After a five-year-engagement and months of wedding planning, hairstylist-to-the-stars William "Jordan" Blackmore and his heiress fiancée, Andi Potamkin, jetted off to Utah in a private plane to tie the knot. The stylish couple's ultra-lavish $1 million desert wedding took place in a gorgeous hideaway resort in Canyon Point, just a stone's throw away from the Grand Canyon. Guests like actresses Elizabeth Olsen and Alexis Nichole Smith were also flown in on jets and stayed in suites costing up to $4,300 a night.
The bride wore Dior and Oscar de La Renta for the four-day fête, and requested her 60 invitees dress only in “desert” colors, like “parchment” and “dune ecru" and "eucalyptus" to match the scenery. The weekend included horseback riding, zip lining, hiking, late-night poker games, karaoke, outdoor movies, yoga sessions, and watercolor classes. Coveteur magazine dubbed it "the dreamiest desert wedding you've ever seen."
But according to a new lawsuit, the extravagant affair was a total and complete scam, right down to the I do's. In court papers obtained by ELLE.com, Blackmore says he was duped by Potamkin into having the over-the-top wedding as a "public relations stunt."
The documents, filed in a Brooklyn federal court earlier this month, allege the union was never legal: Potamkin allegedly told the wedding officiant, a yoga instructor friend, not to get ordained, because they "intended to get 'officially' married in New York before traveling to the Utah ceremony, and that the officiant therefore did not need to be, and should not be, legally authorized to marry the couple."
Blackmore claims he had no idea they were never officially wed. "The truth was that Andi never wanted to marry Jordan," according to the documents. "She just wanted a lavish wedding experience."
Potamkin's father Alan, co-owner of the family’s namesake $150 million car dealership business, allegedly had a hand in the scheme. According to the suit, Blackmore was slow to sign a prenuptial agreement and so Alan "actively participated in and assisted the fraud" out of concern for his daughter's assets. Blackmore did sign the prenup, according to the suit, and is seeking $2 million in damages.
After the wedding, the newlyweds "lived together as husband and wife" for three years. In December 2018, Potamkin allegedly broke off the relationship after having an affair with a man while on a cruise to Vietnam. According to the court papers, she came home and “placed her engagement and wedding rings on the coffee table and told Blackmore, ‘We have to break up.’ ” When she handed Blackmore a draft separation agreement, which referred to their marriage as "symbolic," he was “shaken to his core by the discovery of what Andi and Alan Potamkin surreptitiously did to him," his lawyer told The New York Post.
Potamkin told the Post that Blackmore's lawsuit “includes tons of untrue and irrelevant information about my family, included for no purpose other than to attempt to publicly embarrass us" and that they “consciously uncoupled.” Her lawyer told New York Magazine that "while it is unfortunate that the marriage has ended, the failure of a marriage does not justify Mr. Blackmore’s use of the legal process as a manifestation of his disappointment.”
The couple is now reportedly trying to make their marriage official in Utah—so that they can divorce. According to the Post, both sides have filed papers to get their 2015 nuptials recognized so they can settle the terms of the prenup, which Blackmore wants invalidated, and end their union.
Rose is a Senior Editor at ELLE overseeing features and projects about women's issues. She is an accomplished and compassionate storyteller and editor who excels in obtaining exclusive interviews and unearthing compelling features.
