The Knot Gala
A performance journey through the Land of Oz, reimagined for New York.
The Context
For its 2022 return, The Knot Gala marked a moment of reunion for the wedding and event industry after two difficult years of cancellations, postponements, and reinvention.
Planned and designed by Magnolia Bluebird at Chelsea Industrial, the evening’s theme, All in Good Time, took inspiration from The Wizard of Oz as a story about resilience. Courage, knowledge, love, perseverance, and the long road home became the emotional framework for the night.
Astarte Creative was brought in by Jordan Kahn Music Company to help bring that world to life through performance, character design, and dance.
The Approach
The event unfolded as a journey through several different worlds.
Guests first entered through a surreal black-and-white space, a kind of threshold before the world opened into color. We placed black-and-white, pop art-inspired characters at arrival to create the feeling of crossing over — leaving the real world behind and stepping into the strange unknown.
From there, guests moved onto a flower-lined yellow brick road, where a boisterous drag artist welcomed them into the fantasy as a guide, host, and kind of modern-day wizard.
In the Glinda-inspired section, everything turned pink. We created a Good Witch character with a giant cotton candy wig, offering sweet treats to guests as though they were being spun from her own hair. Nearby, instead of a traditional Tin Man reference, we placed a glamorous tinsel woman on stilts, metallic and statuesque, blending into the tinsel-tree food installation decor.
For the Knowledge section, inspired loosely by the Scarecrow’s search for a brain, the tone became more contemplative. Inside a cornfield environment, models stood as living canvases while calligraphers wrote words, symbols, and philosophical fragments directly onto their bodies. One performer was painted with Chinese calligraphy. It was a quiet installation, but one of the most striking — something guests could watch unfold in real time.
The Wicked Witch section brought in a darker mood. Masked characters moved through the space with a sense of mystery, while an aerialist in a crow mask performed inside a gilded birdcage above the guests. During cocktails, an aerialist dressed in red performed inside a diamond-shaped apparatus that glowed bright red, turning the ruby slipper reference into a suspended jewel.
The night culminated in a flash mob inspired by The Wiz, voguing, and New York ballroom culture. Dancers representing light and dark began in opposition, almost like a dance battle, before the movement opened into something more celebratory and communal. It felt distinctly New York: theatrical, stylish, joyful, and a little defiant. The performance pulled guests toward the dance floor and shifted the event into shared celebration.
The Outcome
Each section had its own character, pace, and emotional texture that was fully immersive. For Astarte Creative, the project was about translating a familiar story into a live event language — using performers to guide guests through the evening’s larger arc of resilience and transformation.
Services
Immersive Entertainment
Choreography
Aerial Artists
Stiltwalkers
Bodypainting
Drag Artist
Flash Mob Choreography
Themed Event Entertainment
