Real Wedding
M
addy Laliberte’s life changed in 2013, the day a beautiful fair-haired stranger approached her in Boston’s North End. It was Hazel, the golden retriever belonging to Will Danforth, an old acquaintance she’d met through friends years earlier. Sensing her stress (it was a sweltering day and she was apartment-hunting), Will offered Maddy a glass of wine, which led to months of socializing and, eventually, a formal date at Clarke Cooke House in Newport. In 2019, Will invited Maddy for a ride on his boat. Approaching their destination, she turned to discover him on bended knee, while a friend photographed the whole thing from shore. Entering his yacht club to toast the engagement, she found both families waiting for them. When the party moved to a local bar, all of their friends were waiting there to celebrate.
Water Rescue
The couple knew they wanted to marry in Newport, but had to cancel a wedding at Rosecliff just weeks beforehand due to the pandemic (“I waited until the last minute, thinking COVID would go away,” Maddy confesses), booking a floating ceremony on the Adirondack II instead. But even that was fraught with complications, as mandates forced them to whittle their initial guest list of 250 down to 46, and then to 37 just days before the event. (A friend agreed to follow in a motorboat with nine guests aboard.) The bride wore a squared-off scoop neck gown with A-line skirt from Jenny Yoo, while the groom sported a white dinner jacket with a navy bowtie as friend Myles White united the pair in marriage.
Hashtags & Hangover Cures
MaddyAugust &15,Will 2020
After the ceremony, the boat returned to Bowen’s Wharf, where the wedding party was welcomed by cheering bystanders as they walked over to Queen Anne’s Loft for the reception. Guests were invited to sign the couple’s sailcloth tote bag before adjourning to their tables, which were decorated with posey-filled ginger jars and ceramic tiles bearing a hashtag tribute to the bride, #willyoumaddyme? Everyone went home with a welcome bag filled with Newport-specific treats (and cures for the following morning).
Where are They Now?
After the wedding, the couple motored over to Nantucket, then returned to Boston, where Maddy is a senior account executive for a software company and Will works in wealth management.
— Fred Albert
