Thank goodness Jeff gave his blessing.
Technically, Kate and Brian met in high school. He was a few years older than she was. But he never talked to her “because I was really cool,” Brian says, sarcastically. The next time he saw her, many years later at a high-school alumni event, she was there with her boyfriend Jeff. Jeff proceeded to get sloshed and ended up hitting it off with Brian (because everyone loves Brian). Toward the end of the night, Kate and Brian were talking, and Jeff came up and drunkenly draped an arm over Brian’s shoulder, and said to Kate: “If we ever break up, you can date THIS guy.”
Well, they did break up, and about a month later Kate did start dating this guy. “Thanks Jeff!” Brian said, as he was recounting this story to us the day before their wedding. Kate and Brian are now best friends, each other’s personal comedians, and head-over-heels in love. There’s a lot of laughter and a lot of googly eyes around these two. So yeah, thanks Jeff!
Leading up to their wedding at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, just 30 miles outside New York City, Kate and Brian went wedding dress shopping together. They were even quoted in a New York Times story about the modern trend of couples shopping for the gown together rather than making it a surprise for the groom. The story says they are getting married in Tuscany – obviously that plan changed along the way! And it’s a good thing, because Kate and Brian seemed destined to be married at the enchanting Blue Hill.
The gown that became “the one,” even though Kate wasn’t seeking it out, was blue, and made by Romona Keveza. And boy did she rock that gown. Layers of baby-blue silk cascaded around her, evoking romance and glamour. Her headpiece was actually an Anthropologie belt, but it was the perfect balance and complement to the blue dress. After the emotional ceremony in the courtyard at Stone Barns, we got into a tiiiiiiny bit of trouble with Kate and Brian’s fabulous and always-on-time designer and coordinator Tracy Taylor Ward for going a little too far out into the cow pastures for photos and losing track of time. Apparently a lot of people were out looking for us. But again, the blue! The hazy blue pastures were irresistible to us, and we shot creative portraits there till nearly dark.
But Tracy and her other planner Daulton kept everything on track in the end, and the night culminated in a great dance party, with happy and exhausted guests making their way to the shuttle buses back to the Ritz-Carlton in White Plains.
We were fortunate to have our new associate photographer Ryan Zhang with us for this one, and many of the photos here are his.