When they were classmates at New Canaan High School, Adam Benenson would often drive Allison Doran home from school in his green Jeep Grand Cherokee. But it was during a ride together years later, after a Halloween party in 2008, that Adam and Allie realized the relationship transcended chauffeuring. In 2011, a few days before Christmas, Adam surprised Allie with a ring he’d designed, as he proposed on bended knee.
“The evening was magical,” says Allie. “Adam had lit votive candles in our apartment so the living room was full of twinkling lights around our Christmas tree.”
Nearly a year later, the couple traded vows in a ceremony officiated by Justice of the Peace Susan Guthrie Ceresa at Grace Farms. The couple shared vows they had written themselves on quilling paper, which they unspooled as they read to the delight of the crowd. A reception followed at Country Club of New Canaan, where Allie serenaded Adam with Cahn and Styne’s Time After Time. “It was such a wonderful surprise,” says Adam.
The bride is the daughter of Susan and Robert Doran of New Canaan. She attended Mount Holyoke College, where she graduated cum laude with a BA in English literature and French. She works at Bridgewater Associates in Westport.
The groom is the son of Serena Sarnoff Benenson of New Canaan and Thomas Benenson of Conway, South Carolina. He is a graduate of Duke University, where he received a BS in economics. Adam works at Diamondback Capital Management in Stamford.
The couple honeymooned in Hawaii and live in New Canaan. Adam still drives Allie around in the green Jeep where it all began.