LINDSAY WEISSBERG FIRST NOTICED MIKE SHEEHY IN HER Civil Procedure class, while they were both first-year students at the University of Connecticut Law School. Lindsay thought the guy sitting a few rows in front of her was “adorable,” and one day after class she invited him to join her and a friend for a drink. Mike brought along his roommate, and as Lindsay recalls, “the four of us stayed out quite late.” The next night, Mike and Lindsay went out for sushi, “as friends”--but it was pretty clear they were destined for something more. Through three years of law school, the two were rarely separated. But after graduation, Lindsay’s job in Boston and Mike’s in New Haven meant the couple “spent every weekend on the train visiting each other,” says Lindsay. The travel, coupled with the long hours typical of junior law firm associates, made the long-distance romance exhausting. Finally, after two years, Lindsay found a job in Connecticut, and the couple continued their courtship at closer range.

About eight months after Lindsay’s move, Lindsay and Mike spent President’s Day weekend at her parents’ part-time home in Arlington, Vermont. During the ride there, Lindsay recalls, “Mike was acting strange.” She suspected that, after six years, Mike was finally ready to propose. In the morning, Mike and Lindsay’s dad, both early risers, crossed paths in the kitchen. When, after some nervous pacing, Mike asked for permission to marry his daughter, Lindsay’s dad responded with a warm hug, and a question: When was he planning to propose? “I don’t know, sometime this weekend.” Mike responded. Knowing how hard it would be for Lindsay’s mother to keep the secret once he told her, Lindsay’s dad offered a suggestion: “Why don’t you just do it now?" --With that, Mike ran out to retrieve the nearly frozen ring from his car and to wake up Lindsay. “I haven’t even brushed my teeth!” was a sleepy Lindsay’s initial response to the proposal. “I’m supposed to be in a pretty dress, have makeup on and look pretty!” When pressed for an answer, the now very awake Lindsay, of course, said yes.

The couple had long imagined having their wedding near Lindsay’s parents’ place in Arlington. Mike’s love of history brought them to Hildene, the former home of Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln. The location chosen, they began planning a ceremony that incorporated elements from their diverse family traditions. A Jewish cantor and a Catholic priest, who was a friend of the Sheehy family, performed the wedding service together; the couple exchanged ancient Celtic wedding vows. A close friend of Lindsay’s family--conveniently, an opera singer--sang the Ave Maria, a nod to her father’s Italian heritage. At the ceremony’s conclusion, the couple lit a unity candle, and Mike, following Jewish tradition, broke a glass for good luck.

With simple elegance as her goal, Lindsay chose a pink and green color palette. As a nod to the historic site and the most famous Lincoln, Mike, his groomsmen and the two fathers wore gray cutaways and top hats. To create the romantic feeling of an English garden, the floral designer filled stone urns with bountiful yet understated arrangements of peonies and hydrangea. White and off-white Chinese lanterns hanging throughout the party tent gave the 225-person affair a sense of intimacy. The caterer
offered 13 hors d’oeuvres plus a raw bar. “It was outrageous,” Lindsay says, heaping praise on the oyster “shooters,” potato latkes and pulled pork sliders.

“I tried to engage people that I could trust,” Lindsay said. “And I was blessed, everyone came through and made it amazing.” To be sure, fickle weather and unexpected wedding day guests presented challenges, but Lindsay’s team took it all in stride. “When I walked down the aisle and met Mike under the chuppah, the sun was shining and the birds were singing,” Lindsay says. “It was perfect, and I knew everything was meant to be.” To brides just now planning their perfect day, she says: “You really need to trust your instincts and trust your service providers. Hopefully, this is the only time you’ll be planning a wedding, so take advantage of their experience and wisdom.”