Lucy Laken Drummond, a PhD student at The Rubenstein School at the University of Vermont and the baker behind Lucifly Cakes, met accountant Derrick James Brown at a lifestyle conference in New York City. She was speaking on a panel, and he was in the audience. After doing long-distance for a bit, as he lived in Burlington at the time, she made the move and fell in love with Derrick and his hometown. Once the two had been together for one-and-a-half years, he proposed on Christmas Eve in N.Y.C.
The two knew they wanted to pair the natural beauty of Vermont with the elegance of Manhattan, so they chose to host a black-tie wedding at Reading Farms Estate, near Woodstock, VT. To help plan their autumnal affair, they hired Claudia Rollin of Harlow & Dahlia Events.
When looking for her bridal look, Lucy fell in love with a Made With Love dress online, and it was one of only two photos that she brought with her to her first appointment at Everthine Bridal Boutique. And, as fate would have it, they had the dress! However, the sizing was all wrong and alterations were nearly impossible.
“This is where having Selby Drummond as a sister comes in handy,” Lucy says of her sibling, a Vogue alum and the head of fashion and beauty at Snapchat. “We were at the tailor trying to think through options, and she held up a beautiful lace bolero and simply said we were going to have to cut it and sew it onto the bust of the dress.” The tailor was horrified, but the bride-to-be was confident, as she has seen her sister “take scissors to all kinds of expensive garments and create something even better.” The day before the wedding, they sewed a piece of lace from the bolero into the cleavage of the gown—and it worked!
To complete her look, Lucy wore earrings from Italy by Gioconda Crivelli that her mother had worn on her wedding day. And for beauty, she trusted the same celebrity makeup artist that Selby had used for her wedding, Joseph Carrillo, and his associate, Cesar Gonzalez, and Holly Coons from H Studio did everyone’s hair.
On a sunny fall morning, guests arrived at the top of the estate and were welcomed to a garden reception by a local harpist. They then walked through Maple Alley, a path lined by towering tress, and onto the field, where the ceremony was taking place. “Being mid-October, the foliage was comprised of auburns, deep greens, oranges, and yellows,” Lucy says. “It was spectacular!”
The bride had a long journey from the barn to the altar and was so excited that she apparently waved to Derrick while she was on her way. She finally made it and joined their officiant, Theresa Moss, under the floral-decorated tree bark arch. “It was a little cold, so a few minutes after I got up to the arch, I gave my sister a nod, and she brought me an ostrich feather Morgane Le Fay bolero,” Lucy says.
After heartfelt readings from loved ones, the couple exchanged their own vows—which ended up being the most powerful moment of the day for the bride. Once the two shared their first kiss as a married couple, they walked back down the aisle and into a horse-drawn carriage.
As the newlyweds took a minute to reflect and take portraits, everyone enjoyed a hilltop cocktail hour and then moved under a beautiful, clear tent strung with fairy lights. Tables were thoughtfully decorated by Jasper & Prudence with burgundy, red, ivory, and champagne florals, and over the head table, an elaborate and artful vine structure was hanging. Once seated, everyone enjoyed a local, Manhattan-meets-Vermont-inspired meal by Cloud 9 Caterers, and Deli126 served the signature cocktail: a Maple Manhattan.
Since Derrick used to run a DJ and music production school in Burlington, their wedding DJ was his long-time friend, Evan LeCompte, and Lucy and Derrick appropriately had their first dance to “Moonlight in Vermont” by Frank Sinatra.
A surprising favorite moment of the evening was the Horah! “Neither Derrick nor I are Jewish, but my sister’s husband, Steven Dubb, is, so he asked if we wanted to do it and orchestrated the whole thing,” Lucy says.
Near the end of the night, the bride finally cut into the cake that she had skillfully made herself. “I felt good that the whole thing was eaten, too,” she says. “There weren’t any pieces left!”
Afterwards, everyone took in a spectacular fireworks show before heading to the barn for the “nightclub” after-party. A few more of Derrick’s friends and family, who are also DJs, got onto the turntables; some people got into the jacuzzi, and others enjoyed grilled cheese waffles and donned Neon Cowboys light-up cowboy hats.
