There’s No Place Like Home: Model Anna Speckhart’s Small-Town Midwestern Wedding

Carlos Quirarte knows just about everyone in New York City. “My husband has somehow managed to befriend all 8.5 million residents,” says model Anna Speckhart, laughing. “Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but at least everyone in the lower part of Manhattan. He’s a restaurant/hospitality consultant/guru. However, most people know him from The Smile, Le Turtle, the Public Arts, Filson, and Shinola. By default, I’ve known him for all of the eight years I’ve lived in NYC. Long story short: We wound up on a random adventure to Montauk, which led to a first date.”

Fourteen months later, Carlos proposed. “I thought he was going to propose two months prior, so by this time, I was like a full-on bloodhound looking for the ring,” jokes Anna. “We were back on my farm in Pittsfield, Illinois, and Carlos asked me to go fishing. I immediately smelled a ring. I love to fish, but Carlos . . . let’s just say, he’s a city boy! So as any hound would, I looked at his pants for a ring bulge. Much to my dismay, there was not even the slightest hint of a ring outline, let alone a box. Trying to look on the bright side, I thought, ‘Well, at least he’s taking an interest in fishing.’ We fished for an hour without any luck and decided to head back in. I was having trouble getting the boat to the dock and was becoming increasingly annoyed with Carlos, who was not helping me. All I could think was, ‘Is he really not going to help me get this boat in?’ Little did I know he had the ring out the whole time. I looked down, screamed, and said ‘Yes!’ ”

Forever a small-town, Midwestern girl, Anna knew from the very beginning that she wanted to keep the wedding as intimate and personal as possible, which turned out to be easier said than done with 27 immediate family members on her side and a groom who pretty much knows all of New York. “The guest list was definitely the most stressful part of planning,” admits Anna. “Somehow, we managed to get our list to 100 people total and had everyone fly to the place we call home.”

Anna planned the entire wedding herself—sharing a Pinterest board with her florist, Eastside Gardens, in the months leading up to the wedding. “I would pin anything I liked and their team then turned it into a reality,” she explains. “The biggest compliment was from a friend who told Carlos, ‘The wedding looks just like you!’ He’s much more of a style star than me, and even though he didn’t do any of the planning, it felt great knowing I had nailed it for both of us.”

Instagram proved crucial in Anna’s dress search. “I saw both my rehearsal dinner and wedding dress on the Happy Isles’s Instagram account,” she recalls. “Since they are based in L.A., they shipped me the rehearsal dress, and it was a perfect fit: a beautiful, vintage lace sheath that was perfect for our pre-garden party.” She ended up tracking down the wedding gown at Lovely Bride. Right after the engagement, her mother had coincidentally planned a trip to New York City. Worried that it might be their only time to shop together, Anna booked an appointment. “I tried on everything from ball gowns to two-pieces, but the last dress was the one. A classic silk dress by Sarah Janks with a lace topper.”

The ceremony took place on the levee of the lake, overlooking the spot where the couple had gotten engaged. Anna and her father walked down the aisle to the Bee Gees’s “To Love Somebody.” “Carlos’s best friend, Justin Theroux, was our minister, which was really personal,” remembers Anna. “Before I walked down the aisle, I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got this, no crying.’ Spoiler alert: Two minutes into the ceremony, Carlos and I were both in tears. Justin had watched our relationship from the beginning, and it felt like he summed up the past, the current, and the future all in 10 minutes.”

Guests moved into a large barn with hundreds of lights hanging from the ceiling for the reception. Tables were set up in a big “U” and lined with eucalyptus, wildflowers, and tea lights, and the food was “fair themed.” “Carlos and I figured that if we could get our guests to Pittsfield, we could get them to eat a corndog,” says Anna, laughing. “The volunteer firemen came out and did their signature lemonade shake-ups, Salt + Smoke drove three hours to deliver us BBQ, the cake was done by Pink Sugar Bakery and topped with flowers from the florist, and the cherry on top: a midnight snack by Brothers Corn Dogs—who even had vegan dogs so everyone could sample them. The reception really proved why we like small-town living so much. All of these different people—most of whom aren’t even caterers—coming together to help us out.” There’d been live music at the rehearsal dinner so for the wedding, the couple opted for a traditional DJ—cha-cha slide included!

After the wedding, Carlos had to return to New York City to open the Public Arts, so Anna did a mono-moon at the farm. “Ladies, if you take on planning a wedding solo, I highly recommend this,” she levels. “We do have a two-part honeymoon planned for September, though: an RV trip to Yellowstone and afterward, a beach vacation to Hawaii. The perfect combo!” Indeed.