Artist Mackenzie Cantor and entrepreneur Benjamin Taft were fast friends in college—but it took six years and one trip around the world for them to realize they were meant to be more. “Mackenzie and I knew each other as friends for many years, and I always had a crush on her,” shares Ben. In 2022, the pair took a big risk for their first date and went on a spontaneous trip to the World Cup in Qatar. “Mackenzie agreed to come on the trip with me (with encouragement from her mom) and intuitively knew that the trip would end in one of two ways: either we would never speak again, or we would get married,” says Ben. “The rest is history—and we ended our honeymoon with this year’s World Cup finals!”
In March 2025, Ben surprised Mackenzie with a proposal before her gallery show in New York City. “All of our most important friends and family were already coming out to support the show, so I figured everyone would be in one place and it would be the perfect time to make something happen,” he says. Ben had the gallerist ask Mackenzie to come in early to be interviewed by a journalist and take photos. The photographer was also an actor and was ready to play a part. Ben explains, “After a few minutes of asking interview questions and getting her to strike different poses, she looked over at me and said, ‘Are you her boyfriend or something? Do you wanna at least get in for a photo before you leave?’ I said ‘sue’ nonchalantly, got in front of her painting with her, and got down on one knee.” Mackenzie adds, “Ben proposed privately in the gallery in front of one of my favorite paintings I’ve made and later that evening, we had the show and all of our friends and family came to celebrate.”
The couple decided to tie the knot just over a year later on June 6, 2026, at the Carmel Valley Ranch in California. “The area has become a special place for us that we visit multiple times a year, so it made us feel super comfortable and relaxed to be in a place we know and love so much,” says Mackenzie. As an artist, the bride had a clear picture of how the wedding weekend should look and feel. “I deeply wanted the entire experience to feel intentional and cohesive,” she says. “Sophia Goff, our wedding planner, helped me perfectly capture the essence of Ben and I, as well as execute my creative concepts and vision.” While the bride took on crafting the visual journey of the weekend, the groom handled its soundtrack. “From choosing the specific songs that played in the brief shuttle rides to curating every single playlist for every moment to orchestrating live strings at dinner, Ben was in charge,” says Mackenzie.
The aesthetic of the wedding took shape once Mackenzie found her dress. “I knew pretty early on that I wanted to be in one of Danielle Frankel’s hand-painted gowns,” says the bride. “The painter in me couldn’t resist wearing an actual work of art down the aisle.” Mackenzie fell in love with the Juniper gown, but had a slightly different vision for the colors and silhouette of the dress. “I worked with their amazing team to trade sketches and color swatches back and forth to design our own custom take on the gown,” she says. “We changed the waistline, the colors of the painting, the length and shape of the base, and added material to exaggerate the hips.” The bride calls the final result “a masterpiece.” Mackenzie decided to have cream and pastel blue hues of the gown define the palette of the wedding and the hand-painted florals mirrored in arrangements. “The second I found my dress, I knew the aesthetics of the wedding needed to be built around the gown,” she says.