Madison Kate Smith, co-founder and COO of talent agency SMITH&SAINT, and Edward James Smith, co-founder of scallop company The Scallop Guys, met in pre-school and have been best friends since they were three years old. “Fun Fact: My parents had their first kiss on Edward’s grandmother’s beach!” Madison shares.
The two started dating when they were 15 years old, and 12 years later, he surprised her by proposing at what she thought was her brother-in-law’s birthday party. “As we got to the roof deck and opened the door, it was lit up with candles and lights and one of our favorite songs, ‘Only One’ by Yellowcard, started playing,” Madison explains. After she said yes, her family came out from around a corner to join in the happy celebration.
Once engaged, the couple planned for a wedding in Bermuda in November of 2020, but as the pandemic continued, they had to cancel and re-evaluate; however, Madison carried over everything she had wanted to do on the island to the new location of Cutlass Cove Beach Club in Naples, Florida with planner Anna Lucia Events. “We chose Naples because my family has a home there, and we’ve been going there for most of our lives, so it’s like a second home,” she says. Design-wise, the bride organized an English tea-style ceremony and played with earth tones for the reception dinner tables. “We called it a modern, earthy English brunch!”
For her wedding day, Madison wanted to wear something different, and at Ever After in Miami, she fell in love with the first dress she tried on. “They told me no one had ever worn it as a wedding gown or even cared to try it on, so I immediately knew this was my kind of dress,” the bride explains. She customized the Zuhair Murad gown and removed some of the more high-fashion details. To complete the look, Madison paired the gown with Anima Muaddi white heels that wrapped around her ankles and featured mini jewels.
To complement the bride, bridesmaids wore white Bec & Bridge dresses, and the groomsmen wore black suits from Topman. “I really wanted a clean look and wasn’t into the different mismatching dresses,” Madison says. “I’m so happy with how everyone looked!”
Edward wore a custom Suitsupply suit in an off-white color. And after the morning ceremony, the bride changed into a lace corseted strapless dress by Rasario and put on a diamond tennis necklace, and the groom changed into a velvet cream coat with blank pants.
On the morning of April 17, 2021, Madison and Edward were married in an intimate ceremony, performed by their family friend. “We both wrote something about one another for our family friend to share during the ceremony, but he ended up turning our words into poems that we ended up each reading out loud to each other,” the bride recalls. “It wasn’t planned, but it made our ceremony so emotional and personal.”
After they were officially announced as husband and wife, the newlyweds walked through an arch of baby’s breath, beautifully designed and constructed by their florist 50Fifty Creative Services, and joined their guests for an English tea brunch, prepared by Crave Culiniare. “My husband’s dad is from England, so I wanted to incorporate something for him!” Madison exclaims.
Later in the evening, everyone gathered at The Escalante for a small outdoor dinner. Then the couple and their loved ones hopped on trolleys to head to the transformed ceremony location. Espresso martini shots were passed around, and guests walked through a canopy of lights to the dance floor, where a DJ, drummer, and sax player were already getting the celebration started.
The new mister and missus had their first dance to an acoustic remix of “I Like Me Better” by Lauv. About a minute through the song, the beat dropped, and their friends and family joined in with sparklers in hand—a truly magical sight.
The after-party started around midnight back at the hotel and went until 2:30 a.m. Knowing people would start getting hungry again, the couple organized a “breakfast for dinner” spread with vegan McMuffins, french toast sticks, waffles, and more. The bride concludes, “It was heavenly and such a fun way to close out the longest wedding day ever!”
