — first met while they were both working at NBC’s Washington, D.C. affiliate WRC-TV in 2008. “We met on set at our TV station, WRC in Washington, D.C.,” Czarniak shared on TODAY in 2021. “I had just gotten back from Beijing and he was hired … I slid in and we met during a commercial break and I was like, ‘Who’s this guy?’”
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The couple would go on to date for a couple years before they got engaged and married in 2011. Since then, Melvin and Czarniak have welcomed two children together: son Delano, born in 2014, followed by daughter Sybil in 2016.
In a sweet Instagram post on their wedding anniversary, Czarniak described their relationship as “a wild, wonderful journey,” while Melvin previously said on TODAY that “the most important day of my life” was when he proposed. That big question, of course, led to their beautiful wedding day in 2011.
Read on to learn all about how Melvin proposed, his wedding look snafu, and more.
How did Craig Melvin propose to Lindsay Czarniak?
In March 2011, Melvin proposed to Czarniak in Miami and the couple announced the exciting news a week later on April Fool’s Day. “No, this is not an April Fool’s stunt,” Czarniak said in a statement to WRC-TV at the time. “We are, in fact, getting hitched — and we’re stoked!”
Several years later, Melvin revealed how exactly the proposal went down. “We were on a boat off the coast of Miami,” he shared on TODAY in 2023. “[I] got down on one knee and scripted the whole thing in my head and then I popped the question. And Lindsay’s response was, ‘I think I’m gonna throw up.’”
Melvin recalled that he “waited for a few seconds” to see what his then-girlfriend would say. “[I] was like, ‘Yes? Yes?’ And she eventually said yes,” he said, adding that Czarniak did not actually throw up.
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When did Craig Melvin and Lindsay Czarniak get married?
Roughly three years after they first met, Melvin and Czarniak tied the knot on October 15, 2011 at the Church of the Holy City in Washington, D.C.
The groom wore a black suit while the bride wore a white strapless Kenneth Pool gown with a sweetheart neckline as she held a bouquet of orange roses and her floor-length veil rested on her hair. Veteran editor and journalist for USA TODAY Chet Czarniak was in attendance as he walked his daughter down the aisle, The Washington Post reported.
Craig Melvin and Lindsay Czarniak’s wedding ceremony included a Miranda Lambert song
After the couple exchanged vows, The Washington Post reported that Lee Anne Myslewski, vice president of opera and classical programming at Wolf Trap Opera, performed “Makin’ Plans” by Miranda Lambert.
Released in 2009 on Lambert's Revolution album, the country icon’s love song is full of romantic lyrics that celebrate stepping into a new chapter with the person you love. As Lambert sings from opening verse into the chorus: “Nothing would feel just right / If I wasn't by your side / 'Cause I'm not easy to understand / But you know me like the back of your hand / I'm your girl and you're my man / And we're makin' plans.”
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Craig Melvin wore his wedding shoes on his first day of co-anchoring TODAY
Melvin chose not to wear or buy a new tuxedo because, as he told The New York Times in a 2025 interview, “I’m kind of cheap.” Instead, he wore a classic black suit and completed the look with a silver tie, white shirt, boutonniere, and brand new pair of shoes.
“I wanted to have a nice new pair of shoes,” he told the newspaper about his wedding look. “What I didn’t realize is that you have to break them in. I didn’t break them in. It was a day and night of pain.”
And all these years later, Melvin still has those shoes he forgot to break in and wore them on another big milestone day of his life. “Now they’re my most comfortable pair of shoes,” he told The New York Times. “I wore them on my first day of co-anchoring the TODAY show.”
Craig Melvin and Lindsay Czarniak invited about 200 people to their wedding reception
After they said “I do,” the newlyweds traveled to the wedding reception at the Hay-Adams Hotel in a old-timey white Bentley. Roughly 200 guests, including many of Melvin and Czarniak’s former colleagues at WRC-TV, joined them at the historic Washington, D.C. hotel, according to The Washington Post.
Melvin and Czarniak sat at a sweetheart table at their reception as they sipped champagne and listened to toasts from their bridal party, who wore yellow gowns. During the evening, they were photographed cut into a white four-tier wedding cake with bride and groom toppers.
The couple also danced the night away with their guests, but perhaps especially Melvin. According to Czarniak, the TODAY anchor can’t resist busting a move at a reception and has earned the nickname “Wedding Craig.”
“I have joked we should rent Melvin out for weddings. If there's a band... he'll make his way in it,” she wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of her husband in the middle of the dance floor at their 2011 wedding surrounded by his bride and her bridesmaids.
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Craig Melvin says marrying Lindsay Czarniak was the “best thing” that’s ever happened to him
With more than a decade of marriage in the books, Melvin is grateful for his wife for being by his side.
“The best thing that’s ever happened to me personally and professionally is marrying Lindsay Czarniak,” Melvin told People in 2025. “She doesn’t just get me as a person, as a husband — she understands the business.”
