Laura & Ben

Clean & Simple

The Bride: Laura Cricenti
The Groom: Ben Percy
Date: July 9, 2011
Venue: Quechee Club (Quechee, VT)

Most brides start planning the day after they say “yes.” For Laura Cricenti, though she didn’t know it at the time, it began two years before her boyfriend Ben Percy even proposed. When her best friend was planning her own wedding in 2008, they checked out the Quechee Club on Vermont’s eastern border with New Hampshire as a possible venue. Jess opted for a different location, but the club – as well as her friend’s wedding photographer, Meg McGovern Hamilton of Rodeo & Co. Photography – made a lasting impression on Laura. So when it came time for Ben and Laura to pick a wedding date, they left it up to the availability of Hamilton and the Quechee Club, settling on July 9, 2011, with the ceremony by Lake Pinneo on the grounds and the reception in the rustic, post-and-beam Club House.

Color Scheme

Laura wanted fun, summery pinks and greens for her wedding day, but knew she needed a third color to balance the bright hues, so she got resourceful. “I went to Home Depot to look at the paint swatches for pinks and greens, and played around with brown and gray,” she explains. She fell for a light gray, which created a playful yet sophisticated color palate found in everything from the cake’s green ribbon to the groom’s pink socks.

Color Scheme

Laura wanted fun, summery pinks and greens for her wedding day, but knew she needed a third color to balance the bright hues, so she got resourceful. “I went to Home Depot to look at the paint swatches for pinks and greens, and played around with brown and gray,” she explains. She fell for a light gray, which created a playful yet sophisticated color palate found in everything from the cake’s green ribbon to the groom’s pink socks.

Photography

Days before the wedding, Laura received a Facebook post from Hamilton, simply reading “Carousel.” Laura assumed the post was a mistake, but Hamilton was actually scouting shoot locations and had found Quechee Gorge Village’s classic pony carousel, a great spot she was psyched to share with her bride, even vaguely.

Photography

Days before the wedding, Laura received a Facebook post from Hamilton, simply reading “Carousel.” Laura assumed the post was a mistake, but Hamilton was actually scouting shoot locations and had found Quechee Gorge Village’s classic pony carousel, a great spot she was psyched to share with her bride, even vaguely.

Table Numbers

Though friends since their junior year at the University of Vermont, Laura and Ben didn’t start dating until after graduation. Then, three months later, Ben followed his lifelong dream of moving to Utah for “the ski-bum life,” says Laura. Six months and a couple visits later, she followed, and they spent the next 18 months skiing together. To commemorate this time in their lives, the couple named each wedding table after a mountain they’d skied, choosing Alta (their favorite Utah mountain) for their sweetheart table.

Bridesmaids’ Gifts

With 15 months to plan the wedding, Laura took on a handful of do-it-yourself projects, ranging from table toppers to program fans reading “Yay,” “Congrats,” and “Hurrah.” But perhaps the most thoughtful came in the earrings her eight bridesmaids wore for the big day. Over the previous few years, Laura had taken a couple jewelry-making classes, so she set about crafting the simple, dangly pink-beaded earrings – with a hint of sparkle – to match the color scheme.

The Lasting Memory

During the whole wedding planning process, Laura was adamant about one thing: “I didn’t want a traditional princess wedding.” She was determined that everything was going to be simple, uncomplicated, and stress-free. But then her dad and his good friend Steve Pelkey, a wedding guest and the owner of Atlas Pyro Vision Productions, wanted to put on a fireworks show. The nine-minute show lit up the whole sky above the golf course and had all the guests on the outside deck “ooh”-ing and “ahh”-ing. So much for simplicity, but looking back, the bride appreciates that over-the-top touch: “Ben and I were standing next to each other with our arms around each other watching. There was a lot of clapping and cheering at the end. My dad felt happy with the show, and I think a little proud – it was the cherry on top of an incredible wedding.”