Mary & Dan

The first color I noticed was the kayaks. They were stacked 3 high on wooden racks beside the beach, red, yellow, and teal, and they made the most cheerful portrait wall in Fairfield. Mary wore long lace sleeves and carried a loose bouquet of peach roses and pale blue blooms. Dan matched her softness in a light grey three-piece suit and a floral tie in the same blues and pinks. Inside, the pavilion was set with sky blue linens that picked up the water through every window.

They married out on the deck with the Sound right behind them, a white railing, a few urns of hydrangeas, and an officiant in a bright blue shirt. Guests sat close under canopy shade. After a kiss and a walk back through the chairs, the family crowded in for a group photo that turned into cheering halfway through. Later, as the sky went pastel, the two of them walked out along the shell-strewn beach toward the rock jetty.

That's where the moon came up, a small white dot over flat water while the horizon turned pink. Dan leaned his head on Mary's out at the end of the jetty, and he swept her up at the tide line a few minutes later. Back inside, a singer worked the crowd from behind her DJ table, a cupcake tower and a long charcuterie spread kept everyone fueled, and the night closed with sparklers in the dark.