When tickets to the Nashville Fantasy Ball’s inaugural event went on sale in August, the 350 tickets sold out in around two minutes. Then the wait list grew to thousands. In response, the creators added a second night. That one sold out in about 15 minutes.
With their Forbidden Fantasies ball, set for Feb. 7 and 8, Jenna Wolf and Caitlin Hart (together WolfHart Productions) have struck gold. Garnering $250 for general admission and $400 for VIP tickets means Hart was able to make the newly formed agency her full-time job.
“I think we’re learning through this process to start trusting what things feel like, because we felt that energy there,” Hart tells the Scene. “But you don’t know until it happens. ‘Is all of this excitement and energy we’re feeling actually going to translate to ticket sales?’ And it was like, ‘Yes, it is.’”
The closest reference for the event is an elevated Renaissance festival — minus the mud — hosted at event venue The Bedford. Guests will enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres, an open bar with custom cocktails, a nonalcoholic bar sponsored by Nashville-based beverage company Killjoy, a photo booth, a portrait studio, tarot card readings and shopping from local vendors. A DJ as well as the Atwood Quartet — which was featured in the third season of the Netflix series Bridgerton — will soundtrack the night. Hired actors are tasked with “guiding the storyline” for the evening too.
VIP tickets include a private event the night before the ball, swag bags, early entry and a private section at the event itself.
“We come into this as consumers and as creatives who just want to elevate every aspect,” Hart says. “We go to events and we’re like, ‘This could have been nicer. This could have been more over-the-top.’ We are team ‘more is more.’”
“Maximalists,” Wolf adds.
A renewed cultural interest in fantasy books makes the timing ripe for such events, but the shadow of serious viral flops like Detroit’s Bridgerton Ball and Scotland’s Wonka Experience looms. To combat possible comparisons, Hart and Wolf make a point to show their faces.
“It is the Wild West of the event world, because not many [fantasy-centric events] have happened,” Wolf says. “There’s not much standardization. … Our intention as creators and holding this brand is to really build trust with our community.”
While such balls may seem trendy now, the WolfHart Productions team wants Nashville Fantasy Ball events to have longevity, like the Anne Rice annual vampire ball in New Orleans (which just celebrated its 36th year) or the Labyrinth Masquerade (which held its 26th event in 2024). WolfHart Productions has planned out its entire 2025 calendar with two more balls and a series of smaller events.
Events are not something the pair has a lot of experience in, so they brought in experienced event planners. They do, however, have backgrounds in wellness, which makes them adept at “creating experiences,” says Wolf, who owns massage and reiki business The Lotus Room.
Hart and Wolf are lifelong fantasy literature fans, growing up on Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Hart rediscovered the genre when she was making the difficult decision to sell her own spa business in 2024. The pair bonded over The Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros. Then they saw footage from a fantasy ball in Scotland.
“We were both at this point in our lives where we were really seeking out more experiences that were just for fun, and not like a business trip,” Hart says.
So they created WolfHart Productions to be the party they wished to see. The event has a Discord group, and attendees have made plans to go together.
On the mood board (and Amazon storefront) for Forbidden Fantasies are Romeo and Juliet, Hades and Persephone, and Renaissance- and Victorian-era aesthetics, all based on the enemies-to-lovers trope. What ties all of their references together in this event and future events, Hart explains, is magic.
“There has to be magic, an element of that — which can go a lot of different directions,” she says. “It can go mythology, it can go literature. It can go sci-fi at times, but there has to be some kind of magical element. We do definitely attract mostly people that got into this world through literature, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.”
Attendees can choose a character to embody, if they wish. It’s elevated cosplay, becoming the “most extravagant version of yourself or your favorite character.” They also expect lots of fairy ears. The main stipulation: Dress up. It’s formal.
“Our goal with these events is to cast a broad net for people to embody the energy of the event,” Wolf says.
The next ball, Garden of the Gods Summer Solstice Ball, has tickets available.
