A Bright, Preppy-Chic Wedding at The Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut

Inspired by their love of books and bright, bold color, Taylor Tomlinson and Conor Sullivan planned a vibrant, preppy-chic soiree at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut. “Conor and I are both high school English teachers, and on our second date we went to a book store where he read me poetry—so we had to include books somehow,” Taylor says. “We were inspired by some amazing vintage books we found at The Book Barn in Niantic, Connecticut, so we decided to feature books as part of our table décor.” The couple made a list of every secondhand store they could think of and made a day out of visiting each one to pick up as many colorful books as they could find. “I think we ended up with over 100 books in total!” Taylor adds. Florals also played a key role in bringing the day’s theme to life. The pair partnered with florists at Stems Floral Design to create eye-catching arrangements of punchy pink, yellow, orange and green blooms to top the tables, jazz up the church pews and fill the wedding party’s bouquets and boutonnieres. To balance the bold color palette, gold chiavari chairs, table numbers and chargers were woven throughout the sail cloth reception tent for a hint of glamour and modern flair. “Singing is a huge party of my life, so I also couldn’t resist recruiting some of my best friends from my professional summer a capella group, Cape Harmony, to sing during our ceremony,” Taylor says. “They did beautiful renditions of ‘Ave Maria’ in the style of Beyoncé and ‘On the Street Where You Live’ from My Fair Lady.” The musical performances didn’t stop there—Taylor’s sister singer-songwriter Brooke Tomlinson, performed Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” for the couple’s first dance.