Mahala Pagán and Colin Delaney attended Dartmouth at the same time for two years, but still they didn’t meet until a friend introduced them in New York, after Mahala graduated. Their first date started off as brunch and turned into a six-hour walk around the city.
“At the end, he walked me to my subway, and we just hugged goodbye,” Mahala remembers. “But as I stood on the platform, I kept replaying the day in my head—until I found myself texting him asking if he was gone yet. He said was he was, and then I think I said, ‘Wanna come back?’ He power-walked back, I kissed him, and then I went back down to catch my train.”
After four-and-a-half years together, he proposed while they were traveling throughout Greece. On one of their last days in Santorini, Colin assured Mahala that he had their dinner plans “covered,” which surprised her, as they usually planned things together. The host at the restaurant in Oia led them down a rocky path that revealed a private table on a cliffside with a view of the sunset. “I started chatting nervously, and he was super quiet waiting for the waiter to pour the Champagne and leave, so he could get the show on the road!” Mahala exclaims. “It was a perfect night just the two of us.”
Once engaged, the couple decided to have their wedding at her family’s home in Southampton—a place Mahala has called home since she was six years old. Her family lovingly restored the old farmhouse from the early 1800s that’s surrounded by fruit trees. Anastasia of Sag Harbor Florist did a beautiful job of mirroring the existing gardens with similarly low-key, elegant florals.
The two originally planned for a September 2020 wedding, but due to the pandemic, they had to postpone to June 12, 2021. “The silver lining of postponing our wedding from September to June was that peonies were in season, which my mom was very excited about,” Mahala says. To help them plan everything, the couple hired DM Events & Design, and Moontree Letterpress set the tone of the day with beautiful stationery.
At her first wedding dress appointment, Mahala insisted that she wanted “no lace whatsoever,” however her mother encouraged her to keep an open mind. “Lo and behold, I became obsessed with embroidery as soon as I gave it a chance!” the bride-to-be exclaims. On a solo bridal appointment, Mahala finally found her floral Monique Lhuillier dress. “The gown immediately reminded me of the flowers in our garden, and it was so lightweight and comfortable, I didn’t change out of it until after midnight,” she says. To complete her look, the bride put on Loeffler Randall sandals and aquamarine earrings Colin gifted her a few years prior.
On the morning-of, Mahala got ready with Willow House Beauty, and bridesmaids complemented her well in Shona Joy blue slip and wrap dresses, and the groom wore a blue jacket and gray pants from J.Crew with a grasshopper Ferragamo tie.
Mahala and her father walked down the aisle to “Sweet Thing” by Van Morrison. “Colin and I chose not to do any first look photos before our ceremony—seeing each other for the first time all day at the altar, with our song and all our people around us is a moment we will never forget,” the bride shares. After sweet and personal readings and the exchanging of their vows, the newlyweds exited to Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March,” followed by church bells—rung by their five-year-old nephew.
Before heading to the party, Mahala and Colin snuck off to Little Plains Beach with their photographer for a moment of joy alone. Then they met up with everyone in the apple orchard of Mahala’s family home for a cocktail hour with a jazz trio and spicy yuzu margaritas.
The two made their entrance into the reception tent from Sperry Tent Hamptons and went straight into their first dance to “That’s How Strong My Love Is” by Otis Redding. Then Mahala danced with her father to “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty, and Colin had his mother-son dance to “Days Like This” by Van Morrison.
After Mahala’s little sister Avery’s maid of honor toast, she and Mahala’s father got on stage to perform “Wild Horses” by The Rollings Stones with The Sultans of Jerry Bennett Entertainment. “Singing together is something my family really loves to do,” the bride explains.
Dinner was catered by Nuhma Tuazon of Nuhma NYC, who has known Mahala since she was an infant. “She worked at my parents’ restaurant in Soho back in the ‘90s, and she taught me how to eat adventurously growing up,” the bride reveals. Guests enjoyed the couple’s favorite dishes of burrata salad with strawberries and basil, New York strip steak, and two wedding cakes: chocolate for Colin and lemon raspberry poppyseed for Mahala.
The after-party ended up—as all their parties do—in the barn with DIY decorations, crazy hats, neon pong tables, and more dancing. A few hours after the last guests left, it was already time to wake up again and serve iced coffee, Bloody Marys, boozy horchatas, and brunch by Hampton Aristocrat on the front porch.
