In her 20s, Molly Barthel enjoyed cruising the waters of Long Island Sound with a group of friends on a small wooden boat called Baby. “We would ride around Block Island and Shelter Island a lot, but we wouldn’t actually disembark. We had the time of our lives just going around and around on that boat. There’s nothing better than that, right?” Among the passengers was Brian McLoughlin, who Molly had met in a dive bar called The Place in Rockville Centre, Nassau County, New York. “We had mutual friends who were always telling me we should be dating, or talking. We would see each other a lot at The Place. Brian was working as a media researcher in the city and would go there after work. I was still a student at Hunter College. After playing eye hockey on a few different occasions, I finally went up and said to Brian, ‘I think we should be talking.’”
There was talking, some glass-clinking, and CD-spinning on what Molly calls “the best jukebox ever.” So what were her favorite songs? “Oh, that’s a hard one. I guess I played Weezer a lot, though I don’t think I want to admit that. Let’s just say 90s indie rock!”
Around seven years later, on that same boat called Baby, Molly and Brian DID disembark, shortly after tying the knot at St. Agnes Church in nearby Greenport. They took the boat to Shelter Island from Greenport, along with maid of honor, Molly’s sister Maura, and best man, Nick Chiara. “That was a pretty amazing way to arrive for our wedding reception,” says Molly. “That was probably my most dramatic moment ever.” After stepping on to terra firma, they enjoyed a “picture-perfect” wedding at the Pridwin.
