Real Weddings: A Halloween Proposal and an Enchanted-Forest Reception

Photo by Linds & Max

If you were to ask Ben Dallas and Jamie Kronstadt about love, they’d probably tell you that the purest form of it starts with friendship. Of course, they’re a bit biased: Before the two fell in love and moved in together in Boston in 2021, they’d maintained a long-distance friendship for a decade. It was only during the pandemic that the two discovered there was something serious there. “He was able to visit me for long stretches of time, and we realized we could actually make a life out of it,” Jamie recalls.

A few months after they moved in together, Ben popped the question on Halloween at a historic hotel in Vermont. “We like haunted old places, and [Halloween] has always been something we enjoyed celebrating together,” Jamie explains.

It only made sense then that when it came time to choose a wedding venue, the couple would choose one with a haunting past—the Liberty Hotel, a former 19th-century jail. To add romance to the slightly spooky setting, the couple planned an enchanted forest–inspired celebration and filled the hotel’s courtyard with lavish florals and greenery. As the bride puts it, “Everything came together and felt right.”

Photo by Linds & Max

THE GUEST LIST

When they first started planning, Ben and Jamie envisioned a 75-guest celebration but quickly realized a more intimate celebration would be much more “them.” So they cut 50 guests from their initial list and limited their wedding to immediate family and close friends.

Those shoes! / Photo by Linds & Max

THE CEREMONY

The couple asked their friend who had first introduced them, Vain, to officiate their nuptials. “The first thing I knew about our wedding was that I wanted this person to marry us,” Jamie says.

Photo by Linds & Max

Photo by Linds & Max

THE DÉCOR

Initially, the couple had focused their search on more-rustic outdoor venues, so when they instead chose the Liberty Hotel, Jamie and Ben wished to bring nature into the space. “I wanted it to feel like when you walked into the tent, you were walking into a different world,” Jamie says. They achieved the vision with help from Fleur Events, who enveloped the courtyard in lush, cascading arrangements of orchids, peonies, tulips, and roses.

Photo by Linds & Max

Photo by Linds & Max

THE RECEPTION

The bride and groom sat with their guests at one long table, which was decorated with a rose at each place setting and a cascading canopy of flowers above.

Photo by Linds & Max

THE CAKE

Jamie and Ben’s two-tier vanilla-and-mocha wedding cake hung midair on a floral-adorned swing, making for a playful focal point at their celebration.

Photo by Linds & Max

THE SPEECHES

One of the couple’s favorite moments from the day was the speech Jamie’s dad gave at their reception, which paid tribute to Jamie’s late brother. “There was a line in it about how he had lost a son, and then [that night] he gained one. It made everyone cry,” the bride recalls.

Photo by Linds & Max

THE AFTER-PARTY DRESS

Jamie donned not one but three gowns on the big day, including a black high-low ball gown by Morphine that she wore to dance the night away at an after-party at Alibi, the hotel’s bar and lounge.

Photo by Linds & Max

Photo by Linds & Max

Photo by Linds & Max

Photo by Linds & Max

Band
Humming House

Bride’s After-Party Dress
Morphine, Anthropologie

Bride’s Ceremony Dress
Martina Liana, Vows

Bride’s Reception Dress
BHLDN

Cake
Silver Whisk Bake Shop

Designer/Planner
Hummingbird Events

Flowers
Fleur Events

Groom’s Suit
Corneliani

Hair & Makeup
Dani Wagener Beauty

Photographer
Linds & Max

Production
Exquisite Events

Rentals
Kadeema Rentals and Peak Event Services

Photo by Linds & Max

Getting married? Start and end your wedding planning journey with Boston Weddings' guide to the best wedding vendors in the city.