Laura and Conor wed on October 21, 2023 at the Mansion at Natirar.

Their Story

Laura and Conor met when they were 17 at a two-week college-prep program at Boston University.

“We knew that there was a strong connection between us and we started to date long-distance (New Jersey and Long Island), until we both ended up in Boston for college,” says Laura. “We continued to date throughout college and eventually we got an apartment together in Boston and have been living here ever since.”

The Proposal

“After graduating with my Masters, Conor decided to surprise me with a “graduation” trip to Ogunquit, Maine,” says Laura. “I was convinced that we were going to get engaged, but Conor persuaded me and said that he wanted me to have a chance to relax after completing my degree and working full-time.”

“We love traveling around New England so I didn’t give it much more thought. Conor took me to Clay Hill Farm for a farm to table dinner experience where we had the outside patio to ourselves.

“I was browsing through the dessert menu and has asked what Conor was thinking for dessert, and he ignored my question and started to go into a speech about how much the past 10 years together had meant to him, and I was completely oblivious because Conor is so sweet and will say things like that all of the time. It wasn’t until Conor got down on one knee that I finally understood what was going on!”

“After quite a few OMGs, we called each of our parents to share the news.”

Details of the Day

The couple wanted their wedding day to exclude classic elegance.

“We let the beautiful fall colors of the trees at Natirar do the talking, which highlighted the deep emerald color that the bridesmaids were wearing,” says Laura. “We wanted to capitalize on the warm fall colors by including gold in all of the details of the wedding, including our invites, our seating chart mirror and the gold-framed photos which commemorated our loved one who are no longer with us.”

“We accented all of the signs, fireplaces and tables with simply stunning white florals, including my bridal bouquet which was styled after my mom’s long wedding bouquet.”

“Before all of our guests left for the evening, we encouraged them to take some of the freshly made, warm cookies and a bottle of our wedding fragrance, which my Dad (who is a perfumer) made in collaboration with the two of us!”

Choosing the Venue

“We wanted somewhere that was going to be meaningful for us, close to friends and family, and a place that was going to speak to elegance that we wanted in our wedding day, while also focusing on fun—Natirar offered all of those things!”

“From the locally sourced and prepared food, to the elegance of the marble fireplaces and the stunning sunset views, we couldn’t imagine any other reception venue.”

“For our ceremony, we were married at my high school alma mater, Mount Saint Mary Academy at their Chapel of Immaculate Conception. This was also incredibly meaningful for us since we met at 17 and even attended our senior high school proms together!”

Favorite Moment

“I think one of our highlights from the day was when we were traveling from the chapel to Natirar,” says Laura. “I think it can seem like a small moment of the day, but we had half an hour to ourselves after just being announced as husband and wife, and we were able to catch up on our mornings and revel in the fact that we were just married!”

“The whole experience of traveling in the vintage Rolls Royce and having our friends and family, and even strangers, cheer and honk their horns as we traveled to the reception venue was such a fun experience.”

Detail They Couldn’t Live Without

“I think that our favorite details were the thank you notes that we gave to our family and friends the night before our wedding at our rehearsal dinner,” says Laura. “We each took the time to write hand-written notes to all of our closet family and friends to thank them for all that they have done for us throughout our lives.”

“The most important thing for us when we were planning our wedding was to make sure that everyone felt like one big family and knew how much we loved and appreciated all of them.”

Advice for Couples

“Wedding planning can be incredibly stressful, but please remember to take time to be present! We did a date-night on every 21st of the month (as our wedding date was October 21) to make time to connect with each other and just be excited for our big day instead of spending an evening stressing about all of the details.”

Honeymoon

The couple went to South Africa for two weeks. They started in Cape Town for a few days to take in the notable sights such as Table Mountain, going shark-cage diving, and seeing the penguin colony. They then traveled to Stellanbosch and the winelands for a few days. Finally, they flew to Hoedspruit and journeyed in a car to Kruger National Park, where they spent the remainder of their honeymoon between two different luxury game lodges.