On September 4th, 2016, Vanessa and Jones were married at the Bald Mountain Camps Resort in Oquossoc, Maine. Rather than my usual write up about the wedding itself, I would rather share the couple's unique love story, as told by both of them.
It began in the Bahamas...
Vanessa and Jones separately left on their senior year spring break trip to the Bahamas where they planned to make some final college memories with 300+ other Cornell students. They were two months shy of graduating, had already accepted jobs on the opposite side of the country, and happy to enjoy the last moments with their friends before starting "real" life. Prior to that trip, Vanessa knew Jones as the good looking rower who always looked too serious. Jones had talked to his friends about Vanessa
Fast forward to the third night of the trip, where Jones finally had an excuse to talk to Vanessa (thanks Oliver!) and tell her how he felt. It could be the 25% Greek connection, but there was immediately something special. They spent their first night dancing and being completely lost to the outside world, even though they were in a crowded bar. So lost that they even missed Charlie Walters dancing on stage during a booty shaking contest.
They knew they were moving to opposite ends of the country in just a few short months, but spent the next two months of school enjoying everything that Ithaca had to offer. They went to formals, injured themselves gorge jumping, stayed up until sunrise on the hammock on Jones's deck, went wine tasting, hiked Buttermilk Falls, survived finals, and completely fell in love somewhere in-between.
Vanessa's job temporarily brought her to San Francisco post-graduation, so they were lucky enough to spend five more wonderful weeks exploring San Francisco together. After that summer, Vanessa moved back to Boston. Jones made Vanessa the happiest girl during their year apart by sending her flowers when it was rainy, fuzzy socks when it got cold, delicious snack subscriptions, many hand written love letters, and more. They traveled back and forth as frequently as possible and squeezed in frequent Skype dates, despite the three hour time difference.
Their long distance journey finally came to an end when Jones was recruited for a new role in Mountain View, CA. He was super happy with his current job, so he responded to the recruiter with Vanessa's resume and the rest is history. Vanessa moved out for that specific job in March of 2015 and has been so happy to receive all the love and support possible from Jones's family. Jones and Vanessa are happy to be #751Haighters in a beautiful Victorian and have the best housemates ever (all of which will be at the wedding!).
Now that you've heard a piece of their story, we hope you see why they can't wait to spend the rest of their lives together.
When and where did your engagement take place? Please describe the proposal.Vanessa and Jones were engaged on February 14th, 2015 (Valentine's Day!). Jones booked a weekend escape at XV Beacon Hotel in Boston. They had a cute room with a fireplace, jacuzzi tub, and a view of Boston's North End. On Valentine's Day, they explored downtown and went out to dinner at a small, romantic Italian restaurant. They returned to the hotel with a to enjoy pastries from Boston's famous pastry shops, Mike's Pastry and Modern Pastry. When they arrived at the room, Jones handed Vanessa the room key. She opened the door to find white rose petals all over the room with a bottle of champagne, cookies, and chocolates. The fire was lit and there was music playing in the background. Jones got down on one knee to purpose! As he was asking, their current favorite song Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran came on the radio, totally unexpected. ( Later, when they would buy their wedding bands, the song would come on the radio again as they were checking out with their perfect bands!)
What did you envision your wedding being prior to planning?We envisioned exactly what it turned out to be! Our closest family and friends enjoying a long weekend on a lake that meant so much to Vanessa. Vanessa's family frequently visited their lake-house at Mooselookmeguntic Lake. It was a special place where both families could truly join together, while all having a wonderful time!
What was your color palette and your style vision?Our color palette was burgundy and navy with champagne accents. The style vision was clean and rustic.
What is your favorite moment of your wedding day?We had many favorite memories from the day! It was truly an incredible weekend. Our favorite memory (if we had to choose just one) was exchanging our own written vows. It was great to share our commitment and love in front of all of our family and friends.
What song did you do your first dance to?Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran (see above for context!)
Tell us about your flowers, your gown, your favors, your cake, etc.Flowers: We used baby's breath as the main accent, to create the rustic look. The bridesmaid bouquets were touched up with hydrangeas to add more body and color. Vanessa's bouquet was white roses surrounded by baby's breath. Vanessa's dad did grow zinnias in his home garden and Vanessa had a second bouquet of these beautiful, colorful flowers!
Gown: Vanessa's gown was the Cassandra dress from Maggie Sottero designs.
Favors: We created welcome baskets for each of the guest's cabins so that they would have a treat upon arrival. We put a red raspberry jam and blue blueberry jam to symbolize the R(Rodanas) and B(Bazalgette) that were joining. We included a welcome note and pamphlets of fun things to do in the area. Vanessa's mom also baked homemade biscuits to go along with the jams.
Cake: Our cutting cake was a "naked" style cake, with frosting in layers rather than on the entire outside. The cake was chocolate with raspberry frosting and raspberry preserve in the middle. There were raspberries and flowers sprinkled for display. Our guest cake was a lemon cake with lemon frosting and lemon curd filling. We cut that cake in the back and sprinkled each piece with blueberries.
