Founder & CEO of skincare company dubose (now available on Over The Moon!) Elisabeth “Elle” (pronounced Ellie) DuBose Blakeney and attorney Daniel Foster Moe were high school sweethearts in Charleston, South Carolina. “I was a sophomore, and he was a junior,” Elle smiles. “We have found ourselves seemingly inseparable since that first football game when I wore his jersey number.”
After a decade together, Foster proposed to Elle in her grandparents’ garden with their new puppy, Rowe, in tow. Prior to the engagement, the two were cruising by The Gasparilla Inn & Club by boat and simultaneously said, “We have to get married here.” “Not one minute later, I picked up the phone and called the front desk to inquire about potential wedding dates,” Elle recalls. After months of discussion, the pair landed on January 6, 2024—what better way to ring in the new year?
To bring their vision to life, Elle and Foster hired Camille Williams and Kellie Hughes. Virgil Bunao, who beautifully shot their engagement session, returned behind the lens for the wedding weekend, and Voila Cinematic captured digital video. Cheree Berry Paper & Design set the tone for the weekend with an intricate invitation suite.
“Early on in the process I realized that the wedding fashion world was quite different from streetwear/the high end fashion market I was familiar with,” Elle shares. The bride turned to The One Gown by Lesley to help style her for each event; Lesley then aided the mother of the bride, Foster, and Elle’s bridesmaids with their fashion choices.
Elle dressed in a billowing MÔNOT dress for the Thursday rehearsal dinner, followed by a beachside welcome party the next day. To that, the bride wore a butterfly Oscar de la Renta minidress. Elle finally found her classic strapless Alex Perry ceremony dress at Loho Bride and paired it with a sweeping veil by Chynna Pope, Katherine Tash gloves, and Monique Lhuillier shoes. Later on, she changed into an Oscar de la Renta number for dancing.
For her bridal beauty look, Elle trusted her hair colorist, Meg Workman, and her team. “As the CEO and founder of a skincare company focused around glowing beautiful skin, my makeup looking natural and allowing my natural skin to shine through may have been the most important components to feeling like myself,” the bride says. “Meg nailed it and made me feel so beautiful and just like myself.”
On the day-off, bridesmaids got ready in Jacaranda Living Courtney nightgowns from Over The Moon. They then complemented Elle in custom LulaKate dresses in a white lily of the valley motif. And the man of honor, Jack, wore a custom jacket in the same beautiful fabric by Berlin’s Men’s Clothing. “Lesley sourced and found the beautiful printed textile, and from the second I saw the swatch, I knew it was the one,” Elle says. “All of my bridesmaids plan to cut the dress into a two piece set or a mini dress which is a win in my book!”
The ceremony was supposed to be on the golf course, but a monsoon moved through the area on the morning-of. Elle and Foster—dressed in a custom white dinner jacket and tuxedo from Berlin’s Men’s Clothing—ended up saying, “I do,” in a local church. “I wouldn’t change a thing. . .Except for the fact that our quartet didn’t make it in time, and our incredible planners had to find musicians with two-hours notice,” Elle laughs. “I am going to be honest, I don’t think a single thing could have dulled my sparkle. I was on cloud nine and incredibly calm. . .As fate would have it, as soon as we exited the church, the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen filled the sky.”
The reception was able to take place under a Sperry tented spaces back on the course. “I wanted it to feel like everyone stepped into an exquisitely warm and welcoming home,” Elle shares. “I had to respect the tropical island that it was, but I also insisted on bringing in my touch which is a bit more modern and a touch less feminine. I fell in love with the concept of lemons, which you will notice is a motif throughout. We came up with the idea of each tent progressively getting moodier, cozier, and sexier—a rather different look for Boca Grande, Florida.”
Florals from Botanica Design Studio breathed life throughout the tents. “From early on, I dreamt of having a lemon tree sprouting out through the center of the reception tent with its branches hanging over everyone, as if you were in Tuscany, Italy, sitting outside,” Elle describes.
After the delicious meal and cake cutting, everyone flowed through to the dance tent. “This is the tent that felt the most ‘me,’” the bride says. The speakeasy-inspired space was filled with vintage furniture and even featured the mural that usually hangs in Elle’s living room.
Powerhouse: Next Generation nailed the first dance to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli. “I’ll cherish the memory of Foster spinning me around and all of our friends surrounding us forever,” Elle gushes.
Once the reception came to a formal close, the newlyweds waved goodbye to their loved ones and jumped into a friend’s vintage Rolls-Royce. Dreaming of warmer temps, the pair quickly jetted off to South Africa for an incredible summer honeymoon, planned by Gray Ellender.
