Married February 14th, 2024: Smith Farm Gardens, Haddam, CT
The first wedding of 2024 was exactly want I needed to kick off a new season. Anjuli and Bill hosted 27 guests in front of the fireplace at Smith Farm Gardens. A fresh coat of snow had fallen just the day before, providing the perfect backdrop for this New England winter wedding.
One of the most moving parts of the ceremony was witnessing the couple exchange their personally written vows. Anjuli's daughter and Bill's son watched on, everyone finding back the happy sniffles. His son tapped Bill on the arm a few times to hand him a fresh tissue. The BEST Best Man a dad could ask for!
This couple waited what seemed like a lifetime to finally be together.
Here's the love story portion of their ceremony: At this very moment, while you are all sitting here, dressed up in your finest, getting ready to celebrate this beautiful couple — somewhere — inside Anjuli and Bill’s house, a Valentine balloon is still floating around, exactly one year after it was originally first gifted.
Over the many months it has resided with them, visitors have commented over it’s amazing endurance. This eventually became the helpful sign they needed and so plans for a Valentine wedding day began to take shape.
If we choose to take this symbolism to the next level, we could say that it represents how long Anjuli and Bill have waited to be together — just sort of floating around in the background of each other’s lives until the time was right.
In high school, Bill was crazy about Anjuli from the start. She was so intriguing to him. They shared the same high honors classes where he admired her intelligence and how she carried herself with a quiet reserve. While he was always a little too nervous to tell her how he felt, they did become good friends.
Anjuli noticed Bill right away too. He had a slight ‘bad boy’ persona that teen girls are often drawn too. She found it interesting that while he could light up any room he walked into, with her, he was more quiet and shy. He was incredibly smart and she found him easy to be around.
They’d spend hours talking on AOL instant messenger or on the phone, getting in trouble for racking up the long distance charges between Derby and Bridgeport.
They remained friends throughout college but then headed in different directions for a while. They eventually reconnected on Facebook and kept tabs on each other’s lives through pictures and posts. It was there, that Anjuli reached out to Bill about 2 years ago.
Noticing that Bill was in Pennsylvania for one of his son's baseball tournaments, she messaged him about Amish Country and how much her daughter liked it there when they had visited. They exchanged some casual small talk, catching up on each other’s lives — but as soon as Bill realized Anjuli was available, he pounced on his opportunity and messaged her back “Date night?”
He had waited long enough and wasn’t about to miss his second chance with the girl that drifted away from him in high school.
From that moment on, it was like they were transported back in time, talking non-stop like two teenagers once again.
As they continued to share their story with me, I noticed Bill’s eyes begin to shine a little. He almost thought this day would never come. A smile and a twinkle crosses his face when he thinks about the idea of calling Anjuli his wife.
When two people reconnect after a lot of time has passed, they can certainly change from their youth. Fortunately, for Anjuli and Bill, they found the same friend they always knew, combined with the confidence and life experience of the adults they now are.
They credit the strength of their relationship to their communication skills. Bill feels that it’s their shared views on things like family and success that make their conversations flow so easily. Anjuli says they can find fun in anything that they do together. Enjoying live music or spending a low key evening at home with a few friends are just a couple of their favorite things.
Travel is also a shared love and began when Bill whisked Anjuli away on an impromptu trip to Vegas. It was there that Bill asked her to be his girlfriend and where this great adventure officially began.
Now sharing their home with their children and their 4 dogs, they are learning to rely on each other’s strengths to create balance. Bill is the first to admit that Anjuli has way more patience than he does. He credits her with helping him take a step back from the situation and try not to get so worked over the little things.
Anjuli knows Bill is a lot better at making decisions than she is. While her legal brain would like to take it’s time to analyze all the angles of the matter in question, she knows, sometimes you just have pick an option and move forward. She is grateful that Bill can take the reigns and help out when needed.
These are just a few examples of how they will continue to lean on and complement each other throughout their marriage. And as we all can clearly see, they are already off to a pretty great start!
WEDDING TEAM:
Venue: @smithfarmgardensct
Catering: @towcateringwny
Officiant: @eaceremonies
Photography: @jennifernicholephotography
Flowers: @floraldesignsbymelissa
Dessert/Cake: Heart and Hand Baking Co. (Waterford, CT)
Hair: @leauxmane
Makeup: @christinecouturecormier
Dresses: @ctsavvybride
Suits: @menswearhouse