Hey, pull over! Tanya Johnson shouted to her future husband across a California freeway. You stole my car!

The car was a rare 2003 Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale that had eluded Tanya a collector when the dealer sold it out from under her.  The driver of the car was Charles Brandes, a money manager and Ferrari collector himself.

Tanya accusation was misdirected: Charles had bought his car a week before, in Arizona. But the two hit it off, with Charles inviting Tanya back to his home to see his collection. She’s a car guy, he said happily.

Soon they were twisting around corners and bulleting down the straight aways of Palomar Mountain in Charles's Ferrari Enzo.  He was a pretty good driver, so I thought I should go out with him again, Tanya said.

The more I got to know about her character and her thinking about the world, the more I fell in love with her, Charles said. A little over a year later, he proposed on a sandy beach in Southern California.

The two considered a small, private wedding, but instead opted to invite 400 guests to the home they had built together in San Diego. Reflecting the couple’s love for nature, the ceremony was held in a 1.5-acre rose garden Tanya and Charles spent months cultivating for the occasion; they exchanged personalized vows under a 5,000-rose arbor.

To help achieve the formal springtime garden feel in a 37,500-square-foot, bi-level tent, a virtual army of wedding planners, florists, and personnel assembled a ceiling full of 16,000 Mokara and Vanda orchids surrounding glass chandeliers hanging from the latticework. In addition, the crew created six10-foot green, white, and burgundy orchid trees using fruit-tree trunks adorned with 10,000 cymbidium orchids.

Dinner included pan-roasted sea bass and prime Kobe beef ribs, with desserts of Key Lime creme brulee, a milk-chocolate torte, and confectionery strawberry shortcake. A quartet from the San Diego Symphony Orchestra provided the music for the cocktail hour, while Sir Elton John performed at the reception.

It was phenomenal, said Tanya, noting that the celebrity singer asked for a contribution to the Elton John AIDS Foundation in lieu of a fee. We were able to give a gift to our friends and family while making a donation to a cause that matters to us, Tanya said.

Tanya danced with her husband to Elton's hit, The One, in an Ines Di Santo gown, changing into a more flexible Versace dress for the surprise post-reception discotheque that immediately followed the performance. The party, which continued into the early hours of the morning, was not for us, necessarily, but a wedding for the people who came," said Charles, who added that many guests said "it was the best they had ever been to.

The couple honeymooned in Bora Bora, where fast cars are few but seclusion is plentiful. After a wedding like this, where the planning was very detailed and stressful, we decided to get far enough away to relax," said Charles.