Katharine Leigh Cosner, founder of interior design firm Studio Tashman, and Will Augustus Tashman, co-founder of artificial intelligence platform Uncountable met through her mother. “It’s a very embarrassing story in its entirety,” Katie says. At the time, the two were both working at Apple. “My mom met this kid, told me she’d found my husband, and introduced us one day. I obviously avoided the whole situation for as long as possible while developing a big crush on Will from afar.”
A friend of Katie’s grew up with Will, knew she “was orbiting around him,” and invited him to her birthday party on a whim. Katie and Will met again and have been together ever since. However Will says, “I tried to talk to her so many times those first few months, and she was having none of it. Ice cold. Won her over in the end.”
After five-and-a-half years together, he proposed on the side of Highway 1, while the two were on a road trip from Los Angeles back home to San Francisco. Although the couple had designed a ring together beforehand, he secretly purchased a toy ring and popped the question with that. She had always said that he could propose to her with a Ring Pop, so this was the best of both worlds. “When the real ring arrived a few months later, I found it on a cheesecake in the refrigerator,” Katie says.
Katie and Will were planning a wedding at a big industrial boathouse on the water in Sausalito for November 7, 2020, but by March, they decided to pivot to a smaller celebration. “I think Will could have held tight and made the decision much later, when we had more information….I just knew I’d feel better if we took the pressure off ourselves,” Katie reveals. “It was really nice to know that amidst so much uncertainty and loss last year, we’d at least have a tiny celebratory day to look forward to, and everything else could wait.”
Thankfully, they had a great planner, Jesse Tombs, who understood exactly what they wanted, along with amazing vendors like Lotus and Ash, Found Rental Co., and Theoni Collection, and an easy venue. After reaching out to family regarding their comfort levels and safety, Katie and Will decided on having two ceremonies—one for family only and one for close friends. “At first we were worried this would feel a little clunky, but in the end it was perfect,” she says. “Friday felt so special and measured and intimate, and Saturday was so fun.”
On November 6, the bride wore a backless cotton maxi dress by TOVE and a pearl headpiece from Jennifer Behr. And for the Saturday ceremony, Katie wore her original Markarian wedding gown, which she got at LOHO Bride. Later that evening, she changed into a “little cupcake of a mini dress” by Cecilie Bahnsen. “Leave it to me to fit three dresses into one micro-wedding,” she says. “I’m hoping I can pull that out if and when we have a big belated reception.”
Beauty-wise, the bride kept things natural with Katie Nash Beauty, and Katie also gifted pearl jewelry to Will’s sisters and her closest friends. “Inverness is oyster country, and our friends have spent a lot of time in this little corner of the world over the years, so something with pearls felt meaningful and right,” the bride remarks.
On Friday, Will’s sister married the couple at the family ceremony, while their best friend Navid performed the service the following day. Navid also included a few other people and had five friends speak about the couple. “The ceremony was clearly still about us and our marriage but also about the people who have been there for the last six-ish years of our relationship,” Katie says. “We were both a little unprepared for how poignant it felt,” Will adds. “It was our favorite part of the whole weekend.”
Once officially married, the picnic reception began with beautiful floral installations by Studio Mondine. Everyone was given baskets of food from Sir + Star, and the whole evening was filled with music, a cake by Jasmine Rae Cakes, and “too much wine.” “We wanted the picnic to feel celebratory and unexpected,” Katie shares. “The ceremony felt super grounded, and the picnic felt dreamlike to me.”
Looking back at everything now, the couple feels grateful that they were able to celebrate at all. “We’d have gotten married in the park down the street if we had to, but that weekend in Inverness was such a bright spot for us in a long, hard year,” Katie says. Will adds, “I don’t know what I expected heading into the weekend, but it was better than that…I also feel relieved that the wedding could even happen. But to echo Katie, mostly I just feel lucky.”
