laura and brad tie the knot

Laura and Brad were married last weekend at beautiful Castle Hill in Ipswich. I went down a few days early to help with last minute details - stuffing welcome bags, wrapping wedding party gifts, hemming doll dresses for the flower girls. It was fun to be in the thick of it again--after making a full recovery from my own wedding three years ago!


The ribbon says "Laura and Brad, June 21, 2008"!!


The rehearsal dinner was at Hamilton Hall in Salem, which was where Brad's parents had their own rehearsal dinner almost 30 years ago. They had an incredible ice sculpture carved as a replica of Castle Hill (with a Middlebury flag on top - which had everyone wondering which campus building it was!). I gave a little toast teasing L&B for watching old Nickelodeon game shows, but Laura's brother Matt took the cake with a really funny story about finding out as a little boy that you had to marry someone, and deciding that he liked his sister best, who promptly told him that was a disgusting idea.

Laura ties a bow on one of her flower girls at the rehearsal

Laura and three bridesmaids

The ice sculpture!

We stayed for the wedding weekend at the Inn at Castle Hill, which, if we hadn't been so busy, would have been an incredible getaway. As it was we did get to steal a few minutes to sit out on the front porch and gaze out at the ocean. While I had my hair and makeup done and made arrangements for emergency dress pressings and sandwiches, Dan ran wedding errands of his own, taking another bridesmaid on a whirlwind trip to Claire's at the nearest mall, to have an ear re-pierced so that she could wear the beautiful pearls Laura gave us. (It never did work out... Dr. Emily, my college roommate and newly annointed pediatrican, put on sterile gloves and tried to replace the stud earring with the pearl, but it just wasn't meant to be.)



The weather was absolutely perfect on Saturday, and Castle Hill is stunning with the rolling lawn down to the ocean. Once my toast was over, I finally relaxed, and had a great time catching up with Middlebury friends I hadn't seen in years and dancing. The band's encore was Journey's Believe... classic. Hope L&B are enjoying their fabulous honeymoon in Italy and Croatia - they deserve some relaxation!!

Laura and Brad visit with Mom and Dad

Brad enjoys his signature drink at the cocktail hour

The groom's cake - Fenway scoreboard!

The flowergirls LOVED their dolls

Look at that dress - gorgeous!!

Brad laughs at my speech - success!!

Father-daughter dance (and a glimpse of the back of Laura's beautiful dress!)