There’s something irresistible about a wedding that can hold two moods at once – timeless, romantic elegance and the kind of party no one wants to leave. For Lidia and Jason, their Boston wedding at the Harvard Club brought both together beautifully. Crystal chandeliers, glowing taper candles, abundant white florals, and old-world architecture created an elegant foundation, while a live band, surprise tattoo station, and a second bridal look worthy of old Hollywood kept the celebration anything but expected.
Their story began with a little matchmaking. Lidia’s longtime college best friend spent a day reconnecting with her cousin, Jason, and decided the two might be perfect for one another. Despite living three hours apart, they agreed to meet for lunch in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The date felt easy from the beginning – and while Lidia left thinking she would happily see him again, Jason now claims he knew by their second date that they would eventually marry.
Their wedding carried that same balance of ease and intention. Lidia worked closely with the floral team to select everything down to the individual varieties of roses, while family history appeared in quieter ways throughout the day. Gardenias in her bouquet echoed the flowers her mother carried on her own wedding day, her bouquet pin had first belonged to her sister, and both Lidia and Jason wore borrowed pieces from their new in-laws.
At the Harvard Club, white florals spilled across the mantels beneath soaring ceilings and a grand crystal chandelier, creating a ceremony setting filled with old-world romance. Lidia later traded her ceremony gown for a second dress finished with a dramatic bow, adding satin opera gloves for a look that felt straight from another era.
But elegance was only half of the plan. Lidia and Jason deliberately stripped away traditions that didn’t matter to them so they could invest in what did – especially live music, an after-party, and plenty of time on the dance floor. A surprise tattoo station arranged by Lidia’s sister appeared midway through the celebration, while Atomic Funk Project kept the energy building through the night.
The result was sophisticated without feeling stiff – a Boston wedding grounded in family, beautiful design, and the simple intention of actually enjoying the party they had spent so much time creating.
From Lidia & Jason
How did you two meet? What were your first impressions of one another?
My longtime best friend from college spent a day with her cousin, Jason, who she had not hung out with in a long time. She decided that he and I would be a good match and somehow convinced both of us to connect semi-blindly.
At the time, I was living in southwestern Connecticut and he was in Boston, so we lived about three hours from each other. But we started texting and then met up for a lunch date in Portsmouth, N.H. I was there for my sister’s bachelorette weekend, and it was somewhat of a middle-ish point for us to meet up.
The date felt very natural and I left thinking, “Ok I’d go out with him again,” which for me meant something because I’d grown quite cynical of dating! Jason called me on the way home and set up our next date a few days later – he claims he knew after date two that we’d get married.
Tell us a funny story relating to your wedding day or relationship!
We did things a little differently – we booked our wedding venue and I even bought a dress before the official proposal. Needless to say, I was going to say “yes”! But he still was so nervous to propose to me. I had no clue he was planning on doing it when he did. It was a regular Friday – the Friday of Memorial Day weekend – but we spent the day just working at his apartment; it was rainy and cold and he was acting really antsy all day and said he wanted to take a walk in the park after work. What I didn’t know was that he had abandoned another proposal plan to surprise me on this unassuming afternoon. When he got down on one knee and took the ring out I was genuinely shocked – I don’t remember this but apparently I didn’t even answer the question.
Afterwards he asked where I’d like to go for dinner, and I sincerely asked him, “Didn’t you make a reservation?” He always laughs about this because he was so caught up in surprising me he didn’t even think about a dinner reservation, so we had to walk around in the rain until we found somewhere. It was a very cute evening though and we did a champagne toast at the hotel that ended up being our wedding hotel.
Describe a hurdle you had to overcome in your relationship or during your wedding planning.
Delegating tasks of wedding planning was a bit stressful. I felt as if most of the details fell to me, so I would get overwhelmed and sometimes that would boil over.
For the most part, though, we were on the same page throughout. Aside from some tense moments here and there, we were good planning partners.
Any special ways you incorporated your family or family history into your wedding day?
I included gardenias in my bouquet because that’s what my mom held at her wedding to my dad, and my bouquet pin was my something borrowed and something blue – it was a blue floral pin I had gotten for my sister when she got married. I also borrowed a bracelet from my mother-in-law. Jason borrowed a watch from his father.
