Jeremiah Brent Talks Nate Berkus, Fatherhood, and the Best Party He's Ever Thrown

As one half of the design world’s first couple, Jeremiah Brent manages to balance the roles of celebrity designer, husband and father to 17-month-old daughter Poppy with bafflingly grace and a killer sense of humor.

“I don’t remember the last house party I was at. I’ve gotten so old,” he tells PEOPLE with a laugh. The consummate — and frequent — host, 31, is discussing his best entertaining tips, which he recently put to use for a spectacular travel-themed party with Cointreau in Los Angeles. “Your home is a kind of a reflection of your family, your life, where you’re at, where you want to be, so I love to entertain people in it,” he continues. “If it’s not a barbecue by the pool, then it’s dinner with friends. It’s the most intimate surrounding and setting that I can picture. We do it all the time, kid or not.”

And who’s the better host between he and Nate? “I think we have different strengths in different areas,” he says diplomatically. “I have to go inside and deal with him, you know!” Brent’s strengths, he says, lie on the planning end of things. “I’m the total organizer. Everything’s got a system. It’s in order. It’s the one place that I’m OCD . . . actually I’m OCD in a lot of places, but especially when it comes to creating those experiences.”

Nate, 44, on the other hand is the social butterfly. “My husband is so gregarious and open and funny and such a people person,” he gushes. “He’s great, but I think the best parties we throw are together. Like any thing we do, I think it’s best when we’re together.”

Brent’s pick for most memorable event he’s ever pulled off was grand, gorgeous and not at all surprising. “The best party I’ve ever thrown was our wedding!” he says of their 2014 nuptials at the New York Public Library. “And that’s because it was such an unexpected love bomb. I don’t know how else to describe it. It was one of those things where you’re just surrounded by people who are all part of your story both individually and as a couple. It was such a magic night.” The wedding’s 220 guests included Oprah Winfrey, Rachael Ray and Busy Philipps.

The best party he’s ever attended was decidedly more low-key. “One of the best events I’ve gone to was thrown by [Eyeswoon blogger] Athena Calderone,” he recalls. “She did an event with Cointreau at her home in Amagansett, New York, and we were on these big beautiful Moroccan pillows, and it was just friends and candles and delicious drinks and music,” Brent says of the backyard soiree. “Every time I google a backyard party those are always the images that come up now.”

He does have one regret about the Midsummer Night’s Dream-themed evening: “I wore a top knot, which is a choice I wish I hadn’t made,” he says laughing. “In my defense, at the time it was totally on trend. Whatever, at least it wasn’t a mullet.” These days, he points out, “the only top knot in my house is on my daughter.”