Bay & Teddy | Aug. 6, 2023

📸: Move Mountains Co. // @movemountainsco

The gorgeous couple behind our Engaged 2024 cover, Bay and Teddy started off as supportive friends during AA meetings before finding love in one another.

By Annie Sherman

The Meet Cute: They met at an AA meeting in 2019, but they both say it’s the unspoken rule that people in recovery don’t date each other. And originally, they had no intentions of dating. But still, once casual conversations about their past turned into fun nights discussing their future, these Rhode Islanders cast superstitions aside and went for love.

The Engagement: In order to lure Bay to their favorite coffee shop in Providence, Teddy told her he had a flat tire and needed a ride. When she came rushing over, he was waiting under a tree outside with a carnation and his great grandmother’s ring. With no special fanfare, they sat together there as they always had after a meeting. “Something she had said to me, a couple years before, was ‘there’s no bad day bad enough that it isn’t better with you around,’” Teddy says, which also was a line in his wedding vows. “So, I said, ‘I don’t want any bad days,’ and I asked her if she would marry me.”

The Ceremony and Reception: Bay, a development pro who is earning her certification as a brain-based coach, and Teddy, an actor and musician, threw every ounce of themselves into this singular celebration. “We wanted our wedding to represent and celebrate all that we are: colorful, vibrant, loud and full of heart,” Bay says. They shared personal vows on the waterfront lawn at the Chanler in Newport, near an intertwined tree that connected them to their past and their engagement. “The wedding was sober, like us,” she adds, “and we had colorful specialty mocktails, which gave the event such a beautiful and loving energy.”

The Style: This whimsical yet deeply moving event was dubbed, “Bay and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” so we know it had to be good. Bay matched the vibrant floral bouquets and centerpieces to her cotton candy hair, including pink orchids, while the cake oozed colorful icing blooms cascading from top to bottom. A leopard crept its way into visual elements, like the invitations, bridesmaids’ robes and Teddy’s jacket.

The Music: Being a musician, Teddy orchestrated all the music for the day. And Bay wanted novelty and surprises. “It was all original, and it was all new music to her,” Teddy says. His groom’s man performed the Lord of the Rings for the processional as well as an original wedding march on the piano. His father sang “Kiss the Girl” on the piano for their first dance, Teddy’s sister sang Carole King while the groom danced with his mother, and Bay and her father danced to “Try Everything” from the movie Zootopia. Later in the reception, Teddy surprised Bay with more music: a folk song he and his groomsmen performed called “The Bear and the Bee.” “Then we did our dances and we disappeared for a costume change. The music for the rest of the evening was all pop songs but played by a string quartet,” Teddy says. “It just was the best hearing Britney Spears, Queen and David Bowie breakout on a string quartet.”