Most of my work is designing celebrations for other people. This one was ours.
On March 18, 2023, I married Dr. Brandon von Tobel in Charleston, in a weekend I designed the way I design everything else: from the first vision through the final toast, with every detail considered. We matched online and hit it off immediately, met in person at The Bowery Hotel, and three and a half years later to the day, Brandon proposed at home while I sat on the floor playing with our puppy. It was not staged, and it was perfect.
We were married at the Charleston Library Society and celebrated at the Gibbes Museum of Art, in a tent raised in the historic Lenhardt Garden. I approached the weekend as an interior designer approaches a home: not a single event, but a series of distinct, immersive worlds.
A palette drawn from a jewel
When I was cultivating my inspiration board, I kept returning to the special significance of the design behind my engagement ring, which set the “jewel” tone for the entire weekend.
Emerald, sapphire, fuchsia, and pale pink carried through every room and every table.
Madeleine Castaing, under a tent
The reception drew on the Parisian designer Madeleine Castaing. The tent’s exterior was designed to evoke a circus, a nod to the joyful spectacle of blending two families; inside, it became a dilapidated French greenhouse in the spirit of Castaing’s shop at 40 Rue Jacob. Putnam Flowers filled it with cascading garden roses and lilies, red pagodas of cherry blossom, and color everywhere.
The details I will never forget
There were hand-painted passion-flower plates and Baccarat crystal, napkin rings hand-embroidered by an artisan then also working on the coronation, and a Ron Ben Israel cake designed after an Hermes scarf in honor of my late grandmother. During the ceremony, musicians rose from among our guests with brass instruments, and a choir sang “All You Need Is Love.” We left in a blue Bentley filled with calla lilies.
Photography by Anne Rhett. Florals by Putnam Flowers. Catering by Cru Catering. Cake by Ron Ben Israel. Music by Kiral Artists. You can see the full feature in Over the Moon, and more of the celebration in the wedding portfolio.
Designing your own celebration
It was, in the end, the most personal project I will ever design, and the truest expression of how I think about celebration. If you’re planning a wedding in Charleston, I would be honored to hear about it, as your Charleston wedding planner.
