Photography by Robert Norman
Claire Millerick and Ben Powers were married at the Keeler Tavern in Ridgefield on September 21, 2024.
Claire grew up in Ridgefield and went to the Ridgefield public schools. She drove by the Keeler Tavern most days, had school field trips there, and even had her senior portrait done in the gardens. …And from the time she was young, she knew the Keeler Tavern was where she wanted to get married!
Claire and Ben met at the Southport School, a special school for kids with dyslexia and ADHD, where Claire and Ben were both working at the time, and where Ben is now the Executive Director. They’d been professional colleagues for three years before they finally admitted that they liked each other and decided to go on a date…and just four months later Ben popped the question on a beach in the Florida Keys! “As soon as we started dating I knew Claire was the one for me!” Ben smiles. “We were house-sitting at Claire’s parents in Ridgefield and while I was playing with the dog in the backyard, I looked up and caught a glimpse of her through the kitchen window …and I had the very clear realization that I was in love!”
“I say ‘coincidentally’, earlier that same day Ben and I had driven by the Keeler Tavern and I’d mentioned to Ben that ‘That’s where I want to get married one day!’” Claire shares.
“We wanted the evening to feel like an intimate dinner party for our closest family and friends, and ended up having about fifty guests. My sister Charlotte Whatley is a wedding planner and she helped us out a lot!” Claire recounts. On wedding morning, Claire got ready at the Fountain Inn and walked from there to the Keeler Tavern. “Some of my favorite photos from the day are the ones of me walking down Main Street in my gown!” The ceremony was held in the Keeler’s Sunken Garden, which was in full bloom on a nice cool fall day.
“We’d called each other ‘partners’ from the beginning of our relationship,” Claire explains, “…and I didn’t really resonate with the idea of being ‘given away’, so I walked down the aisle alone – and had my parents, Carol and Michael Millerick, and my sister, waiting for me in the front to give me a big hug.” Ben reflects, “We chose not to do a first look, so the first time I saw Claire was when she was walking down the aisle towards me… it was such a special moment!”
The couple had a close friend from Southport School officiate the ceremony, and exchanged custom vows…
Our love story has moved fast, but I have never doubted that we are soulmates. I loved knowing you as a coworker, and then I loved falling head over heels for you, and now I love building a life together.Claire
There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t reflect about how I am the luckiest. It’s fitting we’re getting married at a museum, because you are such an exquisite and unique creation, and I feel like the luckiest that I get a lifetime to appreciate you.Ben
A live string orchestra performed for the ceremony and through the cocktail hour, which was held in a tent on the Terrace, and followed by the reception in the Garden House. “The whole affair was really lively and elegant and sophisticated, and centered around the dinner. And it was heartwarming to see the way our two families got together,” Claire says, glowing with the memory. To add personal touches to the evening, Claire’s mom made the wedding cake and Claire’s aunt, Bonnie Kaehler, did the artwork that was printed on each napkin. The color scheme was autumnal, with lots of Sunflowers and Ranunculus filling the room. Ben made a speech, the couple shared a first dance, and Claire danced with her dad to Tupelo Honey. “We hired a watercolor artist to create on-the-spot portraits of our guests as favors to take home and remember the evening by…and now we love hearing from our friends and family how cherished those portraits are,” Ben relishes.
At the end of the evening, the couple walked right down the street to spend the night at the Fountain Inn. The next day the newlyweds left for a celebratory weekend in Cape Cod. And, while B&NC locals are reading this, the couple will be honeymooning in St. Lucia.
As featured in the January/February 2025 issue of Bedford & New Canaan Magazine