This Model Bride and Groom Wanted Their North Carolina Wedding to Be a “Total Surprise”

The wedding was planned for August 12, 2023, in Highlands, North Carolina. Claire is originally from Nashville, and Chase is from Colorado, so North Carolina felt like the perfect middle ground for everyone. “We toured six different venues, but Old Edwards Inn was the one that stole our hearts,” Claire says. “The staff is outstandingly kind and incredibly accommodating, and the Blue Ridge Mountains are breathtaking. Highlands is also in close proximity to the place where Chase’s mom grew up, which is such a sweet happenstance.”

In what is decidedly a departure from the norm, the entire wedding weekend was a complete surprise for both the bride and groom. “Because of this, the wedding-planning process was a breeze for me,” Claire says. “I did the bare minimum required and left the rest to my mom, who is an interior designer, and our amazing wedding planner, Molly McKinley. The only part of planning I did was choose the guy, design the dresses—mine and the bridesmaids’—and have creative input on the invites, which are something I’m passionate about.”

It’s not that Claire didn’t care about the wedding—she just cared more about actually getting married and wanted to keep that as the main focus at all times. “Planning a destination wedding and being an international runway model are two things that do not go well together,” Claire explains. “With everything I have going on, I knew it would create an unhealthy level of stress that I didn’t want to walk into my marriage with.”

To that end, the bride created a mood board and handed it off to her mother and McKinley to execute. “We talked briefly about a few things along the way, but, for the most part, I stayed out of it,” Claire says. “It made it so much easier for Chase and me to enjoy not only our wedding day fully, but also the one-and-a-half years we spent engaged. We weren’t worried or stressed about anything. We are so happy we chose to do it that way. Molly is one of the hardest-working women I’ve ever met. She deeply cares about every single detail being meaningful to the couple. I gave her a vision and a vibe that she took and turned into a masterpiece.”

And while McKinley and Claire’s mother handled the event aesthetics and production, curating the fashion for the weekend was Claire’s favorite part of prepping for the wedding. She ended up with four dresses on her actual wedding day. “This was originally discouraged due to the time I would spend changing outfits,” she remembers. “But I have been training for those quick changes over my past 10 years modeling. I wish someone would have timed me. I guarantee each change took less than five minutes!”

For the ceremony, Claire wore a Pnina Tornai dress, Chanel shoes, and vintage pear-shaped diamond drop earrings. “Finding my ceremony dress was not an easy process,” she says. “I don’t know if it was the fact that I had already worn the best-of-the-best runway pieces or the fact that I tend to be more selective about important pieces, but it took two separate trips to all the biggest bridal ateliers in New York for me to find my dress.”

Ironically, the gown she ultimately chose was one she initially selected from the rack as a joke, something to “cleanse her palate” after trying on a hundred dresses and practically giving up. “I would never have originally picked it,” she says. “But as my sister, Abbie, did up the corset, it happened, and for the first time, I envisioned myself walking down the aisle to Chase in that gown. It came over me like a wave; I started bawling my eyes out. I couldn’t control it. This dress went against everything I originally wanted, but between the look on my sister’s face and seeing my mom start to cry as I walked out of the dressing room, I knew this was the one.”

Claire’s good friend Alan Lee is the director of design at Tory Burch, and he had just finished up creating gowns for the Karl Lagerfeld–themed Met Gala. Claire invited him to join her for her first wedding-dress fitting. “I knew bringing Alan with me would solve anything I was unsure of about the gown,” she says. “I told him to think ‘Chanel couture meets Secret Garden wedding,’ and that is exactly what he did. He told the tailoring team precisely what to do and made my dress perfect. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without his eye.”

Claire looked for bridesmaids’ dresses for months, but never saw anything that spoke to her. She wanted dresses that were easy and elegant, and after six months of searching, she finally came across an Australian company called Héxié Studios. She and the owner, Harmony, custom-made the color and style of the dresses for the bridesmaids as well as a unique and special look for the maid of honor, Abbie. “I chose the pale yellow color because of my sister,” Claire explains. “Her nickname has always been ‘Sunshine’ because of her contagious smile. I actually had a very emotional moment where my ‘sunshine’ color became even more meaningful to me just a few weeks before the wedding. I was home for the holidays and was rummaging around our attic when I stumbled upon a dusty box of wedding photos. They were my mimi’s. She had all of her bridesmaids in the exact same pale yellow color. I cried my eyes out. My grandmother, ironically named Joy, has been battling dementia for years, and I knew there was no way she could be at the wedding. This was God’s way of reminding me she was right there with me in spirit.”

Just before the ceremony began at the Orchard House—a property on the grounds of the Old Edwards Inn—on a Saturday in August with a forecast that showed zero precipitation, it started pouring rain. Guests had to rush inside, and the groom was visibly worried. “I was asked if we wanted to cancel the ceremony and get married inside the farmhouse, but I said, ‘No chance!’” Claire says. “A love like ours deserves to be shared with the people we love most.”

There was a short break in the rain, so the service kicked off quickly and everyone had umbrellas in hand. Claire, escorted by her father, walked down the aisle to an instrumental performance of “Line of Sight” by Odesza, which had also been playing during the couple’s first kiss at Coachella. “The sun started shining just as I was walking down the aisle,” Claire remembers. “When I locked eyes with Chase, I started laughing and crying at the same time. He had never looked more handsome. I was just so excited I got to marry him.”

The bride’s stepfather, Daryl Cater, officiated. “Along with my own father, he is one of the most special men in my life,” she says. “It meant a lot to have my dad give me away to my husband and my other dad exchange our vows. The thunder started rolling in again about halfway through, so we skipped ahead to our vows. Chase’s vows were the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. I wrote mine at 3 a.m. the night before, but it is easy to write beautiful words when you’re writing them about an incredibly beautiful person.”

As the ceremony finished, it started pouring again. At this point, Claire’s ceremony dress was soaked with mud and rainwater—and it was so heavy it took three people to hold it up as she headed back to the house. “Chase [ultimately] picked me up, and we ran back to the small house where I had gotten ready to have a private moment together,” Claire remembers. “We took a moment to just hold each other and take in what just happened. We prayed together, then rejoined our families for photos.” After taking pictures, they went back to the house to change into their reception looks, which were inspired by John and Jackie Kennedy.

Claire’s Danielle Frankel dress was the one she originally envisioned herself wearing the entire night. “It is simple and elegant and has the most beautiful silk fabric that I have ever seen,” she says. “The low back added a modern, romantic element to the gown. But Danielle and I both agreed that while this dress was perfect for my reception, it would not be enough of a statement for our black-tie ceremony.”

For the reception, guests made their way into the Old Edwards Barn, where there were 360-degree views of the gardens, 30-foot-tall vaulted ceilings, and giant fireplaces in two corners. “It was the epitome of romance and intimacy, despite the 200-plus guest count,” Claire says.

After the couple’s first dance, they cut their cake, and Claire changed once more into a vintage Christian Dior wedding gown from the late ’80s or early ’90s with a train and a large detachable bow in the back. “The Christian Dior gown was found only weeks before the wedding, and my mom had the bright idea of cutting off the bottom to make it fun and modern,” Claire says. The newlyweds danced all night with friends and family, and then ran through a gauntlet of sparklers being held by guests before piling into their getaway car: a red vintage convertible with a retro “Just Married” sign on the back—a classic in more ways than one.