Oh my! Apologies for the belated posts. I was planning to have them go up one after another, but things on the home front (hint hint) took an unexpected turn toward busy last week… Also, I meant to recap in only three posts, but I’m already on the third post and John and I haven’t even seen each other yet. Sooooo, please indulge me — I only get one wedding :)

I stayed up a little later than I would have liked the night before our wedding, but it was for a good reason – I had finished all of my notes for special people (parents, bridesmaids, readers) earlier that afternoon, but I hadn’t had a chance to write John’s. We have written some pretty epic letters throughout our eight-year history, and I knew that I couldn’t just dash this one off as I was getting dressed for the rehearsal. So yes, even though it cost me a half an hour of sleep, it was worth it.

But oh my, morning came early! I am not one of those people that normally hops out of bed chipper, and when the alarm went off at 6:15, even the excitement of W Day didn’t stop me from hitting snooze once or twice. When I did roll out of bed, I simply washed my face, tucked the last few things in my overnight bag, and hopped in the car with my mom and sisters.

A few minutes later, still in the gray of the morning, we arrived at the Steamboat Inn, where Tia, our hair and makeup magician, was waiting for us. (She was looking chipper enough for all of us!)

Once we had set down our things in the spacious room, she immediately went to work curling our hair in big metal clips one by one. In between turns on the chair, we scavenged breakfast from upstairs (I had half a tomato asiago bagel with cream cheese, a hard boiled egg, and some fruit) and chatted. My special playlist was perfect!

John’s two sisters arrived around 7:45 and were slotted into the hair lineup, too. As soon as all of the curls were set, Tia immediately went to work on our faces. The funniest part? She decided that we all needed eyebrow tweezing, and it was the first time for four out of six of us! My brows have never looked so good… I just wish she lived in North Carolina for maintenance!!

In between turns in the chair, we pooled all of the bridesmaid jewelry options and picked pieces for each lady. I also laid out all of the “details” Tanja might want to photograph — invitation, save the date, ring bearer bowl, clutch, shoes, etc. — and snuck away for a few quiet moments to transcribe my toast and vows onto index cards.

Marget made those gorgeous maps — aren’t they lovely?

In case you can’t see, we decided on simply “grateful” (and our wedding date) for the inscription on our ring bearer bowl.

Beautiful Brisa and my pretty shoes!

I also found a moment to check Instagram, and happened to see a photo of downtown Mystic posted by MacKenzie just a few minutes earlier. After a few exchanged texts, we met up outside our suite and they had a chance to greet everyone before heading over to the house to shoot some B roll.

Tanja arrived to begin shooting at 11, and we all ate lunch at around noon – a platter of wraps and chips (and cookies!) from a gourmet market down the street. I was hungry, and would have eaten more had Tia not been itching to start on my makeup! :)

Let me just say this for the record — Tia is a master at her craft. We basically nodded at each other and said things like “loose curls” and “soft swoop” and “pretty eyes” for a few minutes, and then a half an hour later, I had exactly the look I was wishing for. She is so kind and funny, too!

After I slipped on my gown (with a little help — and a few tears — from mom), it was time to open John’s present. The sentiment of his note was so sweet, but what cracked me up was that he had written it on a notepad from his company! Not the most romantic choice of stationery, but I’ll take it.

His gift was oh so sweet, too — a five-diamond necklace which I happily traded for the pearl one I had been wearing.

I remember getting excited at that point, though hilariously not specifically for the wedding, but more because I was about to step foot on “my” property for the first time!! (If you haven’t read the story of this house, you must do so now!) Of course, I was thrilled about seeing John, too, and got more and more excited as we stuffed my tulle into the station wagon and made the quick drive through the streets of downtown Mystic…

To be continued! :)

Photographer: Tanja Lippert / Videographer: Inkspot Crow Films / Day-of-Coordinator: Diana Chouinard of Jubilee Events / Hair and Makeup Artist: Tia Reagan / Save the Dates: Minted / Invitations: Magpie Paper Works / Invitation Calligraphy: MM Ink / Ring bearer bowl: Paloma’s Nest / Bride’s Dress: “Brisa” by Christos / Bride’s Shoes: “Paladin” by Nina from 6pm.com / Bride’s Earrings: “Toulouse” by Nina / Bride’s Necklace: Blue Nile / Bride’s Veil: Chaviano Couture / Bridesmaid Dresses: “2834” by Dessy

With a rehearsal under our belt, it was time to greet our guests and kick off our wedding weekend!

