Luke + Andrew
June 25, 2016
William Allen Farm in Pownal
In the summer of 2007, Luke and Andrew sat together on a bench by the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and made their relationship “official.” Seven years later, Andrew brought Luke back to the same bench and asked if he remembered it. “When it dawned on him that this was our spot, I got down on one knee and proposed,” says Andrew, who was introduced to Luke when they were undergrads at Boston University and Rhode Island School of Design, respectively. Soon after they met, Andrew left to study abroad in France; shortly after he returned, Luke set off to study in London. The travel theme continued during their courtship—Andrew proposed after getting off a plane from China—and at their wedding reception, where a trio played songs from Amélie during the cocktail hour and the menu featured English, Vietnamese, and Mediterranean cuisines. The guest list was equally diverse. “Family and friends came from across the country, the UK, and Turkey, and this was all so meaningful and special for us,” says Andrew.
OLD-FASHIONED ROMANCE
LOCATION: The couple had vacationed in Maine and knew they wanted to have their wedding here. When they visited William Allen Farm in Pownal, they felt instantly it was The One. On the morning of the event, guests joined them for a hike up nearby Bradbury Mountain—a perfect icebreaker, says Andrew.
ATTIRE: The grooms’ suits were custom made for the occasion. “Andrew and I wanted to celebrate our unique personalities so we chose not to match, except our boutonnieres,” says Luke. “We love pops of color so it was important to reflect that in both of our looks,” he adds, referring to their vibrant neckwear and pocket squares.
CEREMONY: Chairs were arranged in a circle around the couple, “which made us feel surrounded in love,” says Andrew. The timing of the event—the day before the first anniversary of the Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide—gave the ceremony special significance.
DECOR: Andrew and Luke describe their theme as “old English gentleman’s lounge meets modern speakeasy.” Antique furnishings from a prop house and their own collection were key to pulling off the look. Lighting in the form of dangling tube-style Edison bulbs, library lamps, Vietnamese oil lanterns, and uplights fitted with red bulbs helped create a “warm, but not too dark” ambiance, while “the lush greens in our flowers were reminiscent of our hikes in the Maine woods as well as our trips to the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England,” says Luke.