Photo: Giuseppe Marano and Alessia Angelotti

Gabrielle Katz and Owen Beaufort-Zeal had a fast, international courtship befitting of two people in the fashion world. When Owen matched with Gabrielle—founder of public relations firm Accent Projects—on Raya in November 2024, he was midway through planning a move from Milan to New York City. Gabrielle says she understood this soon-to-be transplant would have no idea where to take her out for drinks—so, she texted the GM of the recently opened hotspot The Corner Store to score bar seats. “If the date sucked, at least I would get a good martini,” Gabrielle says.

When Owen arrived, Gabrielle was busy chatting away with the PR heads of Loewe, Max Mara, and Hermès, all of whom were waiting for their respective tables. Once they were alone, Owen explained he was also in the fashion world and was moving to head up the American division of the brand Slowear. “I thought he was too good-looking to date seriously,” Gabrielle says. “So I might as well try to get a new client.” However, the evening continued with amazing banter, chemistry, and ease, and she changed her mind.

Owen asked Gabrielle to dinner the following night, which was the evening of the presidential election. “I told him I needed to rock back and forth on the sofa,” Gabrielle says. As the results began coming in, she decided she did want company after all, and he arrived on her doorstep with purple flowers—the couple’s first tradition, which still stands today. “Though devastated at the state of my country, I was becoming increasingly optimistic about the state of my love life,” says Gabrielle. They would only have one more night to see each other before Owen returned to Milan and Gabrielle would travel to Copenhagen for a wedding.

While they were both in Europe—though, it should be noted, 880 miles away from each other—Gabrielle took a leap of faith and asked to visit Owen in Italy for one evening. “That night in Milan, I not only fell in love with him, but I knew I had finally met my husband. And he was so much better than I could’ve ever dreamed,” she shares. “We chased each other around six countries in the first three months until he was able to move in with me.”

Less than a year later, Owen worked with Kimberley Fine Jewels to design an engagement ring for Gabrielle—an old mine cushion cut diamond framed by two baguettes. He proposed the night before her birthday, on August 12, 2025, in Saint-Remy, France. Owen, who is half-French and half-British, originally intended to pop the question on his father’s farm a few weeks later. “However, Gabby had to return to New York for work—which thwarted my plans, but not my ambition,” he says. “After a long dinner with friends, we returned to our hotel, where I suggested a nightcap. Gabby went to freshen up, and when she came into the bedroom, I was on bended knee and asked her to be my wife.”

The couple didn’t want to waste any more time. They booked their wedding for May 23, 2026—just nine months away—at Belcombe Court in Bradford-on-Avon, England. The family home in the countryside was the perfect set-up for a weekend full of events.

Gabrielle would take charge both as bride and wedding planner to execute their vision. “Look, no one but me was going to plan the wedding I wanted. It’s not only what I do for a living, but it’s what I love to do,” she says. The bride notes Owen was a wonderful partner through it all. “He is both creative and calming, the perfect compliment to my perfectionist self,” she says. “Having only been together for nine months when we started planning, it would be the biggest thing we would accomplish as a couple and also the first time a lot of our families and friends would come together.” Gabrielle also enlisted her team at Accent, along with Steph Burchell and Isaiah Barnes from SI Studios Inc., to help bring the celebration to life.

She describes the vision as “Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette meets Clueless” along with “a lot of early 2000s Oscar de la Renta references.” While Gabrielle made the layout, selected décor, and sourced vintage tablecloths from trips to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Paris, “and Etsy,” she also received help from her circle. “Owen’s mother’s art club made 180 meters of bunting using vintage fabrics,” notes the bride.

She also shares that the celebration would not be possible without help from one of her best friends, Matthew Adams Dolan. “As our wedding present, he created all the art and printed materials for us; he even hand-calligraphed everything from the escort cards to the envelopes,” says Gabrielle. The design incorporated elements from their engagement trip, like two kissing doves, a painting by Jean Cocteau, and the phrase “pour l’amour” as their wedding motif.

