Real Wedding: Nicole & Nicholas
Their love story has taken Nicole Harburger and Nicholas Stafford around the world, but Cape Cod was the magical place where they decided to exchange their marriage vows.
They might have chosen Vermont, where Nicole and Nick met at a pre-wedding soccer game in the summer of 2005 and fell for one another instantly. Or Upwaltham, in southern England, where they had their second date, at Nick’s sister’s wedding. They could have picked Cabris, the hillside village in France where Nick paused on a winding road to tell Nicole he’d loved her since the day they’d met and asked her to be his wife. Or possibly Tampa, Florida, where Nick had managed to secure a Stateside transfer that allowed him to finally be in the same time zone with Nicole. They could have gone for London, or Paris, or Reykjavik, or the Caribbean nation of Belize, or any of the many other places their four-year, international romance had taken them. But in the end, they chose Cape Cod.
Nicole had summered there as a child, soaking up the sun and eating beachside burgers. Nick had driven there, glowing with excitement, to ask Nicole’s mother for her daughter’s hand in marriage. They’d spent cold winter nights there, dreaming over dinner of having their own home on the Cape someday. And now that they were getting married, they wanted the Cape to be the place where they promised to love each other forever and became husband and wife.
Nicole, from Boston, and Nick, from England, were determined to incorporate the best of Old and New England in their ceremony, starting with a morning soccer match in honor of the game that had brought them together. The night before the wedding, guests gathered for a traditional Cape Cod clambake, with native New Englanders offering their English friends tips on how to pull lobster meat from the shells and everyone was dripping with warm butter. The reception featured Pims cocktails, the classic British libation. And instead of a traditional wedding cake, Nicole and Nick served their favorite dessert — old-fashioned American apple pie — and invited their guests to roll up their sleeves and dig in. Gift bags were stuffed with treats from the Old and New Worlds, including Curly Wurlys, Cape Cod Potato Chips, Chocolate Lobster Pops, and other goodies.
Nicole and Nick wanted their wedding celebration to be joyful, exuberant, and fun, so they started with a bold, bright red as the primary color in their palette, mixing it with a soft aqua to reflect the ocean setting, and a warm orange-pink shade.
Because so much of their time together had revolved around their shared travels, Nicole and Nick wanted to share their experiences with their loved ones. Instead of numbering their tables, they named them for places they’d traveled together and used photo cubes with pictures and information about each place as part of the centerpieces. In the same vein, they bypassed traditional place cards, opting instead for personalized red leather luggage tags tied to each chair. In lieu of a traditional guest book, Nicole’s maid of honor had a book of vintage travel postcards printed, which guests filled out and tucked into a vintage suitcase for safekeeping.
Even an unexpected gusty rain couldn’t dim their pleasure. In fact, the rain and its accompanying power outage actually made the ceremony more special. Guests thought the candlelight ceremony was warm and romantic, and the trumpeter they’d hired to team up with their DJ ended up playing an impromptu solo that was memorably romantic. Just as the ceremony ended, the power came back on.
Nick’s grandparents traveled from England to join the festivities, and other friends and family from around the world gathered with open hearts to celebrate the occasion. And Nicole and Nick celebrated the fact that wherever they are together — whether it’s an apartment in Adams Morgan or a sailboat in Belize — will always feel like home.