Our Wedding

Where does one start when reflecting on their wedding? A major thank-you to Brooke for capturing all of the amazing photos you’ll see below.

Here is my attempt to talk about our incredible wedding day.

THE BASICS

Our wedding ceremony was held at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Downtown Stamford. The reception was held at Waveny House back in New Canaan, and our after-party was at Cask Republic in Downtown Stamford.

BEFORE

I stayed at the Marriot Downtown Stamford the night before our wedding and Ben stayed at our condo. We wanted to keep things traditional and said, “Goodnight!” after the rehearsal dinner. I barely slept the night before, because I was so excited.

From the beginning, I knew I didn’t want to have a huge bridal party. I’ve been in six weddings and loved every minute of being a bridesmaid. For my own wedding, I just wanted to stick with family (and my dear friend, Lindsay). The ladies met at 9am at Salon Shahin to get our hair done in their beautiful upstairs studio. After finishing hair, my Maid of Honor, Lindsay and I walked up the street to visit Russ Hollander for some day-of, borrowed bling. I wore the most dreamy sapphire and diamond drop earrings. The rest of the morning was relaxing as Rachel Toussaint did our make-up in the suite at the hotel. I wanted to keep things intimate and stress-free, so my aunts, mother, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and our nieces were the only people I saw the morning of. Thank God for my father bringing me an Ultimate Warrior Smoothie from Green and Tonic around noon. I was too excited to eat, and that smoothie definitely gave me the calories I needed.

The girls wore rose-gold and blush gowns from Bella Bridesmaid in Westport. Maggie was a literal savior and was able to find a dress for Lindsay in just 2-days. Our flower girls wore dresses ordered off Etsy and the sweetest little gold ballet flats that were a gift from Talaria. I wore a Justin Alexander silk ballgown that was everything I wanted- classic and elegant. Denise at The Persnickety Bride in Newtown helped me find the dress nearly a year ago. My shoes were Badgley Mischka ordered from Amazon and my veil was under $50 from Etsy (yes, way). I also changed into this dress after dinner. I was so glad I had something comfortable to dance in.

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THE CEREMONY

We knew we wanted our ceremony at our church, but we also knew we didn’t want a full mass. Our ceremony was perfect- about 20-minutes long! The ceremony was- hands down- my favorite part of the day. I was so nervous, and I remember such a vivid feeling of calm whenever I was holding Ben’s hand. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much in front of such a big group of people before.

Since we are both teachers, we invited former students to attend the ceremony. It was so incredible to look out and see so many smiling little faces during our ceremony. After the ceremony, we hosted an ice cream reception with our students in the courtyard of the church.

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THE RECEPTION

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The weather couldn’t have been better! It was 82 degrees and low-humidity. There is no air-conditioning at Waveny, so we were a bit worried about the July temperatures soaring on our big-day. We spent the entire reception outside, and after sunset, there was even a nice breeze on the back terrace at Waveny.

We knew we wanted a live-band, and ETA provided all the best music all night. Our wedding was the third wedding they’ve played for my family in the last five years!

I really obsessed over some of the details for our tables. Gold flatware was a big deal for me, and thankfully our rental company was able to find it for us. I printed all of our table signs and framed them using frames that I found at the Dollar Store (seriously!). Our floral arrangements were made by Springdale Florist. Tom executed our vision better than I could have imagined. We alternated high and low arrangements with blush, ivory, and green accents.

Our caterer was Carriage House, and they didn’t disappoint. Dessert was something we thought a lot about. We knew we didn’t want a traditional wedding cake. Andrena from Crazy Confections created our delicious red-velvet cake pops. The display was ordered from Etsy. Our cutting cake was also made by Andrena and sat on top of a 200+ piece macaroon tower. The delicious macaroons were from Kirby and Company. We also had desserts that catered to our family backgrounds- pasteis de nata (Portuguese custards) and British candies. We ended the night with a special surprise for Ben. The Valencia Truck arrived to send our guests off with empanadas, Spanish donuts, and arepas.

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I can honestly say that the best day of my life was the day I realized I was completely in love with Ben. (It was after our third date- which I realize sounds completely insane. ‘When ya know, ya know,” they say.) Our wedding was an incredible day, too. It was exactly what we wanted, an intimate gathering of all the people we love most.