Kristen and Brian
Mystic, CT
the details
The Venue:
The Inn at Mystic
The Bride:
Kristen Beer
The Groom:
Brian Hole
vendor resources
Wedding Dress
The Amsale Boutique
New York, NY
amsale.com
212-583-1700
Bridesmaids’ Dresses
Julie Allen Bridals
Newtown, CT
203-426-4378
Wedding Photography
Maring Photography Inc.
Wallingford, CT
maringphoto.com
877-949-9370
Wedding Cake
Mystic Market
Mystic, CT
mysticmarket.com
860-572-1111
Wedding Flowers
Thames River Greenery
New London, CT
thamesriver.com
800-247-7206
Wedding Band
The Savage Brothers Band
Windsor Locks, CT
savagebrothersband.com
860-627-6778
Two if by Sea
The Baptist Church in the historic fishing village of Noank, Connecticut is set high on a hill overlooking the town and shimmering Long Island Sound. On clear summer days, you can even taste the tng of salt in the air while gaping at the picturesque coastal New England seascape. It was such a day on June 11, 2005, when 225 guests arrived for Kristen Beer and Brian Hole’s wedding. First, the flower girls dressed in white walked down the aisle. Then came Kristen’s seven bridesmaids, decked in strapless silk dupioni gowns in fuchsia and holding riotous pink peonies. Finally, the bride entered in an Amsale silk and organza gown with an empire waist, clutching a tightly bound bouquet of white peonies and roses. Some twenty minutes later, Brian and Kristen faced each other at the altar, exchanging traditional wedding vows.
“I wanted to be really traditional,” explains Kristen. “I loved the idea that people had been reading the same lines to each other for hundreds of years.”
First Things First
Kristen, a reproductive medicine nurse, and Brian, a law student, met during their senior year at Georgetown University. They knew pretty quickly that they would tie the knot. “We always joked that we’d end up getting married so we started exchanging Christmas ornaments with the idea that we’d end up sharing them,” says Kristen. Alluding to their Christmas tradition, Brian proposed on New Year’s Eve 2003 by presenting Kristen an ornament. Inside the ornament was an engagement ring.
Living in New York City, Kristen knew she wanted to get married on her home turf in Connecticut, so the couple looked at venues throughout the state. Yet for Kristen, no site compared with the Inn at Mystic, where her sister Pam got married in 2001. Unfortunately, the inn was booked through the spring and fall of 2004 so they decided to wait until the following June.
“What’s waiting another six months to have it where you want it?” she asks. “It was a blessing in disguise. We had ten other weddings to attend that year, and planning our own on top of that would have been kind of crazy.”
This Mystic venue is worth a long wait. The inn, a Colonial Revival mansion, is perched on a hill overlooking expansive grounds of windswept gardens, a waterfall and a meadow pond—and, in the distance, Mystic Harbor and Long Island Sound.
Pulling it off
While guests sipped cocktails and nibbled hors d’oeuvres like spanakopita and little neck clams from the sprawling raw bar on the inn’s porch, the wedding party hustled off to have photos taken. Kristen and Brian had selected Maring Photogrpahy, not for Jennifer and Charles Maring’s star-studded resume that included shooting weddings for celebs like Donald Trump and Star jones, but rather because of their innovative yet unobtrusive style.
“They don’t want anyone to pose,” Kristen says. “Their shots are candid and capture hidden moments. At my sister’s wedding, I remembered the photographer always getting in your face. With the Maring’s, they blend in so well, you hardly know they’re there.”
After finishing the toasts and the main meal of filet mignon with cabernet demiglace, portobellos, and lobster tail, the Savage Brothers Band took their cue. kristen and Brian first twirled to Van Morrison’s soulful “Someone Like You.” Kristen and her dad followed by impressing the audience with a choreographed waltz. Then the band picked it up, churning out classics by Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and Billy Joel as the dance floor quickly filled to capacity.
“People were dancing the entire time,” remembers Kristen excitedly. “The band really knew how to read a crowd. There was a huge crowd from Georgetown out there and my friends from New york City were pretty crazy too. Yet the older crowd also got into the swing of it.”
Throughout the reception though, Kristen and Brian made sure they were never far from each other’s side. They would mingle separately but then after 10 or so minutes, they’d find each other. “It was a pact we made beforehand,” Kristen says. The strategy made the newlyweds’ day. It allowed them to experience the euphoric whirlwind of the day side by side, arm in arm.