Elizabeth and Daniel

December 9, 2017

Meet the bride who actually wished for snow on her wedding day.

How did you two meet?

Dan grew up in Greenville and attended Brown University for undergrad and medical school. He moved to Boston in 2014 to complete his pediatric critical care training at Boston Children’s Hospital. Elizabeth was a member of Heart Transplant team at the hospital and we first met taking care of mutual patients in the intensive care unit. We kept crossing paths at work, developed mutual friends, and next thing we knew we were making plans of our own. It wasn’t until one of our friends asked if we were dating that we finally realized that we should be!

How long were you together before you were engaged? How did you get engaged?

We guess this depends upon on when we acknowledge that we were “officially” dating, but could safely say just about a year until we got engaged. One of our favorite mutual activities is running. We had our eye on the Cherry Blossom Run in Washington DC in April 2017. After lots of cold weather runs and keeping each other motivated during training, we found ourselves crossing that finish line together. Shortly after we finished, Dan was on his knee under a tree at the Washington Monument proposing.

What were your favorite and least favorite parts of planning?

We were lucky to have attended a ton of weddings and both had a good sense of what we wanted – a great party topped off with excellent food and an incredible DJ. We were thrilled when it all came together thanks to the incredible talent and coordination of our vendors. We didn’t have a specific theme but knew we wanted to combine classic elegance with color! Dan surprised Elizabeth with booking Winston Flowers as a wedding gift. Their team was just incredible and exceeded our wildest dreams. We were hoping for a wintry backdrop, but when we saw their design come to fruition, we knew our dream had come true.

What drew you to your venue?

We had originally thought of getting married in Newport, but then realized that for a winter wedding we would be losing out on the views that make a Newport wedding so special. We started looking at places in the area with indoor options for winter and wanted more than a function room in a hotel. When we saw the library we instantly fell in love with it and knew it was where we wanted to be married. We loved that everything could happen all in one place without guests having to drive from a ceremony to a reception. The library’s architecture is so beautiful but at the same time it was a blank slate that we could make our own. We saw a lot of photos of different ways people had added décor to the space and loved the flexibility it had.

How did you come across Brad Smith Photography?

We wanted a photographer familiar with all Providence offers as a setting and specifically, someone who had experience at the Providence Public Library. We stumbled across Brad’s work. We loved his classic images balanced with excellent candids. We particularly loved his ability to capture the smallest details of the wedding in the largest of rooms at the library. When we met with Brad, we instantly clicked with his flexible style.

What gifts did you give each other on the morning of the wedding?

Dan gave Elizabeth a snow globe with scenes from Washington’s Cherry Blossom Festival recalling our engagement day with hopes that we would be in our own snow globe on our wedding day. A few minutes later, that came true as it started to snow just in time for our first look. Elizabeth gave Dan a pair of Tiffany’s cufflinks, a classic gift for a classic guy.

What made you decide to do a first look?

Since our ceremony and reception were in the same location, we wanted to optimize time that day by doing photos in advance so we could start enjoying time with our guests immediately following the ceremony. We got to drive around Providence and take photos in Prospect Park and by the state house. We were thrilled that we were able to capture a few daylight hours before our evening wedding.

The first look was a nice moment to have just ourselves rather than in front of a crowd. It was a beautiful and quiet moment in the snow outside our hotel where it was just us (although a few family members later revealed they were watching from the hotel windows!) We would definitely recommend a first look to any couple looking to have more time for photos, or to have a quiet moment together prior to all the wedding day chaos!

Was there ever a point where you were afraid that the snow would force you to cancel?

Elizabeth was PRAYING for snow from the minute we decided on a winter wedding. She wanted to have shoes that would allow her to stay on the dance floor all night so opted for Tieks flats to wear under her dress. Just in case she was lucky enough to get her snowy day wish, she ordered LL Bean boots to wear around Providence for photos. We never worried that the day would be cancelled. Unfortunately, two friends from Atlanta were unable to fly out of ATL due to ice conditions there. Everybody else was able to safely make it to the wedding! The first snow of the season added such a magical element to our night. We texted everyone to wear boots and bring shoes. One of our favorite pictures is of all the boots lined up at the library entrance.

What was your first dance song?

Zac Brown Band “Loving you Easy.” Zac Brown was the first concert we went to together and the song embodies a lot of us. We love that it’s non-traditional and not a slow wedding song.

If you had to narrow it down, what would you say was your favorite moment from that day?

Our favorite moment was the ceremony and our vows. We wrote our own vows and incorporated them into a personalized ceremony rather than taking a completely traditional approach for an otherwise very classic affair.

Do you have any advice for recently engaged couples?

Enjoy the planning! While we’re detail oriented, we broke the process down into several small decisions so that it didn’t become overwhelming and everything fell into place. Figure out what is most meaningful to you and make that the priority. For us, we wanted a fabulous party and focused on venue, food and DJ as priorities. Everybody had such a great time and as we danced to our last song, we knew that our hard planning really had paid off.