Kate and Nicholas |
By Cara Sullivan, Martha Stewart
Merriam-Webster's lists two definitions for the word galvanize: "to
coat iron or steel with zinc," and "to stimulate and excite." This
particular love story relates to just one of them (hint: It's not the
former). In early 2014, Katherine Shillo, a venture capitalist from New
York City, walked into a Denver co-working space owned by her company,
Galvanize, where Nick Beardsley was renting a desk. "I saw a tall,
gorgeous woman enter the room, and I promptly got up to introduce
myself," says Nick, who builds global e-commerce partnerships for
PayPal. It's safe to say Nick was excited by the encounter.
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Kate noticed Nick as well. "It was hard not to," she says. "He was handsome...and he walked by my desk several times." But she had a boyfriend back home. The two saw each other when she was in town, but it wasn't until one night in February 2015—nearly a year later—that Nick and a now-single Kate went on their first date. "From then on, we were inseparable," she says. "We talked daily and saw each other every two weeks somewhere in the country." On Labor Day weekend, at Kate's Upper East Side apartment, Nick asked his long-distance love to marry him.
[post_ads]After a resounding "Yes!" and a move to Denver, Kate dove into wedding planning. It was soon settled that the two would wed on Fishers Island, a tiny spot off the Connecticut coast where she'd spent much of her childhood. The rest of the details would prove more difficult. "We have a saying on Fishers: 'If you didn't bring it with you, you won't find it here,'" says Kate. As such, the couple and their planner put their hearts and souls into pulling off a seamless event, from shuttling supplies via ferry to lining up accommodations. "There are no hotels, but many of our friends opened their houses and extra bedrooms to our guests," says Kate. "The community really came together to make our day memorable."
On Friday, July 29, 2016, Kate and Nick exchanged self-penned vows before 150 guests on the lawn of a friend's home, then celebrated into the wee hours. "I was worried that the party wouldn't get off the ground due to kids, 'curfews' [the last ferry leaves the island at 11 p.m.], and the remote locale," says Nick. "I was completely wrong. The dance floor was epic." Kate agrees. "It was the best day of my life," she says. "I can still see it when I close my eyes."
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Kate noticed Nick as well. "It was hard not to," she says. "He was handsome...and he walked by my desk several times." But she had a boyfriend back home. The two saw each other when she was in town, but it wasn't until one night in February 2015—nearly a year later—that Nick and a now-single Kate went on their first date. "From then on, we were inseparable," she says. "We talked daily and saw each other every two weeks somewhere in the country." On Labor Day weekend, at Kate's Upper East Side apartment, Nick asked his long-distance love to marry him.
[post_ads]After a resounding "Yes!" and a move to Denver, Kate dove into wedding planning. It was soon settled that the two would wed on Fishers Island, a tiny spot off the Connecticut coast where she'd spent much of her childhood. The rest of the details would prove more difficult. "We have a saying on Fishers: 'If you didn't bring it with you, you won't find it here,'" says Kate. As such, the couple and their planner put their hearts and souls into pulling off a seamless event, from shuttling supplies via ferry to lining up accommodations. "There are no hotels, but many of our friends opened their houses and extra bedrooms to our guests," says Kate. "The community really came together to make our day memorable."
On Friday, July 29, 2016, Kate and Nick exchanged self-penned vows before 150 guests on the lawn of a friend's home, then celebrated into the wee hours. "I was worried that the party wouldn't get off the ground due to kids, 'curfews' [the last ferry leaves the island at 11 p.m.], and the remote locale," says Nick. "I was completely wrong. The dance floor was epic." Kate agrees. "It was the best day of my life," she says. "I can still see it when I close my eyes."