Ashley & Brian

Brian's boots were the first thing I noticed, tooled brown leather set down beside a teal velvet ring box and a spray of dried pampas. That palette carried the whole April day at the Heritage Hotel in Southbury: rust-orange ties, brown tweed vests, and bridesmaids in deep forest green. Ashley's red hair was pinned back with a small braid while her room filled up with friends in those green gowns, and a few doors away the groomsmen were straightening each other's collars and pinning on boutonnieres.

They saw each other first out among the bare vines behind the hotel, under a flat grey sky with the grass already turning green. With nobody else around, there was time for a long hug and a longer kiss before the weather turned. When the rain came, a clear bubble umbrella came out and the portraits kept going on the stone steps of the courtyard. The groomsmen piled onto Brian for one frame, and the bridesmaids lined up inside the timber reception hall, where the string lights stayed warm no matter what the sky was doing.

The ceremony moved indoors to a cream-walled room with brass sconces, the wedding party standing close on either side and the officiant grinning through the vows. After the kiss, the whole room clapped them back up the aisle. Then the timber hall took over. Ashley threw her arms wide for the grand entrance, the first dance happened under strings of bulbs with rainy dusk showing through the tall windows, and the dance floor filled right up after that and stayed that way.