On June 26th, Jill and Joseph were married at the First Congregational Church of Litchfield in an emotional ceremony, surrounded by their loving family and friends. I’m so excited to blog about this wedding as it truly touched all of us that were so lucky to be part of it. Jill and Joseph’s love was the kind of love you wait a lifetime for– having found each other later in life– they fell madly in love and built an incredible life together. They had a classic, new england wedding in blue and white. Simply perfect. Jill was also a peach to work with– she’s so kind, funny, thoughtful, and just loved planning every aspect of her wedding. She quickly became one of our favorite brides!

Jill contacted us a few months out from her wedding date to finalize all those important last minute details. She had assembled a wonderful team of local vendors: The Boulders Inn in New Preston, which is a stunning private hotel and restaurant overlooking sweeping views of Litchfield County and Lake Waramaug. Guests dinned on a multi-course dinner of delicious food and wine, complete with vodka shots as a nod to the bride and groom’s heritage. Their floral design of classic white and blue by talented and esteemed local floral designer, Loretta Stagen. Jill carried a bouquet featuring Lily of the Valley and white sweet peas with natural stems wrapped in lace matching her gown and bolero from The White Dress by the Shore. I absolutely loved her gown– simple, lace, with beautiful buttons up the back and a huge couture bow.

The bridesmaids (her sister and best friend) wore custom navy gowns by a local designer. The groom and his groomsmen (both his brothers) wore classic black tuxedos with ascots. The bride and grooms’ niece and nephew served as the perfect pair of ring bearer and flower girl (even though she had a hard time making it down the aisle– she couldn’t have looked any cuter!). After the ceremony, the bride and groom received all their guests outside the church.

Guests arrived at The Boulders with cocktails and a scrumpteous spread of afternoon hors d’oeurves. The Sam Vinci Band played great crooner music through out the day and into the evening. Jill and Joseph were introduced to their favorite Beatles song, and danced their first dance to “Secret of Life” by James Taylor. They even introduced their pup Henry, who was the most well behaved Beagle I ever met. He even had a pretty collar of flowers made for him– especially for the day!

Escort cards were placed on the elegant buffet table in the fireplace room on a beautiful silver tray. Dinner was composed of the most delicious food– course after course of beautiful and delightful dishes. Shrimp cocktail, Vischyssoises Soup, Filet & Lobster Tail, and my favorite– buttery bibb salad. The dinning room at The Boulders was decorated beautifully with clean white linens on a combination of round and long family style tables. Loretta Stagen created centerpieces with soft hues of white and blue, with white Majolica roses, scented white freesia and white phlox, light pink sweet peas and sky blue delphinium in square containers. There was plenty of candlelight, and clinking silver-rimmed glasses. Each place setting had a beautiful hem-stitched linen napkin and menu card by DK Schulman Design of New Preston– who created all the wedding stationery for the day.

At the end of dinner, they cut their magnificent cake by Ana Parzych Custom Cakes— a beautiful white, three tiered custom masterpiece with a clutch of lillies of the valley and satin bow, all inspired by the bride’s gown and bouquet. Ana also created a fun Red Sox themed grooms cake for Joseph– and miniature “guys” cakes in white boxes for all the male guests to take home (ladies took home chocolate engagement rings– so cute!). The night ended with dancing on the outside patio, overlooking the lake, to solo guitarist Ian Campbell. All the images below are by their talented photographer, Sarah Wight.

Thank you so much to SaraD for all these lovely images! An enormous thank you to Jill and Joseph for including myself and my team in their beautiful, emotional, and memorable day. We left feeling like family (I’m a Coppola after all!). Wishing you nothing but the very best in your life together. xo!