Journey to Happiness

My post today is a little different than usual -- it's actually about me, instead of written by me. But, the story is one that I wanted to share with you all -- I am so excited about what's to come! Please read on and you'll understand why....

Follow Linnea Rufo, owner of the Bee and Thistle Inn and Spa, as she organizes her own wedding to the man she married more than 15 years ago .

You’re 50-something … you’ve been married many years to the man you still love as much as that distant day when you first tied the knot. No, actually, you love him more … if that’s possible, and so a few weeks ago, while vacationing on an idyllic Caribbean isle, as the glowing sun sank below the horizon and the warm waves lapped gently around your feet, you suddenly found yourself asking him to marry you … again!



Meet Linnea Rufo – owner of the Bee and Thistle Inn and Spa in Old Lyme – and this is her story. Happily married to David for over 15 years and her partner in raising three wonderful children, she popped the question to him out of the blue on St. Maarten in early March.

Did he hesitate? Did he say he’d get back to her? Not for one second. He said “yes,” before she’d even finished the sentence.

So now to the arrangements … the date, the dress, the venue, the format. All of this is second nature to Linnea however, who’s been an event planner for over 20 years and, in her capacity as the owner of the Bee and Thistle, continues to be a sought-after wedding planner for both marriages and receptions at the Inn as well as at private locations.

When Linnea married David the first time, he declared, “I can’t stand by and watch you organize your own wedding,” adding, “I don’t want to see you up a ladder 10 minutes before the ceremony is due to start.” The solution was … they eloped! This time around he’s willing to go along with her dreams and let her plan every last detail.

Linnea is incredibly excited to have this opportunity to plan her own wedding both on the practical level of the logistics but also, in her words, “I feel I’m at a time in my life when I can embrace myself. I don’t think we should ever let go of who we are. That makes us ageless.” She asks with a twinkle in her eye, “What could be more thrilling for me than to wear a beautiful white dress?” recalling that the first time around, “I wore black velvet.” (Hint: she already has her eye on a stunning gown in “The White Dress by the shore” in Clinton. Thanks to Leslie Dumke for the photo!)



We invite you to follow Linnea as she travels through the wedding planning process of decisions, designs, decorations and so much more. See her choose the invitations, pick “the Dress,” make the guest list, select the menus, and do any other number of essential things that make a memorable wedding happen right up to - and including - the day itself.

Join Linnea and David as they take the journey of their life.