Y’all, we are married!! [just in case you haven’t signed in to social media in a month and a half and didn’t get bombarded with wedding pics!] The weekend/day was truly more amazing and magical than I could have ever dreamed! It’s weird because I spent months and months planning this wedding and pouring myself into every little detail and I didn’t stop to think or envision too much about how would it be when it all came together. And it did come together and then some! The x-factor was, of course, the setting on the Maine coast and we literally had postcard-worthy weather all weekend long!
I could probably write a novel on all things wedding but I wanted to share some of the details and special touches that we included at our wedding. I have decided to break this up into three posts – Part 1 takes you through the getting ready process and ceremony; Part 2 is the cocktail hour, reception and beyond and then I will have a post mortem post with tips, any surprises, etc. Enjoy!
Themes are fun!
Since our wedding was a destination wedding for about 90% of the guests we wanted to create a weekend experience. We started out Friday with a Welcome Ice Cream Social. It was a great way to greet many of our out of town guests and just relax in a casual environment. I am sooooo glad we did this because otherwise, I don’t think we would have enjoyed our reception as much because you can spend hours greeting everyone rather getting to enjoy being with them. The party, of course, had a theme/dress code of Nautical Chic. I received a lot of grief over this (mostly teasing though – I think!) but everyone looked great… even my brother and his GF who showed up in full-on pirate costume! [note, this was only funny because my little brother did this… if everyone else had, not so funny!]
Our rehearsal dinner was more Americana themed as we had a traditional Maine lobster bake that was delicious!
Family photos at the welcome party with custom cocktail napkins. Not pictured are the custom koozies… come visit, we have about 100 at our house!
See, I wasn’t joking! Also, this was one of the two Snapchat filters we had that weekend.
Pre-party Party
So I will admit, planning the getting ready outfits for me and my girls were much harder than I thought. The latest trend is giving all the girls cute matching robes with their monograms. This is often done with the jewelry you want them to wear with their bridesmaid’s dresses. The robe idea is super cute but I was struggling to find the right ones and honestly, you are in these suckers all day, it’s really not that comfortable when you are lounging around or sitting on the floor doing makeup etc. I also couldn’t really give all the girls jewelry because they all had completely different dresses so I hold them to wear whatever they think went well with their own dress. I knew I wanted to get them matching Jack Rogers sandals to go with my “I Do” sandals and I had already ordered tumbler wine glasses with their names on them and the gifts were adding up cha-ching! So I defaulted to my basic summer uniform and asked all the girls to wear white bottoms with a chambray button-down since I know almost all of them already owned one. The pics came out so cute! Even my mom and MIL got in on it!
Katie from Maine and friends since we were 10!
Anne (matron of honor) from California – met on Craigslist – true story!
Peyton from North Carolina met in Richmond, VA working at a marketing firm but bonded over boys and fashion
Flora my adorable Costa Rican MIL
Christina was my first roomie out of college and really taught me how to be a grown-up (well, kind of!)
My beautiful momma!
Melissa (maid of honor) we met when I was 22 and she was assigned to be my buddy when I was an intern!
Falon is my very best friend from High School… oh the trouble we always *almost got in to!
Erica is my girly from Virginia and she, Peyt and I were inseparable in our 20s!
First Look
So there is always a big decision about doing a “first look” with your groom. I am a bit more of a traditionalist so we decided to wait to see each other until the ceremony. BUT, I did have a first look with my girls and my dad. Now it was pretty much impossible the way the room was set up to hide the dress from the girls all day but the first time any of them saw it on me was that day and it was so much fun to see their reactions!
And of course, doing a first look with my dad… it’s making me tear up just remembering it. The look on his face was priceless and so glad we did it! He said “Holy smokes!”
Make an Entrance
Our ceremony took place under an arbor overlooking the bay and the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse which is located at the bottom of a very long hill – one that takes about 1 minute and 40 seconds to walk down at bridal pace! It’s because of this hill I ended up going in a completely different direction with my dress! I thought I was going to be in a more fitted dress because my short stature doesn’t go well with a ball gown/princess type dress and it overwhelms me. BUT then we found this gorgeous Justin Alexander gown that had a detachable train… so I got all the drama of the princess look but still had a shape from the front, plus I could remove them for the reception and boogie all night!
Going with the theme of grandiose, my dad and I arrived in an old Model T that stopped at the top of the hill and gave a little toot-toot to announce our arrival 🙂 I actually liked having the long walk down because it gave me some time with my dad before we got to the aisle and I didn’t feel rushed. And I was able to walk off some of the nerves! I really got to take in the whole moment. I had instructed that John was to keep his back to us until I got to the beginning of the aisle so that when he turned around we could see one another. Oh! And my dad and I walked down the aisle to a song called Kisses and Cake which is the theme song to one of my most favorite movies, P.S. I Love You. It has the sweetest melody and I still get goosebumps reliving that moment and can hear the song in my head. All of my girls walked down the aisle to an instrumental rendition of the soundtrack to my other favorite movie, Pretty Woman. You can listen to it here.
Everyone asked if the dogs were going to be a part of the wedding…
Last-minute find on Etsy!
That said, my friends and I aren’t 20 anymore so I told the girls to pick out their own dress, in the blush family and long. I didn’t care about the material or the brand. I wanted them to feel comfortable and pretty! I think they all look stunning and it worked out perfectly!
Let’s Talk Floral for A Minute
When I started this journey I was very assured that I was not a “flower bride” meaning, I didn’t care about flowers, waste of money, etc. Well… then I started putting this whole thing together and I became a flower bride! I would have a planning call with the florist and then a few days later reach out and add some more. Then I needed a bigger bouquet. And I needed bigger urns. I think the day before the wedding was I still adding more flowers to the backdrop for the photobooth! I don’t know if made a difference to our guests but it sure made a difference to me and made me happy! You will see pics through these posts of the gorgeous flowers but I will leave you with my favorite of my bouquet…
