📸: Trevor Holden Photography // @trevorholdenphotography

This game-centric and jewel-toned wedding at Shepherd’s Run in South Kingstown, Rhode Island was the perfect answer to their love game.

The Meet Cute: Ben was born and raised in Bridgewater, MA. Before Rhode Island, Amanda lived in Ladera Ranch, CA. They met and started dating while students at Providence College and Amanda stayed in Providence after graduation for work.

The Engagement: After being together for six years, the couple got engaged at Fort Williams in Portland, Maine, on Feb. 6, 2021. “It was a bit of a trick,” Amanda says. “I had been talking about wanting to travel somewhere that we felt far away, but still safe in the time of COVID. We had been to Portland once before and fell in love with the food-forward, funky city.” What she thought was a nice weekend getaway turned into an agreement to spend the rest of their lives together. After shopping around and taking in the city, Ben declared he really wanted to see a lighthouse. He proposed on a snowy hill overlooking Portland Head Light. He used to do magic tricks in high school and college, so instead of getting down on one knee, he pulled the ring from behind Amanda’s ear and proposed with a 1930s platinum diamond ring from a Michigan-based jeweler that Amanda had her eye on for years. They celebrated with a beer and a homemade cheese board at their Airbnb, just the two of them. “I always thought there would be tons of bells and whistles when he proposed, but it was so quiet!” Amanda says. “No one was around, but ultimately, that made it so much better for the two of us.”

The Ceremony and Reception: Since the wedding took place with COVID precautions, the couple had around eighty guests join them at the ceremony at Providence College’s St. Dominic Chapel. “We met at PC and it was important to us to have a Catholic ceremony, so it made sense,” Amanda says. “We were so happy to be there and get pictures on campus, as well as be congratulated (and sometimes whistled at) by students passing by.” The reception was even smaller, with seventy-five guests at Shepherd’s Run in South Kingstown. “It was important to us to be respectful of people’s comfort level of gathering, so we were happy to let our guests be selective in how they would choose to celebrate with us,” Amanda says.

The Theme: The whimsical vintage decor and attire stemmed from Amanda and Ben’s many dates walking through antique markets and yard sales, creating their own scavenger hunts. They chose jewel tones knowing that April weather could go either way. In lieu of real flowers for the groomsmen, they got creative and found ones that will last a lifetime. “Our original idea was to use 1960s enamel flower brooches as boutonnieres,” Amanda says. “We started searching for them last summer at Brimfield Antique Flea Market and instead found lots of big, whimsical jeweled brooches. The one my dad wore belonged to my great grandmother.” To continue the theme, they found game boards and pieces to use as table centerpieces at New Bedford Antiques at the Cove, the Lady Next Door in Warren and thrift shops, along with Trivial Pursuit cards and peg games. “We also left a secret message on our Scrabble table for Ben’s family to decode,” Amanda says. The answer? Amanda Talbot x Ben Williams.