Elspeth and Patrick’s wedding was a long time coming. Make that seven years.
The two met in 2010 at their first duty stations in the Navy as nurses in Virginia, then began dating a few years later when they were fatefully placed together again in California—getting engaged in 2015.
“After we got engaged, we got orders to the Naval Hospital Guam in the South Pacific,” Elspeth says. “We were stationed there for two years and it was just kind of difficult for us to travel back to the States and for us to be able to get time off together.”
Originally planning for a spring 2020 wedding, both the pandemic and the couple’s doctoral studies prompted them to postpone.
“I had always wanted to get married in the same church that my grandparents got married in,” Elspeth says. And that meant a Buffalo destination wedding.
While touring venues, the couple fell in love with Notting Hill Farm’s beautiful hilltop two-story barn.
“It struck a chord with both of us, even though we’re from different parts of the country,” Elspeth says. “We’re both rural kids, so being out in the country in a big field was just homey for both of us.”
Day of details
Event planner by trade, Elspeth’s sister, Katharine Phillips, worked with each of their vendors from concept to creation. Helping to plan the wedding felt like “one of the greatest gifts I could give,” Katharine says, empathizing with the stress the couple was under at the time due to their graduate studies.
The whimsical purple, pink and blue-toned floralscapes by Wild Blossom Hollow reflected a natural, springtime feel that evoked memories of the sisters’ mother’s garden when they were growing up.
“The more space you give vendors to just do their own thing or let them have creative freedom, the better the result is going to be,” Katharine says.
The vintage Rolls-Royce was another ode to Elspeth’s grandparents and gave the couple a treasured private moment.
“One of my favorite pictures of my grandparents was in the car on their wedding,” Elspeth says. “It was just a really special ride for myself and Patrick from the church to the venue, having a moment to take a breath together, just us.”
Their custom seating chart display was a surprise constructed by the girls’ father for the couple, which featured a quote summarizing their relationship.
“That was definitely a play towards both of us being Navy, and knowing we have our love to anchor us to each other,” Elspeth says, referencing future deployments to come.
“Our families agree that like Elspeth and Patrick are just people that have done so much to dedicate their lives to the service of others, in terms of working in nursing and service to our country,” Katharine says, “so it's like, for this couple that has given up so much, we all just wanted a day that was about them, that they felt celebrated, that they felt loved.”
“My ‘something blue’ were my shoes," Elsepth says, “I found this great pair of very simple blue shoes with a bow on the front, which were nice for a little bit of height but not too much that I was uncomfortable.”
As the couple was planning the day from out-of-town, Elspeth’s mother and sister attended the cake tastings on their behalf.
“One of the things that we liked was an autumn spice cake, and my mom and Katharine were like ‘Are you sure about this?’ and I said ‘Yes, please just try this combination for us,’ and it was nice to have something that was kind of unique to us and not something you have at every wedding,” she says.
The couple lit up the barn with live jazzy music from Saranaide. “We had this great music in the background, but it wasn’t this overwhelming aspect of it so people could actually talk and enjoy and sit down and enjoy each other’s company,” Elspeth says.
“It was just really such a great day of just really being able to celebrate and enjoy each other,” Elspeth says. “We really wanted people to feel like they were there and having a good party.”