Maggie Phalen might feel a twinge of sadness every time she ran laps on the Birdland trail, eventually coming to the intersection of lower Birdland and Murphy’s Glades. here, under the Bravo lift, stands a sign reading “Carpy’s Corner,” erected in memory of her grandfather, Bill Carpenter, a longtime Sugarbush ski patroller who passed away three years ago. But any somberness quickly dissipates because it was on the night of the sign’s dedication ceremony back in November 2007 that her boyfriend, Christian Connelly, proposed to her. “it was really my grandfather’s connection to the mountain that can be credited with [initiating] the whole affair,” Maggie says of her April 2009 wedding. Maggie herself began skiing at the resort when she was 2 years old with her extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins at lincoln Peak, the place where both her mother and grandfather ski patrolled. As a kid, Maggie recalls spending time with her grandfather – known just as “Carpy” by other staff members – in the ski patrollers’ warming huts on the mountain. “We would swing by
and say ‘hi,’ then i would talk him into going skiing with us,” Maggie remembers. Although it was the memory of her grandfather that got the ball rolling on the wedding plans, Maggie and Christian’s own connection to the mountain took over from there. infusing the event with personal touches, the couple created a weekend
Maggie Phalen (top, left) credits her grandfather, a longtime Sugarbush ski patroller known just as “Carpy,” for kick starting her wedding plans.
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celebration that was largely about enjoying the resort’s myriad activities together – like Maggie and Christian had throughout their four-year relationship – while also honoring the memory of their families. Those four years of making trips to the mountain meant Christian also had a good relationship with the resort, so it wasn’t just about celebrating Maggie’s family. The couple then used that understanding of the mountain and its offerings to give them a head start in planning, which they wanted to make sure reflected their own personalities, starting with the ceremony location. Though the resort boasts a variety of potential wedding sites, including a new base lodge and golf-course clubhouse, the couple immediately felt at home at Timbers, a slope-side restaurant intended to mimic the round barns found in Vermont. With exposed beams, 45-foot cathedral ceilings, and hardwood floors, Timbers felt like the couple’s own 1890s home in Worcester, Massachusetts. “hosting our wedding at Timbers was as close as we could get to inviting our guests to celebrate with us at our own house,” explains Maggie. The couple was so captivated by Timbers’s rustic charm – including its
(“carpy”) Sandy MacyS; (couple) verMontSphotoGrapher.coM
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