We knew more than a year in advance that we wanted to host our rehearsal dinner at Abbott’s, a glorified lobster shack in a tiny coastal town near our hometown. It is QUITE the local landmark. It’s also a favorite with John’s family, and definitely delivers an authentic New England experience.

Some of you who know me may still be confused by this choice, as the great irony here is that I do not enjoy most seafood and do not eat lobster. But, I enjoy a beautiful coastline as much as anyone else, and Abbott’s certainly has that in spades. I also enjoy a good hot dog, which, FYI, is what I ate that night :)

When they say waterfront, they truly mean waterfront.

Arranging things with Abbott’s was simple and pleasant. I think they usually charge $100 to reserve exclusive use of the tent and the tables under it, but they actually didn’t charge us anything! We opted to have guests order off the regular menu, through the line at the window, and put everything on a tab, because their event menu doesn’t include crowd favorites like their lobster roll. Abbott’s not only agreed to stay open later for our guests (even though the rest of the restaurant would close at 6pm), but let us bring in our own drinks, alcohol, AND dessert. Highly recommended!

We sorted out most of the reservation specifics in the fall, and I always intended to craft a few items to jazz up the evening over the ensuing months. Well, those items got tacked onto the to do list for sure, but projects for that other large event looming in the distance (ahem, our wedding) kept taking precedence. Somehow we found ourselves at August 17th with exactly zero projects started, which is about when I sent a desperate email to Marget wailing for help. Kind soul that she is, she hopped right back on the project bandwagon (less than a month out from her own wedding!) and whipped this party into shape. Maybe she was in withdrawal?

Photo by Nancy Ray

John’s sisters and their beaus (and parents!) got everything in order before we arrived, including tablecloths, daisy and apple centerpieces, and that amazing chalk illustration by Marget. It was such a relief, after all of the wedding prep, to walk into something simple and perfect without having to lift a finger!

Thank you again for helping me choose my dress! (Photo by Nancy Ray)

We spent the first half hour or so doling out lots of hugs. It is so amazing to see all of the people you love in one spot! On that note, let me say that the guest list for the rehearsal dinner was harder, I think, than the list for the actual wedding. Since John’s parents were hosting, we wanted to keep it on the smaller side, but when you start counting up those actually involved in the ceremony (26) plus other immediate family members who were traveling in from out of town (20) plus general out of town guests (14), things get overwhelming quickly. We hope we avoided most hurt feelings, but there were definitely some cringe-worthy moments!

These peeps were definitely on the list. So thankful for our siblings!! (Photo by Nancy Ray)

But, the hugs made up for it. Those, and the happy tears from my mom and her best friend from college when they saw each other.

Anyway, as dads do, ours kicked things off with some welcoming words.

Photos by Nancy Ray

After lots more chatting and some cajoling, guests began to move through the line. Meanwhile, I pretended I might order something other than a hot dog.

A Continuous Lean

A Continuous Lean

Once back in the tent, we trotted out the real star of the show — our custom lobster bibs!

Photos by Nancy Ray

These beauties were also designed by Marget. I think the price for 50 was about $150, which is NOT cheap (we ordered from here). I seriously considered forgetting them toward the end, but I’m glad we didn’t, because I think they helped our dinner feel like an event. Even though it sounds silly, I think they also helped bring together all of these people from different parts of our life, something like an ice breaker.

We finished dinner with THE BEST apple pie. One of the nicest ladies at my childhood church owns an orchard and is a revered pie baker in my town, and a few years ago, I learned to make pies from her. She used to sell them regularly at holidays but has pulled back in recent years; however, she agreed to make a special batch for us, for which I was so grateful! Yum yum!

The last event of the evening was a presentation from my Dad. As some of you may recall from my sister’s rehearsal dinner, my dad has been collecting our “refrigerator art” since preschool, and for this special occasion, he assembled my most epic pieces into a scrapbook! The best part? For some of the more… abstract drawings, he apparently asked me at the time of creation what they were, and then wrote down my description on the back. Such a thoughtful gift! Love him.

I’ll be back with our wedding morning adventures soon!

Except where noted, photos are personal or from family + friends!

