Lillian and Blake married on the evening of December 31, 2022, and celebrated both their marriage and New Year’s Eve with guests during a reception at Gilman Event Hall. “We chose Gilman because it was a beautiful space, and the location was amazing for a New Year’s wedding,” says Lillian. Guests were able to walk a short distance from the ceremony site at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to the event hall, where they enjoyed a cocktail hour before moving to the ballroom for drinks, dinner, and dancing.
Lillian describes the theme of the night as “a modern take on classic black and white weddings,” with a New Year’s twist. Baby’s breath, garden roses, and hydrangeas matched the monochrome décor of the evening, while greenery added bursts of color throughout the room.
The couple staged an exit to capture getaway pictures before returning inside to celebrate until midnight. “Since it was New Year’s and we wanted to go until the ball dropped, we did a ‘fake exit’ around 10:30 p.m. We had all the guests move down to the street right outside of Old Gilman Grill with sparklers, and some guests chose to stay upstairs and watch from the balcony,” describes Lillian.
As midnight ushered in the new year, the newlyweds were able to cheer alongside their loved ones, an experience that Lillian says she will always remember. Looking back, she adds that her favorite parts of the day would have to be “finally getting to see Blake and then dancing into the new year!”
How He Proposed
“Blake sent me to get my nails done and have dinner with my friends while he transformed the house into a beautiful proposal spot for when I got home. We left for Vegas the next day and celebrated!”
