A Wedding Story: Michael & Dagney in Oxford, Connecticut

Dagney and Michael were married on May 16th, 2009 at Calvary Church in Trumbull, Connecticut in a moving ceremony filled with personal touches and a lot of song! Their reception was held at Oxford Airport, in Oxford Connecticut in one of the working hangars. It was truly spectacular! But before we delve into the details of their one-of-a-kind event, here is their incredible love story.
They met after being matched up on eHarmony. They were two pilots who had individual loves of aviation, they hit it off from the start. Dagney grew up flying planes with her Dad and Michael is a pilot in the military. Their love of planes and their faith brought them together. Michael actually proposed in an airplane as he flew them to a celebratory dinner. One word to describe that: amazing! I think you’ll be hearing me say that a lot about this wedding.
When Michael & Dagney contacted me in January to help plan and coordinate they had one idea – they wanted to be married in an airplane hangar. If you knew them and their families (with long aviation history) it was a no brainer. People may have said it couldn’t be done, but they had an incredible set of people helping them to pull it together.
The event was catered by emily’s catering, where guests dined on a duet of chicken and salmon with delicious vegetables passed around the table family style. They had the most incredible band, The Joe Holmes Swing Band from Norwalk, Connecticut. They LIT UP the hangar and provided throw back, 1940’s war time sound. They were nothing short of amazing! Bouquets and floral centerpieces were provided by Flore Floral Design in Southbury, Connecticut. The cake was provided by a family friend, Crystal, who did an incredible job! Lastly, the event was captured by very good friends of Jubilee, the talented group at Robert & Kathleen Photographers. They did an amazing job of telling the story of how Dagney & Michael’s day began and ended. Finally, Jubilee Events (that’s us!) coordinated and planned the event. Big thanks to Style Me Pretty who featured this event (before we even did!) in their Friday edition. Thanks Abby and Eddye!
The day began with the bride getting ready at her parents’ home with her maids.

She wore a gorgeous dress by Maggie Sottero and her mother’s vintage 1960′s veil which was cathedral length. Believe me when I tell you it was magnificent!

The ceremony was held at the Bride’s church in Trumbull, Connecticut. Dagney walked down the aisle first with her father, and turned around to face the church doors while she waited for her groom to come and receive her. It was very moving and unique!

After the ceremony guests waited outside for the sabre arch. They dashed into an awaiting black towne car and off they went to their amazing reception!

Their reception was held at Oxford Airport in Oxford, Connecticut. I think everyone, guests and vendors alike, were overwhelmed with how awesome it was to be celebrating in a working airplane hangar, surrounded by 7 planes. Dagney and Michael had a vintage 1948 Beech D-15S flown in especially for the occasion. It was gorgeous and the perfect centerpiece to their event. We positioned it, along with two other planes, behind the The Joe Holmes Swing Band and black and white checkered dance floor.

When guest arrived to the hangar they were greated with fabulous hor’dourves and cocktails from emily’s catering. They were invited to look at photographs that documented the couple’s families aviation history, sign their handmade wooden propeller, and grab their boarding pass which promised to take them to an amazing location that was significant to the couple. Each table was assigned a gate number for the guests to fly out from.
The tablescape was dreamed up by Dagney’s mom, who loves to dress up tables! Her and I worked together on the design, but all the credit goes to her. They really loved a family style table setting and wanted something unqiue, so we used rectangular tables instead of round or square. They had custom yellow overlays made to bring in a pop of color, and we brought in stone slabs to pay homage to their new last name (Stone). Sitting atop each stone slab was a floral centerpiece by Flore Floral Design. Filled with spray roses, ranunculous and other yellow and white flowers arranged in a glass pedestal vase. The centerpieces were flanked by hand cut lilacs in silver mint julep cups and tall fluted vases with hand cut branches, both of which Jubilee Events arranged. It was really breath taking!

The cake was lovely — white buttercream with green scroll work and their monogram on the second tier. It was decorated with pretty yellow roses and sat on top of a fun green poodle linen that Dagney’s mother picked out. It was simply gorgeous with one of the planes as a back drop!

They danced their first song to At Last by Etta James, as sung by their good friend Ana. It was extremely romantic! Guests danced the night away to big band 1940′s war era songs preformed by the The Joe Holmes Swing Band, who I can’t stop raving about. They were amazing!!

