Like many couples in today’s day and age, Carol Han and Nicholas Pyle met on a dating app. “My girlfriend signed me up literally on a dance floor during Art Basel in Miami, and I met Nick a couple of weeks later,” Carol, the owner of CA Creative, explains. The two hit it off right away, but the only snag was that Nick, a financial consultant, was living in London at the time, while she was based in New York. “By the time he left, I think we both knew there was something special there,” she adds. “We did long distance between London and New York for quite some time before he moved to New York permanently.”
About a year and a half after meeting, the couple were on a vacation at the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc in Antibes. “We were having a stroll before dinner there,” she remembers. “He led me to a secluded spot on the cliffs by the sea, got down on one knee, and asked to marry him.”
Since Nick’s family and friends are mostly in England and Holland, while Carol’s family is based in Hawaii, the two agreed a location close to New York would be the ideal middle ground for their wedding. After looking for venues in both the Hamptons and upstate, they fell in love with Hayfield, a barn located in a mountain valley in the Catskills filled with apple trees and wildflowers. “It has these soaring ceilings and really beautiful bathrooms, which is unusual for a barn,” Carol says. “Port-a-potties were a dealbreaker for me.”
They settled on a fall date, which happened to be the autumnal equinox, and hired florist Sarah Monteiro of Farmhand Flowers, and LLG Events, to help transform the space into a an elegant and refined event within the rustic and natural setting. “The dress code was black tie and it was amazing to see everyone in floor-length gowns and black tuxes hanging out in this wild, green field,” she says.
Carol always wanted something classic and simple for her wedding dress and she found just what she was looking for at Carolina Herrera’s fall 2018 bridal collection. “It was a perfect shade of ivory, and there was a gorgeous line of buttons that went all the way down the back of the dress right to the very tip of the train,” she says. She finished off her look with sky-high silver Christian Louboutin heels that she managed to stay in all night, and for jewelry wore her Jessica McCormack engagement and wedding ring. “She has the most stunning townhouse on Carlos Place in Mayfair in London that’s filled with art and books and my favorite jewelry,” Carol says. “I could spend hours in there!”
As for her bridesmaids, they all wore dresses in varying shades of green, a nod to Carol’s fondness for the 90s movie Great Expectations, in which all of the characters are dressed in green for the entirety of the film.
The day of the ceremony, guests gathered in a field between two ancient, wild apple trees, while Dexter Lake Club Band played a mix of songs including “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison for the processional and “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones as the bride walked down the aisle. “Walking down the aisle with my mother was so special; one of the best moments of my life,” Carol recalls. “She has been my biggest champion and support my entire life and sharing that walk with her was more meaningful than I can express.” Nick’s best friend from London officiated the ceremony and delivered such a moving ceremony, Carol jokes that he may have a second career waiting in the wings. The couple read their own vows and once they were declared husband and wife, they shared their first kiss as newlyweds and walked out of the ceremony to Modern English’s “Melt With You.”
Then it came time for the reception inside the barn, where a traditional, multi-course dinner including seared peach salad and vegetable ash strip steak was catered by Purslane Catering. For dessert, a cake by Made in Heaven was served and later guests took to the dance floor after the couple had their first dance to “It Was You” by Aretha Franklin. “Dexter Lake Club Band performed the entire evening and the dance floor was packed the whole night!” the bride adds, who later changed into a pink sequined Emilia Wickstead dress for the rowdier part of the evening. “They’re a proper rock band, not a typical wedding band, and they definitely came away with a lot of new fans.”
The celebration continued after everyone took shuttles back to Scribner’s Catskill Lodge for another after-party that lasted until 4:00 a.m. Thankfully, the couple had a honeymoon to look forward to for a little R&R. “We just got back from Portugal and loved it!” she says. After a stop in Lagos for the first leg of the trip, they later moved onto Comporta.” “The beaches and the smell of pine tress in the air is just magic,” Carol adds. “I started looking at real estate my first day there!”
