The Bride Wore a Dress Inspired by a “Pretty Marsh Creature” for Her Fall Wedding in Rhode Island

The weekend wardrobe also completed the couple’s goal of “conversing with the environment.” Says Emma: “I didn’t want to wear a dress inside a beautiful setting; I wanted to be part of it.” Her first coastal-inspired look was an ivory Lesea Berry dress for a bridal shower luncheon at Ocean House. She paired the light and airy drop-waist style with an archival Marguerite Stix shell brooch.

Since dahlias were the main floral used at the rehearsal dinner, the bride decided to go all in and create a look that would make her feel like “a dahlia in human form.” Emma worked with Patricia Voto of One/Of to help achieve this goal. “I sourced a 1930s sheer trumpet gown from a local Rhode Island purveyor and worked with Patricia’s atelier to re-imagine it,” she explains. “The skirt was hand-painted with dahlias by artist Mitchell Moon, and Patricia created a custom corset and shorts set to go underneath.” The set was created from deadstock LVMH lace dyed to a burgundy shade to match the florals and her accessories. She adds, “Clio Peppiatt’s red beaded petal bag served as a surreal punctuation mark, and she sent a set of the same red beads for One/Of to sew into the gown—a subtle creative exchange that connected both designers.”

The bride even had a custom look made to get ready on her wedding day when she was visiting Italy. “I wore bespoke Loretta Caponi, created with their Florence atelier—floral silk-georgette robes for me, my sister (and maid of honor), and my mom,” says Emma. She also wore a custom sheer nightgown with “a rippled hem that moved as if underwater.” Another bespoke project to accessorize the couple for their nuptials? “I worked with Of Rare Origin to create a series of carved cameo pieces in 18k gold—baroque-pearl earrings and a pinky ring for myself, and cufflinks in sterling silver with the same cameo for Jeff,” explains Emma. “The cameo was of a shell motif that was featured in our ceremony altar.”

For her wedding gown, Emma wore a customized version of Danielle Frankel’s oceanic Alexandra dress—a design with floral motifs and jellyfish-like organza strands with baroque pearls. “I wanted to be a ‘pretty marsh creature,’ as if I had emerged from the shoreline of our ceremony backdrop,” she shares. “We customized the gown with sage brushstrokes on the hand-painted floral appliqués, an inner corset with grosgrain boning, billowing tulle sleeves, and a removable Watteau cape.” The bride remembers, “The gown moved like part of the landscape among Semia’s meadow florals and my trailing clematis bouquet further mirrored that movement.”

For the final hours of the night, Emma donned a custom Clio Peppiatt mini dress. “As Clio Peppiatt’s team put it, I became the ‘pearl of the evening’ in a bespoke corset and skirt set by the designer,” she shares. “It was the first time Clio had used real pearls in her work, and she wrote to me that it was her ‘favorite bespoke to date.’” Inspired by Taylor Swift’s 2025 Grammy’s look, she had a “J” added to the dress so it would rest on her thigh. While the mini was something new, the bride’s something blue was actually not a part of her wardrobe. Instead, she had her maid of honor wear three different blue Markarian gowns throughout the weekend to represent that age-old tradition.

Jeff also chose made-to-measure looks appropriate for the wedding’s aesthetic. For the rehearsal dinner and welcome party, the groom wore an Atelier Munro espresso-brown suit with a deep burgundy lining as a nod to the dahlias and his fiancé’s One/Of dress. While the groom wore a classic Zegna tuxedo for the black-tie ceremony, its navy hue and his David Yurman mother-of-pearl studs were befitting of the coastal setting.

The wedding day arrived, and the couple’s 65 guests settled on one of Weekapaug Inn’s lawns. The grounds were decorated for the ceremony with a winding meadow floral aisle leading to a floral semi-circle framed by two large vintage wooden shells, which were actually mid-century Italian dining table bases that will be used in the couple’s home. “We loved the idea of beginning our married life between them the same way we will start our mornings together over coffee between them,” says the bride. The programs also had a romantic touch. Inside featured a poem on love from a scientist’s perspective that was written by the bride’s late grandfather—“serendipitously discovered by my mother just weeks before the wedding in the pages of a book he had given her years ago.” On the cover, the couple included a love note written by him to Emma’s grandmother.

The ceremony was a family affair, with both the groom’s aunt and the bride’s uncle officiating together. “It felt grounding and surreal all at once. Everything slowed down—the wind, the music, the movement of the florals—and the ceremony felt less like a performance and more like a moment suspended in time,” says the bride. Although the couple initially were planning on just reading their vows to each other in private on the morning of the wedding, they decided last-minute to recite them for their guests as well. “We ended up enjoying them so much we wanted to share them with our loved ones, and are so glad we did in the end,” Emma says.

Once they said “I do,” the newlyweds went off on a getaway ride on Emma’s uncle’s vintage boat—“a private pause before rejoining our guests.” Cocktail hour featured a raw bar, crystal stemware, and custom-painted fixtures. “As non-drinkers, we intentionally avoided alcohol as an aesthetic choice for our celebration,” notes Emma. “Our custom-built statement bar at cocktail hour featured a large sculptural floral arrangement and a craft mocktail menu. Liquor bottles remained out of sight, with signage noting that a full bar was available.”

The party transitioned inside to the Inn’s Meeting House for the reception. “Guests ascended a grand, meadow-floral-lined staircase into the space, where sage-green tulle was layered in rippling tiers across the ceiling, creating the sense of being beneath the surface of the sea—an immersive installation reshaping the room into something softly luminous,” describes the bride. After the couple made their grand entrance, the band One Love played a saxophone-led cover of “Sparks” by Coldplay as the newlyweds shared their first dance. The night continued with speeches, music, and the bride grabbings the mic to sing “Pink Pony Club.” She adds, “We had some pretty intense dance-offs, including with our three-year-old flower girl!”

The couple emphasizes how they still feel incredibly grateful: “Not just for how beautiful the weekend was, but for how intentional it felt. Every detail reflected who we are and how we wanted people to feel: calm, connected, and cared for.”