A Black-Tie Wedding in Sea Island Ended With a Coachella Themed After-Party
Whitney Ford and Wilson Bowen both attended Stanford—but they were two years apart and only knew each other distantly while in school. The year after Whitney graduated, she was living in Stanford, and Wilson was in Palo Alto. “We have tons of mutual friends and met that spring at a friend from college’s birthday party in San Francisco,” Whitney, now an elementary school teacher at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, remembers. “The week after, we ended up at the same house for a Coachella weekend and spent every minute together!”
They had been dating for three years when, on Whitney’s 25th birthday, Wilson—who works as a technology investor at Blackstone Group—surprised her with a trip to Vail, Colorado, where her family has a house. “After we arrived, Wilson immediately suggested we go to the gondola for a ‘birthday hike,’” she says. “I had an idea something special might be happening when he politely suggested I change out of workout clothes into something ‘a bit nicer.’” She was right—when they got to the top of the mountain, they went on a short hike. Wilson pointed out a famous mountain across the way, and while she was looking, got down on one knee to ask Whitney to marry him. There was a photographer hiding on the other side of the path, and they celebrated with a mini engagement photo shoot. “It was the perfect day in the most special place,” Whitney says. “And we love that we can revisit the exact spot where he proposed whenever we’re back in Vail!”
Whitney grew up visiting Sea Island, off the coast of Georgia: “When I was 11 or 12, I saw a wedding while on vacation and announced to my mom that I wanted to get married there too,” she remembers. “Sea Island holds incredible childhood memories for me, and Wilson and I had gone on vacation there a few times since we started dating.” Coincidentally, Wilson had played golf tournaments there as a child, and it was there where he was first recruited by Stanford to play golf in college. When they decided to have a destination wedding, Sea Island felt like the perfect personal choice.
The couple wanted the aesthetic of the wedding to reflect the landscape and personality of Sea Island, so they worked with Marcy Blum of Marcy Blum Associates to bring in lots of bright color. “Although we knew we wanted it to be a formal black-tie event, we still wanted it to be upbeat, bright, and not too serious to reflect our personalities,” Whitney says. “We really started thinking about the aesthetic when working on our invitation design and watercolor, created by Ceci New York.” Their Save the Date featured a watercolor of Spanish moss, the beach, and sea turtles, while the invitations included peaches, blues, and florals. “From there, Marcy and our design team Todd Events came up with the most amazing ideas on how to reflect our vision in every detail.”
For the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night, Whitney wore a look that played on the weekend’s overall decor. “I wanted something young and fun,” she says. “Luckily, I was in New York for a Carolina Herrera trunk show at Mark Ingram and found the cutest short dress with blue ribbon ties and pearls. I loved that the blue reflected our wedding design, and the feminine bow and pleated details were exactly my style.”
Finding a dress for the Friday night barbecue welcome party on Rainbow Island proved slightly more difficult. “My mom was in Paris and surprised me by bringing home the most amazing lace dress from Dior that she knew was perfect!” Whitney says. “I loved how it was so different from my rehearsal dinner and wedding dresses. The pleated skirt was the perfect touch and made it so fun to dance in.” She complemented the dress with jeweled hoop earrings made in Wilson’s birthstone, and sparkly Miu Miu sandals.
Whitney always pictured herself wearing an embellished, strapless dress down the aisle. “When we got to Oscar de la Renta, Marcy suggested I try something that was a completely different shape from what I had in mind,” Whitney explains. “Although I was reluctant at first, I knew it was perfect right when I tried it on. I loved the hand-painted detail and beading, but I also felt comfortable in it.”
One month before the wedding, Whitney’s parents took her to a special dinner and surprised her with a pair of earrings they’d designed as a special gift. They featured diamond drops and sapphires, her birthstone, and were meant to serve as her something blue. “I couldn’t have thought up something more perfect,” Whitney says. “I loved that my parents had created them especially for my day.”
The ceremony started in the lobby of the The Cloisters hotel amidst a sea of blue flowers. “Marcy and Todd designed a stunning cathedral-like environment that made me feel like we were getting married in a church, which was something I always imagined growing up,” Whitney says. Wilson’s grandfather, a retired Presbyterian minister, officiated the wedding, close college friends did the readings, and music like “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys was mixed in throughout the service. “We wanted the ceremony to be a reflection of us, while still being traditional and religious,” Whitney notes.
