Recent Weddings

In mid October we had the chance to do a beautiful wedding ride from the church in Annisquam, taking a 3.5 mile route through Lanesville and into Rockport. The destination was the Emerson inn, a premier location for a wedding reception. Rob and I worked really hard to get Curley as white as he could be, and I had spent weeks ahead of time doing longer and longer drives around Rockport, up hill and down, to be sure he would be fit enough to bring the couple, Andrea and Nick, in a timely way. All went well, and we were so pleased to have the chance to participate.
A lady came out of the group of wedding guests to shake my hand.....saying, "and you stood for the sculptor who made the statue of the Fisherman's wife!" This was the first time when my winter work as an artist's model intersected with my first occupation. She knew the sculptor and had heard about the carriage driver model. When the winter winds blow, it's nice to have an indoor job in a heated studio.
My second wedding was on a colder day in November. Jeannine and Brian are neighbors of mine, and it was an honor to transport them from home to Old Town Hall for the ceremony, and then on to the reception at the Lyceum. In the picture here, the delightful photographer, David LaChappelle of Amore Photography, is teasing Rob on the driver's seat, while Debbie is attending Jeannine. Debbie brought another overlap of occupations to this event because she was renting our condo right next door for the weekend. Homeaway.com has helped us keep our condo rented on a weekly basis, and the income helps to pay the rent on the garage where I keep my carriages. When my cell phone rings, it could be a call about a carriage ride, or about a vacation rental....either way it is about hospitality and welcoming, being part of people's happy times.
Here's a last photo taken in front of the Friendship. The groom, Brian, is a rigger with the National park service. And the name for my carriage business came from the year we started, 1996, when the Friendship was a new attraction at the Maritime Historic Site. We are entering our 15th year in business and it was cool to kick that off with a good wedding that included photos right back where we began.