As two people who work in fashion, it’s little surprise that the weekend’s wardrobe was one of the most critical elements. “Fashion was just as much a key component of our wedding as love,” says Gabrielle. “When 60% of the guest list helps inform what others wear and how they shop, we knew no matter what happened, everyone was going to look good.”

The festivities kicked off with a tour of London for family and friends, a visit to Claridge’s, and a pub quiz in Notting Hill. For the latter event, the groom served as quiz master, and the bride wore John Galliano for Christian Dior sourced by Raffe Vintage. She paired the look with her favorite Manolo Blahnik mules.

The welcome barbecue at Belcombe the following day was inspired by Gabrielle’s blue and white striped Ralph Lauren Purple Label gown, sourced by Sara Nicole Vintage. The theme was “Une Fête Américaine: Grill and Glamour.” Gabrielle explains: “We made a mood board that felt very ‘90s American prep.” She paired the look with jewelry from her business partner and co-maid of honor Jamie Hunter’s upcoming collaboration with Tarin Thomas. “I love an exclusive after all!” Gabrielle jokes.

To get ready for her wedding day, Gabrielle searched everywhere to find a white robe from Celestine, a German brand that had gone out of business. (“I got the last white one in all of NYC at Bonne Nuit,” she says.) The bride also wore a custom onesie and garter designed by Belle-et BonBon throughout the morning.

For “the dress,” Gabrielle knew it had to be custom. Three years prior, she had screenshotted a 2006 Roberto Cavalli “peach floral gown” she saw on 1stDibs. “I knew when the day came, I’d want a version of this,” Gabrielle shares. “I just didn’t know who could bring it to life.” When she saw her friend Gigi Burris wearing a custom-made dress by Christy Rilling, founder of Guild of Hands, she asked to be put in touch. Rilling had Gabrielle put together a mood board of her inspiration for the gown, which included Galliano, 2000s Elie Saab, Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy, and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s wedding dress. “While it may seem like I’m hopping on the Love Story bandwagon, CBK is the reason I wanted to be in fashion PR and my consummate inspiration,” says Gabrielle. The designer was able to craft a high-neck bias cut gown with a sheer bottom covered in detailed embroidery for the bride to wear down the aisle.

Gabrielle accessorized the look with Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes, a veil designed by Burris, gloves sourced from Cornelia James, and diamond jewelry from her client and “fierce fairy godmother” Jennifer Fisher. “I was heartbroken when my nonna’s vintage Dior earrings I had planned to wear went missing two weeks before the wedding, but my friend Theresa Ross swooped in and lent me a beautiful pair of her estate diamond and pearl earrings,” shares the bride of her something old. “Jamie’s mother, Kim Charlton, gave me her oval sapphire and diamond ring as my something borrowed and blue.”

For her second look, Gabrielle had Guild of Hands craft another favorite piece of fashion history—a dress by Simone Rocha for Jean Paul Gaultier’s spring 2024 couture collection. “I quite literally cried when I saw it on Vogue Runway and quite literally sobbed years later at the Jean Paul Gaultier couture atelier when I went to try it on,” says the bride of the blush look. “Christy was able to incorporate elements from a 1997 Chanel couture gown that I loved to make me something unique for my reception dress.” She topped off the look with a Jennifer Fisher diamond collar, Sherman Field diamond studs borrowed from her friend Laurel Pantin, and red Manolos as a nod to the color of her company’s branding.

Her final look for their dance party in a barn on the property was a white mini dress from Givenchy’s fall 2025 collection—Sarah Burton’s debut at the storied French house. Gabrielle initially bought it in October, but returned it, thinking she was choosing her party dress too soon. “Owen and I were shopping in Selfridges that Christmas Eve, and I saw the dress there,” she says. “He loved it, made me try it on for him, and insisted I get it.” She paired the look with Jimmy Choo heels and no jewelry for stress-free dancing.

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