The health and safety of our guests and vendors is our top priority, therefore we are asking that all guests be fully vaccinated before attending the wedding, OR receive a negative PCR test within 72 hours of the wedding. The event will take place entirely outdoors, and we will be following all Maine safety restrictions and guidelines that are in place on the day of the wedding. Weddings and events during COVID are complicated. If you have additional questions, please reach out to us at jbeaton@choate.edu or fcdupre@gmail.com
Freddi started work in the admission office at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine one week before Jeff did in July 2012. She learned that she would be sharing her office with a guy who had just graduated from Bates, who people in the office described as "a hoot" and "a real character." Once Jeff started, they hit it off immediately, and by the end of the year they were dating. The rest is history!
Jeff had originally planned a Maine proposal seeing this is where he and Freddi met 7 years before. He had picked out the hotel in Kennebunkport, booked the restaurant for the night of the proposal, followed by a day in their favorite city, Portland. Although this all sounded great at the time, Jeff was planning the whole weekend wedged in between two work conferences. Freddi started to have a feeling that the Maine weekend Jeff was planning may be the weekend of the proposal. She finally told him, "Jeff, I think you are going to propose and I would rather not be driving down Interstate 495 calling our friends and family as you attend a conference for Choate..." She had a point! So, Jeff went to plan B, which ended up being even better than Plan A. He and Freddi had already planned an annual trip to Bermuda for a few weeks after the original weekend Jeff had in mind. Freddi's college friend, Katie Bennett, lives there with her husband, Ambrose. Jeff called Katie and Ambrose to discuss a plan and Katie said, "I was actually about to call you and ask if you wanted to propose in Bermuda!" Katie and Jeff schemed in order to make it work without Freddi finding out. The plan was to pretend that they were all going out to dinner the night of June 15th. So, Katie pretended to make a reservation and they all got dressed up for a night out in Hamilton. Before going to "dinner," Jeff and Katie suggested having cocktails beforehand and taking some photos at Ambrose's family home that overlooks Harrington Sound. As Katie was taking pictures of Jeff and Freddi, Jeff got down on one knee and proposed. He had arranged for he and Freddi to stay at a hotel in Hamilton with a dinner just for the two of them (not with Katie and Ambrose!). They then celebrated the next day on the crystal blue waters of Bermuda with friends.