Welcome to wedding week on Em for Marvelous! You’ve already seen our highlights film (and some of you may have seen our wedding photos!), but I am so excited to share more images and thoughts about our very special celebration, as well as a few nitty-gritty details. I very much hope you all enjoy!

My last post before our September 15 wedding was on September 10 — the Monday before. We had pretty much unpacked at that point, but still had many things to check off the list. My sweet, sweet dad — he sat me down the day after I arrived home, piece of paper in hand, and carefully went over his personal to do list with me, at least twenty items long. As you’ll see in some of our photos, he had a bandaid on his thumb by the end of the week from all of his labors! My Mom came out less scarred (at least physically – ha!), but was a complete trooper, as well. I am so grateful for all of the help we received over that week!

I am also grateful that the week stayed remarkably stress-free, and even fun! John’s extended family rented a nearby cottage, and it was almost like a mini vacation to visit there and socialize, play corn hole and card games, and venture to the beach.

On the recommendation of our pastor/officiant, we also went out to dinner, just the two of us, on Tuesday evening. It was a wonderful time to pause, and something I would highly recommend penciling in to you engaged peeps!

On Wednesday, John and I got our marriage license (whoo!), and while waiting for it to be certified or printed or something like that, we walked a few streets over for a snack at the little cafe where we had dinner on our FIRST date more than seven years before. We are cute.

Afterward, we picked apples for our welcome bags at the orchard down the hill from John’s house. It was such a glorious day, and I remember feeling so very happy!

On Thursday, a major undertaking was assembling the poppers for our favors, and I was lucky to have John, his mom, his sister, and her boyfriend to assist! We also visited our reception site, where the tent was being assembled — oh happy day!

Honestly, I can’t remember too many specifics of the things for which I don’t have corresponding photos, and from the time I woke up on Thursday to the time our rehearsal dinner started on Friday, the world whizzed past in a non-stop blur. Not a crazed blur, but just a this-train-has-left-the-station-and-there’s-no-stopping-it-now blur. We arrived at our rehearsal in one piece, however, as did all of the required family members and friends :) It was SO good to see everyone. (As if that needs to be said.) Our amazing pastor, Carl, put everyone at ease and had us laughing (and my mom crying — yes, true story) throughout. Even church lady wasn’t too scary.

Then, dressed in our most nautical duds, it was time to head to Noank for our rehearsal dinner!

For the last part in our four-part series on the decisions we made for our ceremony, I wanted to talk about our choice to serve communion. (See previous posts here: readings, music, vows)

We made the decision to serve communion early on, and felt peaceful about it, but were a little… interested to see how our guests would react. Not all of our guests share our faith, and we didn’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable or imposed upon. Thankfully, the United Methodist Church offers communion freely to all who “want Christ in their life,” regardless of religion or denomination, while also recognizing that approaching this table is a personal decision and doesn’t question those who choose not to partake. Our pastor, Carl, introduced this part of our service beautifully, inviting those who chose not to come forward to offer a prayer or good wish for us from the pew.

Photo by the fab Tanja Lippert

We served communion directly following our vows. We chose to see the symbolism in our first act as a married couple being one of serving others while honoring our Lord, especially since we chose to serve our parents and grandparents first. We were pleasantly surprised to see all the beloved and familiar faces coming forward during communion, and it was really special to have a brief moment with each individual.

A few notes: For some reason, I chose to hold the juice, and John, the bread, but based on our sartorial choices, we probably should have switched. I’m happy to say that not a drop of red was spilled on my gown, but that’s probably because our guests were hilariously, over-enthusiastically (but kindly!) careful to avoid the possibility — in fact, I think many of them dunked only one corner crumb in the juice :)

One other thing we didn’t expect was that many of our Catholic (and maybe Episcopalian?) guests chose to sip from the cup instead of dipping, which jolted me the first time it happened. Had we thought to expect that (which we totally should have!), I would have had a handkerchief with me. Oh well!

The last neat thing was that we used a silver cup from the church where my grandmother was baptized for the juice — I loved having that extra family connection.

We had SO many positive reactions from our guests about the whole experience, even those who don’t regularly attend church, with many guests naming it as their favorite part of our wedding in our guestbook. John and I would say the same.

Did any of y’all serve communion at your wedding? Or have you been to a wedding that served communion?