Margaret Waltemath, owner of interior design firm Margaret Ash Design, and Jonathan Ash, an investment banker, met at a martini bar in San Francisco through mutual friends. "I was immediately caught by the figure of a woman across the room," he recalls. "I made it a point to introduce myself." At the end of the night, Jonathan walked Margaret home, and the two shared a kiss with promises to follow up with a date.
After two years of dating, Jonathan had plans to propose and enlisted the help of a photographer to capture the big moment. Jonathan convinced Margaret to go for a walk with him in a park before a dinner reservation. Upon completing a final loop around a pond, Jonathan got down on one knee and recited the lines he had been memorizing. Margaret said yes, and shortly after the two ventured up to Sonoma Valley for a celebratory trip, complete with a hot air balloon ride.
With the help of event planner Linley Stokes, the pair tied the knot about a year later, over Memorial Day Weekend, on May 29, 2016. The third milestone to occur in May, between meeting, getting engaged, and tying the knot, in the same month but different years. "We were 'May-ed' to be together" says Jonathan. They celebrated with 188 guests at the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in the bride's hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. Following the secret garden-like ceremony, there was an elegant reception at The Belle Meade Country Club, which combined themes of their Southern roots with their new life in California.
Watch Margaret and Jonathan's Wedding Film