A Swanky, Luxurious Black-Tie Wedding at The Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida

Jesse  and Preston make a pretty good team. While Jesse planned the Malibu proposal, Preston relied on his experience to plan the wedding. “Working in weddings, Preston knew exactly what he wanted,” Jesse says. That vision reflected the couple’s personal style, which Jesse calls “dark, chic, refined and designer.” For the dark and chic elements, the couple went with a black-tie dress code, refined rose gold touches and, of course, designer with Preston’s Gucci accents.

Guests arrived at a hedge wall of hidden doors and took flutes of champagne courtesy of white-gloved servers before taking their seats at tables topped with curly gold banyan roots, willows, white roses and orchids. Gold flatware added a touch of sparkle to the black marble-print chargers, onyx napkins and white marble menus, all topped with a white phalaenopsis orchid. “Preston is a floral designer, so we wanted our flowers to be different and edgy,” Jesse says.

Jesse and Preston cut into an eight-tier black cake with layers of marble and gold flakes, inspired by Versace’s signature design style.  At the end of the night, the couple said goodbye to their guests in a white 1963 Chevy Impala and headed off to their Sarasota honeymoon. As Jesse and Preston drove off, sparkler cannons and fountains lit up the outside of the Oxford Exchange.