Rustic Country Celebration

• By Sara Cardace
• Published Winter 2009

Karen Hill & Frank Marshal
Brewster, New York
October 19, 2008

When Karen, a photographer, and Frank, her Southern-born boyfriend (and artistic collaborator) of twelve years decided to make things official, the old fixer-upper that they had bought upstate in 2006 quickly became the natural choice for the occasion. The unusual day—a Sunday—selected itself, too. “A lot of our friends are wedding photographers, and it was important to us that they not be stressed about missing a job, so we decided on a Sunday afternoon in the fall,” Karen recalls. She scoured antique shops for vases and apothecary jars to use in the décor—“I collected silver vases for two years just for the wedding,” she adds. When the day arrived, the 48 guests sat on precut stumps in the backyard under a willow tree for the quiet, emotional ceremony (Karen’s mother married them). The group included no less than six wedding photographers. “They were all in competition to get the best picture,” Frank laughs.