June 10, 2017 | From the Daisies
Sam & Ethan
The Meet Cute: When Ethan first laid eyes on Sam, he thought she was
somebody else’s girl. “We were at a mutual friend’s party in college and
I saw her standing with a guy I knew,” he explains. “I thought, ‘Damn,
she’s hot!’” Lucky for Ethan, Sam was, in fact, single. The group ended
up venturing to Chipotle (note the couple’s wedding catering) later that
night, but they didn’t really connect until they saw each other again at
a Halloween party. A few months later, they were in love.
The Engagement: Fast forward a year to when the couple were
supposedly meant to attend a Superbowl party. “We had time, so I asked
Sam if she wanted to stop at Bonnet Point in Narragansett first — we
would take walks there all the time,” Ethan recalls. When they reached the
Point, not only did Ethan pull out a ring, but he also had a photographer
friend waiting in the bushes to capture the moment. “Then we went to
Oceanside where a bunch of friends and family were waiting for a little
soiree,” he says. “We did not watch the Superbowl that year.”
The Aesthetic: “If you look at our house, it’s that beachy, boho look —
that’s our style,” Sam explains. So, when looking for venues, she simply
typed “boho beach wedding Rhode Island” into Google. Dragonline
Studios in Jamestown was one of the first venues to pop up, and it
was the first place they toured. “We just loved it,” Sam says. She also
loved the planning process as a whole, and her husband is quick to
dole out praises. “She did 100% of everything that wasn’t nailed down
at Dragonline,” Ethan says. “She’s a very artistic person and she worked
forty-plus hours a week on the wedding. Everyone kept saying how it
was the best wedding they’d ever been to.”
The Ceremony: Sam’s cousin, Tyler, got ordained just for the occasion
and even wrote the entire ceremony. “We’ve always looked up to him
and he’s a very spiritual person,” Ethan explains. He and Sam then
made the ceremony even more personal by writing their own vows. For
couples thinking of doing the same, Ethan advises, “Don’t think about
anyone else but yourself and who you are marrying. Your wedding is
about you and how you feel; speak from the heart.”
The Music: “Music was very important to me,” says Ethan. As such, he
had a hand in a lot of the day’s musical choices. When it came to the
first dance song, he was the first to suggest “Lava” from the Pixar short
of the same name — one of Sam’s favorites. As for the reception music,
he relied on a college-friend-turned-DJ who “rocked the house,” and he
even had another old friend perform (with one of Sam’s bridesmaids)
during the cake cutting. “He and I have played in three bands together,
so it was really cool for him to play at my wedding,” Ethan reflects.
The Highlights: “I feel like there was something special about the
ceremony. When I watch it back on our wedding video, I always think,
‘Wow.’ It was very real and very us.” — Sam
“One of my favorite people in the world couldn’t make it to the wedding,
but he wrote a letter and one of my groomsmen brought me down by
the water to read it to me. The letter was hilarious yet heartwarming
and it meant a lot to me. And then, obviously, I loved marrying my
wife and partying with our family and friends!” — Ethan
124 | ENGAGED IN SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND 2020