All photos by http://www.joshlarkinphotography.com

Kolleen and Bobby met at clown school.  They’re teachers, wedding photographers, physical comedians, and extremely nice people.  Their wedding was at Kolleen’s family’s vacation home in Waitsfield amidst a profusion of beautifully-souled, brightly-dressed friends and family.

Bobby, by the way, was much admired by all the little girls in attendance.  If Kolleen wasn’t such a powerhouse, she’d have had to put up a big fight to keep him!

I had a blast working with them, and the only real drawback for the day was that I managed to lock my keys in the car.  But it was so beautiful out, and the party full of such nice people, that I really couldn’t complain.

And I was so moved by what Kolleen wrote me afterwards:

“Bobby and I wanted to thank you so much for creating our beautiful ceremony. So honest and free-spirited. A perfect reflection of us. And you delivered it so eloquently, and with love. People constantly tell us it was the most touching ceremony they’ve ever seen!”

Kori emailed me a few weeks ago saying that she and her fiance Matt were coming to Burlington to get married, and…

Well, actually, I’ll have Kori say it in her own words:

My name is Kori and my fiance Matt and I are planning to elope in the Burlington, VT area the first week in October. We’re hoping to do a very low key morning ceremony, around 10ish, on Thursday, October 4th. We have searched high and low for someone special to perform our ceremony and we’ve got our hearts and minds set on you.

That made my heart blush.

We met up this morning at Oakledge – totally deserted of a misty October morn – and went down to the beach, where we held the ceremony under a gnarly maple tree, and next to a handmade sand sculpture which looked suspiciously like a seriously pornographic pair of Double-Ds.

Fortunately, Kori and Matt were totally undaunted by the giant sandy knockers.  Otherwise we would have had to dismantle them in the name of holy matrimony, and that just seems wrong on so many levels.

They’re a relaxed, easy-going couple who’d elected to use my standard, pre-written ceremony.  Which was fine, except for the fact that in Kori’s email, she’d described herself and Matt in such charming detail that it would have been some serious fun to write them a custom ceremony.  Fortunately, this is a great place to share with the world some of what she said:

• We met while working at a retail tea shop called Teavana.
• Early on in our friendship, Matt loaned me a well-loved copy of Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, ‘True Love’. I fell in love with him as I read his scribblings and reflections in the margins. The rest, as they say, is history.
• Matt works in the university library system at Binghamton University, coordinating a team of student staff and maintaining the stacks. He’s pursuing an MLS degree at present, but his passion is writing. It’s not uncommon for him to spring out of bed in the morning to grab a pen a write down an idea for a story, a line of poetry, or a song lyric. He also plays the guitar, sings, paints, and has mastered the art of scrambled eggs.
• I also work at BU as an Academic Advisor for Harpur College of Arts and Sciences. I love my work because I get to listen and problem solve with my students all day, everyday, and it’s always new and different. My creative outlet is cooking. My passion is sharing it with others.
• Our biggest struggle has been communication, but we work on this component of our relationship like it is our child.
• We have a cat named Beatrix; she’s awesome. [NOTE: Kori wore a cat pin on her sweater in honor of Beatrix.  She must be one hell of a cat!]
• Matt proposed to me at a rest stop in Vermont while we were on a road trip to see my dad in northern NH. He just chose his moment and went for it. It was perfect and totally awkward, just like us.
• If I were an item of clothing, I’d be a cardigan, because I love to be cozy
• We both love to dance and never realized this fact about one another until his cousin’s wedding last winter in Maine. I’m not one to boast, but we pretty much made their reception with our moves.

While I don’t often try to predict whether or not couples are going to make it because A) life is strange and B) what the heck do I know, these two strike me as a shoe-in for lifelong love and devotion.

Our mutual goal is to live an authentic life and accept ourselves and others as they are.

“I just wanted to take a moment and thank you. Your ceremony was heartbreakingly beautiful, and was everything I never knew I wanted! So thank you, you have a true gift of hearing people and expressing that which others can not.”

Justin and Kyla got married way out in East Burke, VT – not too far from where Eco-Friendly Dressmaker Supreme Tara Lynn Scheidet has her studio.  They were, as you can imagine, sweet as pie to work with.  And Kyla alternately laughed and cried and laughed and cried her way through the ceremony.

What was unexpectedly lovely about their ceremony was the locale – in a vineyard next to a little river.  They had the stream bank decorated with the prettiest late summer flowers:

Once again proving that it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg to get a romantic setup for your ceremony.

photo by Sabin Gratz

Maya and James had a gorgeous wedding at the Round Barn in Waitsfield.  It was a perfect balance between farm chic (natch) and just plain chic chic (Maya and James are classy New Yorkers) (as you can see):

photo by Sabin Gratz

But their little troop of Ring Dudes and Flower Dudettes was what really slayed me.

photo by Sabin Gratz

As for the ceremony itself, well…just take a peek.

photo by Sabin Gratz

I should add that the folks at the Round Barn are both extremely well organized and professional as well as absolutely Vermont-style friendly.  You can see both sides of their capacity fully expressed in these guest cards and flowers:

 

The musicians, though, are All Vermont.

Oh, and the reception hall!  Glorious!

photo by Sabin Gratz

Aaaaand the honeymoon postcard:

Andrea and Brian are classical musicians about to move to Washington, D.C. for some very cool jobs.  But, before they take the residential plunge into our nation’s capitol, they decided to come to Vermont and get hitched!

We went down to the shores of beautiful Lake Champlain just as the sun was about to set and performed my standard Pre-Written Ceremony.  With one exception – they didn’t have any rings!  This, as you might imagine, is a bit unusual for a couple getting married.

When I asked them about it, they said they’d been busy, and hadn’t gotten around to the rings, but that it’s something they would attend to once they got to Washington.  They said they weren’t worried, though, and that getting married itself was the most important thing.

As I think about all the stressors of getting married, the rings, while charismatic and wonderful, are usually at the top of the list – for a whole host of reasons from finances to fashion.

So, it was lovely to see a couple focusing on the emotional and spiritual essence of the experience, knowing that the physical tokens, while important, were not essential, and would be taken care of in time.

We would like to express our tremendous gratitude for your beautiful words at our wedding. You did an exquisite job; our friends and family were raving about you and asked us how we found you! You truly set the tone for the wedding. We loved the Apache poem by the way, that was a great touch! It was an honor meeting you. – Noreen and Christian

Stowe.  Trapp Family Lodge.  Do I really need to say any more?  I don’t think so.

Photo by Larry Asam.