wedding
Pearce Godwin & Lauren Phillips B Y S H E A M C I N TYR E
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GAVIN HOWARTH PHOTOGRAPHY, GAVINHOWARTH.COM
Wedding Date June 9, 2024 Occupations Lauren is an account executive at Triangle Media Partners; Pearce is founder and CEO of the Listen First Project. Crossed Paths Connecticut native Lauren moved to the Bull City in 2021, founding a local bike club the same year. Duke University alum Pearce Godwin and his best friend, Adam Luchkowec,
showed up to a ride in August, and Lauren hung back with the newcomers; the three hit it off and went to dinner at Alley Twenty Six afterward. Pearce and Lauren didn’t officially start dating until October when they went to the N.C. State Fair together, where Pearce – “rather brazenly,” according to Lauren – invited her to attend a family event with him in Florida in two weeks’ time. The couple knew they were meant for each other when they weren’t finished chatting even after a 17-hour car ride. The Proposal Pearce popped the question on March 26, 2023, after an arduous hike through snow to the top of a mountain in Colorado. Lauren, who was oxygen deprived from the altitude, had a hunch the proposal was coming, though in Pearce’s mind, it was a romantic surprise. “It was a perfect engagement,” Lauren says. The Big Day Lauren and Pearce held a four-day celebration in Bermuda. The Sunday ceremony at Cambridge Beaches Resort & Spa overlooked the ocean and boasted coral-colored florals to contrast the teal water. “The big day itself was pure magic,” Lauren says. “Our goal was to make it bright and fun.” Friends and family enjoyed lunch at the resort before they were invited to change into their swimsuits and join the reception aboard a 77-foot catamaran, The Zara, which featured toasts, first dances, burgers 104
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and hot dogs, as well as sparkly inner tubes for splashing around in the water. “It felt like the best summer camp we’d ever been to,” Lauren says. “We continued the afterparty in the hotel suite, dancing to our small Bose speaker until both we and it ran out of battery.” The jubilant weekend ended with a lazy beach recovery day with their remaining guests followed by an extended honeymoon in Bermuda before the newlyweds returned to Durham, where they live downtown in Van Alen.
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