While Tyler Page Wright, founder and chief tour guide of Walk And Talk Charleston, and Elliott Taylor Friedman, the co-founder of Streamable Learning, met on Hinge, Elliott likes to make up a new story every time someone asks how they first connected. At the moment, some people might think they met trying to save her from a runaway carriage horse at a gem shop in Jackson Hole or while sharing an oxygen mask on a turbulent flight. “We certainly have a love for storytelling in common!” Tyler exclaims.

The two first knew their relationship was something serious on Chinese New Year in 2021. With that in mind, Elliott romantically proposed on Lunar New Year in 2022. “Around New Year’s Eve, I was getting a little antsy and almost ordered a Rice Krispie cookie cake from Eat Me Cookies that said ‘Snap, Crackle, Pop the Question,’” Tyler admits. “Luckily, my friends were in on the proposal and told me to wait on it.”

Once engaged, the couple decided on a winter wedding at The Country Club of Virginia. “My dad’s family is from Richmond, and I went to UVA, so there were a lot of nearby friends and family,” the bride shares. However, Tyler had always imagined a wedding in Bermuda, where her late mother grew up, so when pivoting to a Southern affair, her mother’s friend, Becky McDermott helped her put together a mood board to match the new location and look.

“To winterize the design, we went with velvet tablecloths,” the bride says of her aesthetic. “I knew I was going to wear a pink dress, so we leaned into the pink, and then the cream and greenery were an obvious choice. My grandmother and her friends did all the flowers for my mom and my aunt’s wedding, and I wanted a similar look.” Terry White of White House Flowers nailed the vision. “The stargazer lilies in my bouquet were a nod to the first bouquet Elliott ever brought me and to the national flower of my beloved Bermuda. My sisters’s bouquets were tulips—another favorite flower and a nod to our Dutch grandmother.”

Tyler and Elliott set the date for February 4, 2023—as close to Chinese New Year as their incredible vendor team was available. Meanwhile, Tyler’s college friend, Brent Ellis of Dear Eloise, masterfully designed a classic invitation with a twist. “The dress code, ‘Black Tie Bring It,’ set the tone for a very fun formal-ish wedding!” the bride exclaims.

Another one of Tyler’s closest confidants, the inimitable photographer Anne Rhett, lent her talent to capture every special moment. Anne even so thoughtfully asked a dear friend, Nancy Brown, in Richmond and her husband to assist for the occasion, so that she could be a guest as well.

For the weekend’s events, Tyler’s aunt hosted Friday’s luncheon, while Mareill Kiernan and Beau Brown planned that night’s welcome party. While the bride—who is no stranger to throwing fabulous parties, to be sure—took on most of the wedding day’s coordination and design, another one of Tyler’s BFFs, and one of the first people she met at the University of Virginia, OTM-favorite wedding planner Augusta Cole, supported the bride along the way. Colette Macari of Augusta Cole was at the helm to bring all of Tyler’s “out-of-the-box ideas” to life.

Tyler didn’t wear one white dress during her wedding weekend. Instead, the bride wore pink, pink, and more pink. For her bridal luncheon at The Quirk Hotel, she wore a pink and gold floral dress by Arianne Elmy and leaned into the retro vibe with a half-up, bump-it style hairdo and her late mother’s statement Chanel gold earrings. To shine at the welcome party at Common House, Tyler donned a silver spangly dress at Anthropologie and, again, dipped into her mother’s jewelry box for the perfect bijoux.

Around 25 years ago, Tyler met Savannah Engel, founder of consulting agency Savi, on the beach in Bermuda. Savannah expertly helped Tyler get a bridal appointment at her client Markarian’s studio. With Savannah, Augusta, and our very own Amanda Jones Vaughan by her side, the bride picked out a pink sequin dress with a feathered trim. “They customized the dress to be off-the-shoulder and the perfect shade of light pink—to match my favorite nail polish shade, Pixie by Jin Soon,” the bride explains.

At the Over The Moon Manolo Blahnik event in New York City in 2022, Augusta and Savannah sweetly picked up a pair of pink pumps for the bride to wear down the aisle. And to complete her ensemble, Tyler wore a pearl necklace that her grandfather had given her Aunt Kelly to wear on Tyler’s wedding day. “I paired the [necklace] with yet another pair of my mom’s earrings—the same pair of pearls and diamonds I wore to my deb ball and that she had given to me for my birthday before she passed,” Tyler shares.

Elliott looked dapper in a classic black tuxedo with an oyster bow tie that he crafted himself with cufflinks from Goldbug Collection. Since the groom is a Master Mason, he also chose to wear his Masonic studs, and his jazzy shoes were a nod to his musical background.

For cocktail hour before the ceremony, Tyler wore a pink-and-red sequin Farm Rio frock that was perfect to celebrate love so close to Valentine’s Day. Guests were then invited to the dinner tables for the service, and the bride walked down the aisle in her custom Markarian dress. The couple worked with officiant Tia Ballard to create a personalized non-denominational wedding. “We had traditional vows, and she weaved our love story into a sentimental homily,” Tyler recalls. “My sisters, Parrish and Morgan, read a poem by Catullus and a bit of Plato’s philosophy on love.”

At the end of the ceremony on the dance floor, Elliott stomped on the glass in the Jewish tradition. “Our officiant joked that this would be the last time he ever put his food down,” Tyler says with a laugh. The doors behind them then opened to reveal the band Affirmative Groove, and the couple romantically went straight into their first dance to “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt.

Tyler gave the country club her signature mini Bermuda rum cake recipe for dessert. “They took it up a notch by adding a beautiful gold leaf.”

The reception was extra special because everyone in attendance knew each other. “All of my friends in life have merged over the years,” Tyler reflects. “My friends from home overlap with my friends from Virginia, Bermuda, Charleston, and New York and back again!”

Since the bride’s family always has Christmas crackers at family dinners, Tyler brought out her favorite part of the tradition—the paper crowns—for guests to sport on the dance floor. “It was so fun to see a sea of pink crowns in the crowd,” Tyler shares. It was also a nice nod to the bride’s mother. “The Lid Lady was my mom’s nickname—she always, always wore hats! When I started [Walk And Talk Charleston], I thought it would be a fun schtick: Meet the Lid Lady at the Hat Man.”

Once the reception came to a formal close, everyone created a tunnel outside for the newlywed’s grand exit on an electric bike for two. The bride sported a white veiled hat that her friend, Katie Sellers, had given her to hold onto until she met her match. The magical evening ended on a high note, quite literally, as the bride shares: “A group of us went back to the pink lobby of The Quirk Hotel, where the night staff was incredibly hospitable. We sang Celine Dion and danced on the bar until the wee hours.”