Their final exit came about a half hour before the soiree ended. Originally they were to fly out, but because the fog was so thick and bad, we had to come up with a Plan C. Dagney’s father has a vintage 1967 porsche and they used that as their get away car. We opened up the hangar doors and invited all the guests to join us outside on the ramp. Bubbles were passed out on silver trays as we got the bride and groom ready for their final exit. With the car in position, they made their way outside and into the awaiting car. It was quite emotional! My favorite image from the night is above. Robert and Kathleen really captured the day so perfectly; their images are amazing. We loved working with them!!
Dagney and Michael — we wish you all the love, joy and happiness the world has to offer. It was an amazing experience that I am so proud to be apart of!
Real Connecticut Weddings: Lisa & Marc in Greenwich | Part II


Lisa and Marc met through their summer share house on Fire Island in 2005. Their relationship blossomed quickly and they both knew that they would be be married. After their 2nd anniversary they took a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where Marc surprised Lisa with a marriage proposal. From the moment they started planning they knew they didn’t want to have a typical wedding.
After looking at many different wedding venues they fell in love with The Delamar Hotel on Greenwich’s beautiful scenic harbor. The elegant boutique hotel had all of its events catered through L’Escale’s mouthwatering French restaurant which provided a perfect backdrop for their French country inspired wedding.
Lisa wore an amazing dress by Alvina Valenta and carried a gorgeous bouquet of white and purple flowers. They weaved these colors throughout the wedding, using dark plum, lavender, and white. I love the ring barer pillows and their elegant white and purple program!
The Vendors
Photography by the uber talented Robert and Kathleen Photographers; The bride wore an amazing gown by Alvina Valenta as did her bridesmaids. The bride’s hair and makeup was done by Dana Bartone; their purple and white floral designs were provided by E.T. at Hot Petunia ; the ceremony and reception was at the Delamar Hotel and catered by l’escale restaurant, located in Greenwich, Connecticut; their delicious cake was compliments of Sweet Lisa’s Exquisite Cakes, located in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Part of the Real Connecticut Wedding: Lisa & Marc series
- Real Connecticut Wedding: Lisa & Marc in Greenwich
- Real Connecticut Weddings: Lisa & Marc in Greenwich | Part II
- Real Connecticut Weddings: Lisa & Marc | Part III
- Real Connecticut Wedding: Lisa & Marc in Greenwich | Part IV
- Real Connectict Wedding: Lisa & Marc in Greenwich | Finale
Real Connecticut Wedding: Alex & Jeremy | Details and Reception

After their ceremony, the couple and their guests headed inside The Lilly Lake Inn to dine on a simple and yummy buffet of comfort food, keeping with the couple’s free and comfortable feel. They loved their three tier, soft yellow cake filled with a light strawberry champagne mousse with ivory butter cream frosting. Doesn’t it look delish? Guests also ate homemade Greek cookies, something that Jeremy’s late father enjoyed.
Their amazingly colorful color palette donned the tables in orange, fuchsia, deep purple and lime green. They used the letter P as their monogram in much of the decor, such as the cake topper, the floral wreath at their ceremony and the monogram on the invitations. Alex even had a little P attached to her bouquet! Guests signed a platter that the couple purchased and took home delicious favors.


Vendors
Robin Dini Photography captured this amazing day in photographs; the couple married and entertained guests at The Lily Lake Inn in Wolcott, Connecticut; hair and makeup was provided by the brides friend, Eden Chapman of Moda Hair Studio in Milford, Connecticut; the brides gown was by designer 2 Be Bride and was purchased at Harolds in New Haven, Connecticut; the groom wore a Ralph Lauren black pin striped tux with an ivory shirt, taupe vest and tie; the four bridesmaids wore beautiful black dresses and the groomsmen wore a simple black tux and shirt with a dark platinum Ralph Lauren tie; the amazing florals were provided by Fleur de Lys Floral in New Haven, Connecticut; the delicious cake was crafted by Cerratos Pastry Shop in West Hartford, Connecticut; guests danced the day away courtesy of WJProductions out of Stratford, Connecticut; the ceremony was officiated by a family friend, David Hendel;the invitations, programs, and paper items were all lovingly hand crafted by Jeremy’s aunt Sharon; favors were hand made by the bride and her mother, which included personalized bags of coffee and biscotti
Part of the Real Connecticut Weddings: Alex & Jeremy series
- Real Connecticut Wedding: Alex & Jeremy in Wolcott
- Real Connecticut Weddings: Alex & Jeremy | The Beginning…
- Real Connecticut Wedding: Alex & Jeremy | The Ceremony
- Real Connecticut Wedding: Alex & Jeremy | Details and Reception










