802.253.2101

Rebecca Babcock & Jimmy Bradley

July 11, 2009

By Anne Galloway

Rebecca Babcock and Jimmy Bradley may seem an unlikely pair. She's a fashion maven who runs marathons and prefers squeeze cheese to foie gras; he's a self-effacing, successful restaurateur who is fond of Barolo and truffles.

Rebecca and Jimmy are living proof that opposites attract.

But despite their very different habits and tastes in food, they discovered early in their relationship that they share a mutual fondness for golden-oldie rock tunes by Gerry Rafferty and early Bruce Springsteen.

Last summer, Rebecca, who is fashion merchandising director for Lucky Magazine, and Jimmy, who owns several popular restaurants in New York City, brought their passion for each other (and fashion, food and music) together in an idyllic Stowe wedding.

They married in a traditional ceremony in the stately white clapboard Stowe Community Church on Main Street, with traditional vows and candle-lighting ceremony - and a dose of high fashion.

The groom appeared in an Armani tux, and the bride wore a cream-colored Amsale dress with a silk taffeta ballgown skirt, and lace bodice with spaghetti straps.

As the couple walked down the aisle, the bells of the church rang out and family and friends threw rose petals at their feet.

Attention to detail

The wedding of a fashion expert and event planner to a food and wine connoisseur seems almost foolproof. For their event, the couple was determined to create a day that was "100 percent Rebecca and Jimmy-ized." To achieve that effect, no detail was overlooked.

In addition to the designer wedding gown, Rebecca wore the lace veil her maternal grandmother purchased in Belgium the 1950s. It was the same veil Rebecca's mother wore at her own wedding.

Although the couple live in New York City, they wanted their wedding to reflect the best Vermont has to offer. To that end, they selected local vendors who could help make their vision a reality, including Fayston photographer Michael Riddell and Vermont Sweet Tooth's Marion Peer.

The rehearsal dinner was held at the Trapp Family Lodge (Rebecca is a "Sound of Music" aficionado) and Andrew Kneale of Harrison's consulted on the reception (Jimmy brought his own chef for the occasion).

The only thing that didn't go according to plan was the weather. A storm broke in the middle of the wedding, and drenching rain continued to fall as guests scurried toward a yellow school bus idling on the curb - the wedding wheels for the reception at Rebecca's family home on Stagecoach Road. The couple's getaway car was a Porsche convertible with 10 Coca-Cola cans tied to the bumper.

As they arrived en masse by yellow bus, the 150 or so guests, buffeted by the wind and driving rain, took refuge in the bar tent. There, they were treated to specialty hors d'oeuvres prepared by The Red Cat, Jimmy's restaurant in Chelsea - plates of fried whole troutlings arranged in a ring with drizzles of green aioli sauce, piles of grilled Australian lamb, lobster rolls, and tuna tartare on sesame crisps.

Between nibbles and trips to the bar, guests ducked into a photo booth for self-portraits.

Eventually, the storm stopped and a cheer went up from the crowd as a double rainbow stretched across the Worcester Mountains in full view from the Babcocks' property. Guests milled around the 19th-century farmhouse and under a row of giant silver maples where long white and pink satin ribbons hung from the branches. In one tree, a giant heart with the couple's initials, R&J, was carved into the trunk.

The guests' attention eventually turned back to the dining tent, which was hung with chandeliers and tables bedecked with silver and crystal candelabras, gold-rimmed china, silver, and bouquets of pink and white peonies, rosettes, sweet peas and roses displayed in rough-cut wooden boxes.

Guests kicked off their dress shoes, donned flip-flops and boogied on the parquet dance floor.

The Street Talk Orchestra from Palm Beach, Fla., played a nonstop selection of classic rock tunes throughout the reception as members of Jimmy's staff served course after course of gourmet edibles - arctic char, heirloom tomato salad, and grilled steak and swordfish - and poured wines from the groom's cousin's Italian winery.

Family and friends regaled the crowd with stories about the couple and their whirlwind romance: Jimmy's sudden interest in cooking after a stint at a restaurant in Narragansett, R.I., and his inability to find just the right girl; Rebecca's determination to run marathons even when she wasn't feeling well.

Rebecca's sister Catherine Babcock Arsala summed up their relationship this way: "Jimmy's cool, calm collected way is the yin for Rebecca's high-spirited, vivacious yang. The qualities they share are an incredible zest for life, loyalty, thoughtfulness, creativity and generosity."