Ashley Dearborn & Robert Windsor Jr.
Camp Otterbrook, Adirondack State Park, Tupper Lake, N.Y.
June 30, 2007
Just weeks after their first date, “Rob said to me, ‘Look, we can either go to City Hall and do this now, or at least get matching tattoos.’ And I said, ‘Uh, I think we should get the tattoos.’ ” Two years later, each wears an inky outline of a heart precisely where the sleeve hits the wrist. The pair, who met at boarding school in Massachusetts and live in Williamsburg, wanted a casual, summer wedding on her family’s private camp in the Adirondacks. “It’s in the middle of nowhere, but it’s beautiful,” Ashley says. “We were, at best, 50 minutes from civilization of any kind, which made everything more difficult. But it worked out.” They built two connecting tents around a 200-year-old tree; one was decorated with antler chandeliers, the other with lit, strewn grapevines. “We wanted it to be both highbrow and lowbrow, so we served these amazing Italian rosés and Proseccos, but also had margaritas and Coors right out of the can.”
THE DETAILS
Bride’s Gown: Angelo Lambrou NYC
Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Mara Hoffman
Groom’s and Groomsmen’s Pants: Murray’s, Nantucket, Mass.
Caterer: Northwood Events, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Music: D.J. Sean Baker
Invitations: Reddish-Blue
Flowers: Trillium, Tupper Lake, N.Y.
We took pictures in the library”a room with tons of dead animal heads everywhere, which I loved as a child.
Click to Read Their Story
Photographs by Cappy Hotchkiss
I changed into my wedding dress in the forest, with no mirrors, standing up on a picnic table! The dress code was all about comfort: Rob and his groomsmen were in flip-flops and Madras pants. My bridesmaids chose from different dress shapes and fabrics: a cheetah-print, and one with crocodiles crawling over lily pads.
We kept the d”cor organic; I wanted everything to seem right off the earth, very wood-nymph forest.
I arrived at the ceremony on a rickety-tickety barge with my parents, my eleven bridesmaids, and my dog, Chump. I started on an island in the middle of the lake and floated toward the dock where Rob and his nine groomsmen waited. I wish he”d had eleven because I”m a stickler for symmetry.
Some of our dinner favorites were the heirloom gazpacho to start (we love Mexican) and the kielbasa (Rob is Polish). For dessert, we had mini gelato cones, banana cr”me br”l”es, and s”mores. Rob”s mom surprised us with canoe-shaped desserts.
