two hearts tie the knot at hartness house

Hi all! Here are the wedding outfit photos from Saturday--any excuse to get a little bit glam is a-okay avec moi! If you recall, I opted for this summery number over my dress-prize for several reasons (not least of which = laziness), and I'm glad I did! The ceremony was outside in the sunshine, and a Marilyn-inspired red frock would have been a bit shocking for early-evening.

(dress: Modcloth; shoes: Charlotte Russe; earrings: gift from mom; necklace: antique shop)

I bought this necklace on a whim on the way down. We stopped in Waterbury for a bagel (me) and a sandwich (him) and I dropped in to the Antique shop to see if I could find something suitable to break up the wide expanse of my bare chest. This lovely necklace was perfection.

And of course, the most fun (and arguably, most important) accessory of all: a dapper lad on my arm :)

The wedding was held at the Hartness House in Springfield, Vermont. This Hartness fellow was a pretty fascinating guy. He was an inventor (he patented 120 different machines) and telescope enthusiast who socialized with the likes of Charles Lindbergh and helped advance Springfield into the industrial age (apparently it used to be such a significant manufacturing center that it was number seven on Hitler's "Cities to Bomb" list during WWII--now, all of the old abandoned factories are picturesque in a nostalgic sense, but you'd never know that it was once a bustling industrial city).

The coolest part of the house wasn't accessible on the big day, but speaks volumes about Hartness' character. While working, he was tormented by even the slightest auditory disturbances, and when building a separate workshop behind the mansion didn't solve his concentration problems he decided to build a workshop underground! As we strolled across the lawn on Saturday, we were walking over a series of rooms: a library, workshop, lavatory (so much classier than "bathroom"--I'm going to have to use that terminology from now on!), study, and lounge... all connected by tunnels, equipped for electricity, and ventilated.

(source)

Today, the underground apartment is a museum for Stellafane (a group of amateur telescope-makers who started an official club back in the 'twenties), which sounds incredibly awesome--I'd love to visit again someday and actually see all of the antique gadgets below the ground. And while I'm on the subject, Stellafane is a pretty nifty organization in its own right. The club was founded 75 years ago by Russell Porter, an arctic explorer and amateur astronomer who decided to teach telescope-building to a group of coworkers at the Jones & Lamson Machine Company. Thus began the first "star parties," where groups of builders got together to gaze (in order to be a card-carrying member of this elite club, you have to build your own telescope mirror). Pretty neat-o, yes?

As for the wedding itself, it was lovely and I wish we could have stayed longer but the Universe was kind of conspiring against us. The bride was beautiful (no surprise there), the vows made me cry (no surprise there, either) and it was a beautiful, sunny summer evening. Perfection! I wish the happy couple everything that their little hearts desire (and more).

...and then we went back to the hotel and caught up on the late-night replay of "Jersey Shore," which just made everything absolutely excellent.