Let It Snow

A magical Lenox winter wedding at Ventfort Hall blended Gilded Age elegance with après-ski charm, complete with candlelit dinners, roaring fires, and a perfect snowfall.

By Neil Turitz
Photographs by Forged in the North

Summer in the Berkshires is spectacular, and the leaf-peeping in the fall is gorgeous. But there’s just something about winter in the mountains of Western Massachusetts. Something mystical. Magical even. Hadley Stinson and Zachary Taillefer, who live in Acton, Massachusetts, understand this well, and that’s why they chose January 6, 2024, in Lenox for their nuptials.

The couple—she is a director at a biotech company, he’s a university professor—spoke their own vows at the Gilded Age mansion Ventfort Hall. The venue was decorated with dark, wintry flowers and greenery, and for escort cards, guests found their names on dried citrus rings hung on fir trees in the parlor. Everyone was greeted with pear champagne as they strolled into an après-ski vibe, with fondue, smoked fish, and charcuterie mixed with passed hors d’oeuvres, before a candlelit sit-down dinner. After the reception, the whole gang headed up the road a bit to Life House for the after-party.