Ben + Andrew

Andrew and I were dear acquaintances in college here in Maine—having survived a few devilishly difficult psychology courses together, some kind of deep and quirky long-term bond was forged. Having said that, I did not expect and was thoroughly honored to hear from him years later as he was planning to marry his beloved Ben. Andrew and Ben are fiercely relational; as such, they were very clear that they wanted their wedding to serve as an immersive experience that introduced their guests to everything that they have come to love about Maine. Maine is my favorite place in the world—this passion made sense to me. We set to work.

What I couldn’t know (and wouldn’t come to know until months later witnessing with a fullest-possible heart the epically loving marathon of toasts at their rehearsal dinner) was that part of what we had been attempting to do was help their guests understand something about the kinds of places—the kinds of people—that make up a home. And how a beautiful thing about life is that home can sometimes be a human. This somewhat unnamed sense that pervaded our decision making still had quite an impact on the day—always adding yet more lobsters, yet more oysters, yet more chairs into the theater-in-the-round ceremony, and yet more opportunities for another person to tell a story about the ways that Ben or Andrew or both have made them feel at home.