We had our nieces and nephews in the wedding, which was really fun and special.
We didn’t really do a wedding party – I had my sister as MOH and Jason had his best friend as BM. But he has three brothers (I only have one sibling), so we wanted to make sure every family member had a special part. One of his brothers officiated the wedding, and we included all immediate family (including spouses) in the wedding processional. We wanted our family to stand out as honored guests even if they weren’t bridesmaids and groomsmen.
What part of your wedding day was most important to you?
This is a tough question – all of it! I guess what we really tried to do overall was make sure we stayed together as much as possible throughout the night and really focused on soaking everything in and enjoying rather than worrying about all the different tasks of the night (speeches, cake, etc.). At that point, we just let the wedding professionals guide us through.
A priority when planning was that we wanted the night to not feel too planned or stiff. We did the customary speeches and dances, but we wanted the majority of the night to be about dancing and just having fun!
What is the best thing you’ve learned from one another?
I learned from Jason to have patience and take things in stride. He was really good at calming me down when all the little things started adding up and feeling like a mountain on my shoulders. He always makes me feel like I’m not in it alone – no matter how big or small the issue. It makes me want to be sure and do the same for him.
Jason learned from me to trust that I always have a vision! He had a lot of faith in me but admitted that all my choices – and some of the things we were paying for – didn’t quite add up in his head. But when he saw it all come together at the venue he told me he was impressed by how I put it all together. He always trusts me now if I say, “don’t worry I have a vision” haha.
What is your favorite thing about each other?
My favorite thing about Jason is how genuinely he cares about making the people he loves happy. I feel truly cared for and I see him extend that to his family and friends as well.
Jason says he likes that I can push him out of his comfort zone a little and encourage us to have adventures.
What was your favorite part about planning your wedding?
Getting specific, I loved designing the floral scheme. I had a two-hour design meeting with the florist, Artistic Blossoms in Boston, and we went over everything down to the species of roses we’d be using. I loved really getting to see my vision come to life – it was such a creative exercise.
We are both planners and organizers, so it was overall not so burdensome. I now say after doing my own wedding that maybe I’d like planning other people’s weddings because aside from the pressure of it being our own, it was fun!
If you had one piece of advice for other couples, what would it be?
Strip it down! From the beginning, Jason and I agreed we wanted to focus on the elements of the wedding that were most important to us and making those as great as possible. We wanted to be able to focus our energy and our budget on the key things and not a lot of “extras.” For example, having a live band and having an after-party were important to us. We opted not to do a goodbye brunch, and we didn’t do a photo booth or custom favors and things like that. A couple extras we did do were custom cocktail napkins and a hand-painted mirror for the entry.
Everyone’s most important key moments and details will be different, of course. But it was really helpful for us to identify what we wanted and what we could live without so as to not get bogged down and overwhelmed by trying to do too much.
What is the most honest thing you can say about love?
Love is constant but not always the same, that’s why it cannot be defined. It will manifest in different ways throughout different life phases. But with the right person, it will always be there for you – both coming towards you, and emanating from you.
I also heard something recently that stuck with me: a relationship will not always be 50/50 every day. There will be times when one person only has 10% to give and the other person has to step up for the 90%, and vice versa. A good partnership is about making that 100% together, and knowing that big picture, you are both giving it your all.
“Love is constant but not always the same. It will manifest in different ways throughout different life phases.”
Photo: Kelly Stevens Photography / @kellystevens.photo
Planner: BAM Events / @blairallenevents
Florals: Artistic Blossoms / @artisticblossoms
Venue: Harvard Club / @harvardclubboston
Cake: Montillio’s / @montilios
Chairs: Tommy Wholesale / @tommywholesale
Band: Atomic Funk Project / @atomicfunkproject
Hair: Beth’s Bridal Beauty / @bethsbridalbeautyllc
Hotel: Fairmont Copley Plaza / @fairmonthotels
Makeup: Karen Attardo Beauty / @karenattardobeauty
Transportation: Boston Limo / @bostonlimousineride
Wedding PR: Be Inspired PR / @beinspiredpr
Publisher at The White Wren and Bajan Wed, Award Winning Photography + Videographer at Live View Studios, Dad, 80s music lover, crunchy health advocate
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