N.Y. couple picks Bridgeside Books for a storybook wedding
June 27, 2024 | By Cheryl Casey | Correspondent As it turns out, storybook weddings aren’t just for fairy tales. Sometimes they even come true in bookstores.
Sean-Paul Whittlesey and Olivia Lewis the afternoon before their June 22 wedding at Bridgeside Books. Photo by Gordon Miller
Olivia Lewis, 26, and Sean-Paul Whittlesey, 25, of Newark, New York, began the next chapter of their lives together on Saturday afternoon in an intimate ceremony at Bridgeside Books. About 30 family and friends traveled from the Finger Lakes region to celebrate with the happy couple.
Prologue
Independent bookstore Bridgeside Books seemed destined to play a major role in Lewis and Whittlesey’s romance. Last summer, the couple decided to vacation with their best friends, Adam and Caitlyn Windus, to celebrate Lewis’ birthday. The foursome selected Vermont as their destination, having never visited the state.
After booking a place to stay in Warren, Lewis, an avid reader of fiction, came across Bridgeside Books’ “Blind Date With a Book” program, in which books are wrapped in brown paper and labeled with clues about their contents. Lewis was interested and phoned the store to confirm “blind dates” would still be available during their visit. That’s when the other three started scheming.
“It was [mostly] my wife’s idea,” said Windus, that Whittlesey should propose to Lewis during that trip and at the bookstore specifically. While the two couples were shopping around Waterbury, Whittlesey slipped over to Bridgeside with a very specially wrapped book and made arrangements with owner Katya d’Angelo and shop assistant Jenna Danyew to give the package to Lewis when the foursome arrived at the shop.
“She honestly had no idea and thought it was from the bookstore for her birthday,” recalled Whittlesey. “She was thanking them then turned around and I was on one knee.”
And Lewis’ “blind date”? An engagement journal from her new fiancé.
A storybook(store) wedding in the making
Before the newly engaged couple left the bookstore on that happy occasion, d’Angelo half-joked that they could return for their wedding.
Rehearsing the afternoon before their wedding day are Sean-Paul and Olivia with friend Adam Windus, who was to officiate. Photo by Gordon Miller
“Other bookstores have hosted weddings,” d’Angelo said, “and Jenna and I had talked about how cool it would be.”
Lewis, who works at a credit union, and Whittlesey, a construction worker, originally planned to elope. Then, recalled Lewis, she saw a Facebook post from Bridgeside about hosting a wedding being on their bucket list of events. “I was like, we’re doing that. It’s happening,” she said.
The couple scheduled a Zoom call with d’Angelo and Danyew to work through the logistics of holding their wedding ceremony in the bookstore’s front room.
“The planning is mostly seating and decor,” d’Angelo explained.
Danyew said the plan was to reverse the books on the shelves next to where the couple would stand “so that the neutral-colored pages would be facing out.” The cash register counter would be cleared and table displays removed and replaced with black folding chairs. Garland made of book pages and small floral displays would be the primary adornments, along with a deep emerald green curtain hanging on the French doors between the shop’s two rooms. The wedding favors completed the theme: customized books wrapped as “blind dates.”
“It’s about thinking through how they are entering this space and the best way to set this up,” explained Danyew. “Start to finish, how does this happen?”
Bridgeside Books closed early on Saturday afternoon to prepare the space for the 3:30 ceremony. Once guests began arriving, Danyew took up her post outside to ensure that hopeful shoppers and curious onlookers did not disrupt the occasion while d’Angelo tended to the bridal party inside.
Windus obtained a one-day license to officiate the wedding of his best friends, who have been together for seven years. Lewis (now going by Whittlesey, too) walked down the aisle to Kacey Musgraves’ version of the Elvis Presley classic, “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” accompanied by elder brother Kian and her self-professed “definitely protective” younger brother, Braydan Sherman.
Bridgeside Books staffer Jenna Danyew with Olivia Lewis and Sean-Paul Whittlesey and store owner Katya d’Angelo at the wedding rehearsal. Photo by Gordon Miller
Epilogue
The following day, d’Angelo confirmed that the ceremony “went off without a hitch! Or rather, with a hitch, I suppose.”
The scene outside the book shop before the wedding gave away the special occasion with one simple sign decorated with fresh flowers. Photo by Jenna Danyew
For the bride and groom and their guests, this truly was a destination wedding. Many, like the happy couple on last year’s vacation, had never been to Vermont. Lewis and Whittlesey focused on keeping their arrangements local to Waterbury, staying in the AirBnB above the bookstore and holding their reception nearby in The Reservoir’s upstairs private room. Friday night’s rehearsal dinner was catered by Zachary’s Pizza at the Hope Davey Park pavilion in Waterbury Center.
Delighted with how everything came together, d’Angelo exclaimed, “We brought 30 new people to Waterbury with one event!”
Check back for a wedding photo coming soon. Photo by Gordon Miller