Al Roker describes his daughter Leila’s wedding as a rare mix of joy and logistics—three ceremonies across France and New Jersey—saying he was so happy he didn’t even think about crying. The TODAY cohost also credits his wife Deborah Roberts with Leila’s confi
Swingers Crazy Golf in New York City doesn’t sound like the place you’d expect wedding nerves to show up. But when Al Roker—back in his “Father of the Bride” frame for TODAY’s Father’s Day event—looked at the way his daughter Leila’s big day played out, the first thing he said was joy.
“Leila actually ended up having three weddings,” Roker told Craig Melvin and Carson Daly during TODAY’s annual Father’s Day event.
Leila, 27, and her new husband Sylvain Gricourt held a ceremony at the “local magistrate” and then had a Catholic church wedding, both near their home in France. Later, Roker said, they added a wedding in New Jersey.
When the conversation turned to what it takes to stay steady as a father walks through the moment again and again—ceremony after ceremony—Roker laughed at the premise. “It’s funny — people kept asking me, ‘How’d you hold it together?. Were you crying?’ I think I was so happy that crying never even occurred to me,” he said.
He also pointed to who helped make that calm possible. “Al’s daughter Leila’s poise and confidence. ” the host said he has seen. are thanks in large part to Deborah Roberts. “Al credits his wife Deborah Roberts with Leila’s poise and confidence in uprooting her life in America and moving to France. ‘It’s more her mother having an influence than me,’ he said.”.
Carson Daly asked what it felt like when we finally got to the aisle—right as a father sees his daughter standing there. “When I looked at Leila, I literally flashed back to this moment … there’s a picture of Leila and Deborah outside her preschool and Deborah’s kind of crouched down. Leila’s wearing this little jumper,” Roker recalled. “And it was like no time had passed. I saw that same girl.”.
Leila’s path to that day began, Roker said, a year after she moved to Paris to attend the American University of Paris. She now works there as a PR specialist, writer and content creator.
Roker wasn’t the only father in the story—his family had been stepping through major moments for years. His older daughter Courtney married Wesley Laga in 2021. They are parents to Al’s granddaughter Sky, who turns 3 this summer.
And the wedding’s procession held one small twist of real life. Sky was supposed to be Leila’s flower girl, but since she was feeling under the weather, her father carried her down the aisle while her mother scattered rose petals.
“This is my second time being a father of the bride,” Roker said. “You see both of your daughters as these little girls — and now they’re women, and somebody else is taking care of them. ‘I will be willing that, if anything goes wrong, to kill them.’”
After the laughter with Craig Melvin and Carson Daly. Roker let the feeling settle back into something more reflective—how quickly time moves when you’re watching your children grow. “It felt like yesterday that I was with her in her third grade class. walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and doing a field day. ” he said. “And boom, now here she is, married.”.
For Roker, the years didn’t just pass fast. They passed in pictures—preschool jumpers, aisles, and rose petals—turning three ceremonies in France and New Jersey into one clear message: the happiness was so complete he never even thought about holding back tears.
Al Roker Leila wedding Sylvain Gricourt Deborah Roberts Father’s Day TODAY Craig Melvin Carson Daly Brooklyn Bridge