Wow, this post is way overdue! First, I want to give a shoutout to all the 2020 summer brides that are having to postpone their special day. I can only imagine how devastating that must be and my heart aches for you! I hope that you can re-book and plan for another day and know that it will be even more memorable! xoxo
So here is the Part 2 recap of the wedding. This ended up being much longer than I intended but I wanted to get down as much as possible while I can still remember all the details! If you missed Part 1, here is the link. If you just want to watch the video and here part of my dad’s amazing speech, click here. Ok… here we go!
Party-time Deets
Obviously, the bulk of the wedding takes place at the reception. After our ceremony, our guests enjoyed a cocktail hour on the green with our signature cocktail being blueberry mojitos. YUM! I spent so. much. time. working on that damn cocktail hour which I didn’t get to attend, nor do I hardly have any pics. But I was told it great, ha! Here are the pics I was able to scrounge up from the venue and guests!
I had no idea before planning this wedding just how ridiculous the markup on wedding stuff is. To rent these plate chargers would have been a minimum of $600! Ouch! So I now OWN 125 of these bad boys because that was so much cheaper. The guest tables also had alternating blue, blush and, clear water goblets. I opted for low centerpieces with roses, hydrangeas and, peonies (similar to my bouquet) because I like for people to see each other across the table and not have to bob and weave to have a conversation. I also worked with my designer friend to create these little “details cards” that share some little tidbits about the day, pointed out things that special meanings and also included the lyrics to our first dance song, “You are the Best Thing” by Ray Lamontagne. Katie also designed our monogram, Snapchat filters and, signs – because she is awesome!
The Food
We offered 4 dinner options that started with a crab/corn chowder soup and salad.
- Surf and turf
- Haddock and scallops
- Lamb
- Vegetarian
One thing that we decided on quickly was not to go overboard with desserts. Most weddings I go to, I am too full to eat the cake or just seem to miss it being passed around. We decided on a 4-tier cake that had a different flavor in each layer.
2. Pound cake with blueberry preserves and lemon mousse and lemon buttercream (my favorite)
3. Marble with white chocolate mousse and cinnamon caramel buttercream (which we used for two layers)After many hours of searching, I opted to go without a topper. N monogram, shocking, I know! Now, if I am being completely honest, the cake is the only thing I would have changed about our wedding. It was delicious but the look did not come out as I had envisioned. I wish we had gone with a more classic look and done all white but oh well.
The groom’s cake was super cute and it was a replica of the boat we spent half of our honeymoon on in Croatia. This cake was a carrot cake – another one of John’s fave. And then lastly, we had some chocolate covered strawberries that looked like a bride and groom and Irish Wedding Cookies. So again, not overboard and we still some leftover!
The Extras
Well, what’s a party without party favors? I went back and forth on this because traditionally, favors are something nice, or sentimental for each guest (that usually is thrown out later… I’m sorry, but you know you do too!). But since we did guest bags at the welcome party I decided to spice it up and be a little more playful. And what’s a Maine, nautical chic wedding without captain hats and light up flower crowns? When my mom was unboxing these before the wedding my ask said, “Who on earth is going to wear those?” I am sure there was an eye roll that went along with it too. Well, well, well, look who’s wearing a hat! And I will say, it suited him quite well!
We also decided to forego the traditional guest book and instead my parents made us this adorable paddle which we have displayed in our kitchen. But I do wish we had had it out at the Welcome Party and not just the reception because we are missing a lot of guests on it! Also, I found these cute printables on Etsy that said Oh Snap, with our hashtags #frostfinallymelts and #caughtbythelawes, and we had them for the signature drinks and dessert station.
Live Artist
Another thing that I knew I HAD to have was to have a live portrait painted of the reception. Evidently, this is not that common in Maine and had to find someone from the Boston area to drive up and do it. This was definitely NOT in my budget and I paid for it myself. The price tag was scary but honestly, I am so glad we did it. It turned out perfect and is something that I will keep forever. It is now proudly hung in the entryway of our house. But basically, the artist arrived at the reception area early to get started on the background (knowing that she was going to paint our first dance) and then throughout the night guests could go by and see the progress and then we had it on display the next morning at brunch, completely finished.
Charging Station
Well, this may have been the one thing that was not needed but, people did use it! So when you are on the ocean in Maine, the reception is typically not great and it can really drain your phone battery. So we had this phone charging station with a cute sign that said: “To have and to hold at 100% | Charge up so you can party down.”
The Grand Send-Off
Since we made such a grand entrance in the antique car, we had to do something special for the send-off. The reception wrapped up at 10pm and the band invited all the guests out to the green to send off the bride and groom. What they didn’t know, my dad included was that they were about to be treated to a fireworks show! This show last TWENTY FOUR minutes and had three finales! It just kept going and going! We certainly got our bang for the beck (see what I did there?). And of course, it was all worth it because we ended up getting the money shot! This was the one shot I told our photographer we HAD to get! And he did!
After Party
Since our venue was at the Samoset Resort, all of the wedding events were held onsite for our guests. After the reception ended, we hosted an after-party at the Enoteca Lounge. Because the bar is open to the public we could not rent it out completely but it was kind of fun to party with the other resort guests. We had late night nibbles of pizza, parmesan fries, and leftover wedding cake. We also hired someone to come and play on the piano and do all your favorite sing-along songs. This is where it got interesting… apparently, Tyler Cunningham from The Voice was on tour and staying at the resort. He and his band talked to some of our wedding party in the lobby and they decided to come “crash” the party and put on a show for everyone. It was freaking awesome! Seriously the best nightcap!
Final Thoughts:
This was truly the most magical weekend of my life. I have dreamt of this day my entire life, but never in my dreams did I imagine it would be this wonderful. John and I felt so loved to have so many of our friends and family make the trip up to Maine to celebrate with us. Thank you to my amazing parents who made this dream a reality. My only wish is that we could do this every year because it was so fun!
For Maine Brides
For you gals looking to plan your own magical day, here is the list of vendors that we used. I HIGHLY recommend all of them!
- Venue: Samoset Resort – Linde Schwartz will get hte job done!
- Photographer: David Murray Weddings – David was a true blessing to work with for our engagement shoot in Atlanta and our wedding.
- Videographer: Media Northeast we LOVE our video and our insta teaser we got in just a couple of days!
- Florist: Shelley’s Flowers and Gifts – seriously, will not be disappointed!
- Band: The Carmine Band (LOVED THEM!)
- Tent and Lighting: Wallace Events
- Piano Player: Midcoast Music Academy
- Photobooth: Oh Snap Maine Photobooth loved that they were so flexible with letting us use our own backdrop and we got the photos FAST!
- Caterer: Sugar Tree Cakes for our cake, dessert table and also catered the bridal suite
- Plates and Boxwood Topiaries: A Family Affair of Maine
- Colored Water Goblets: One Stop Party Rentals
- Tuxedos: Maine Coast Weddings and Special Events – ask for Kristin, she is amazing!
- Fireworks: Central Maine Pyrotechnics
- Live Event Artist: Sheila Foley
