When last we left off, the ceremony had just ended, and Kate and Cormac walked jubilantly back up the aisle!

The bridal party, families, and guests followed, and there was much hugging and many congratulations. And a few tears (happy ones, of course!).

Since we had opened up the ceremony, but not the reception, to the whole Island community, we wanted to have something of a mini party in between. So we did! My Mom’s amazingly talented BFF made tons and tons of delicious cookies, my cousins set out lemonade, and it was the perfect little interlude.

My mouth is watering just looking at those photos…

After about a half an hour, most guests started to head for the reception while the major players took care of a few more portraits.

First, a cousins pic for grandma (LOVE this one!):

That’s me on the right, for those of you who don’t know!

Then, a few full bridal party extravaganzas:

The bridal party headed to the real party after that, while Kate and Cormac stayed back with Jenna for a few more portraits.

And with that, they walked off into the sunset! …er, reception :)

All photos by the super talented and lovely Jenna Cole and Meredith of & Unlimited.

Previously:
We arrive
We prepare
We raise the tent
We rehearse and play wiffle ball
We jump off the wharf
We eat lobster
We wake up very early, and the gents get dressed
The girls get ready
They make their vows

read more

The guests had arrived, the portraits had been taken, and we could hear the gentle strains of the handbell choir float toward us from where we were waiting by our cottage. It was time!

Handmade programs (featuring the same love knot as their save the dates!) were strung between two trees next to the ceremony site.

As guests arrived, the bell choir played a selection of lovely songs, including “Sleeper’s Wake” and “Grace and Thanksgiving.” Having a bell choir play was super important to Kate and Cormac, and although at times I secretly thought it might be more trouble than it was worth, it turned out to be SO awesome in the end.

The grandmothers walked in first, accompanied by groomsmen.

The mothers and the father of the groom followed. All family members walked in to “Let All Things Now Living.”

When “Evensong” began, it was time for the bridal party. First Cormac’s sister, then Kim, then me.

And then Kate and Dad.

Cormac was waiting at the front, beside the driftwood arch.

Kate handed off her bouquet, and it was time to begin!

After the welcome, invocation, an address to the family and friends, and questions to the family of the bride and groom, we had the first reading. My cousin Hannah did the reading, which was “How Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog” by Taylor Mali.

The guests were watching intently :)

The second reading was from “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” read by our other cousin, Molly.

Next there was a reading from Romans by the groom’s godmother.

Then, the main event: the exchange of vows and rings. As you saw in the previous post, Kate and Cormac wrote their vows together. Funny story: when Cormac was saying his vows, my Mom started to get upset because he wasn’t looking at Kate! Then he finally did — and immediately choked up. Aww!

Then the kiss!

And the recessional, to “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee,” one of my favorites!

All photos by the super talented and lovely Jenna Cole and Meredith of & Unlimited.

Previously:
We arrive
We prepare
We raise the tent
We rehearse and play wiffle ball
We jump off the wharf
We eat lobster
We wake up very early, and the gents get dressed
The girls get ready

read more

When we last left off, the gents were getting dressed and having their portraits taken on one side of the Island. Meanwhile, on the other side, the girls were making their own preparations!

Like the sign? You can purchase your own in my Etsy shop!

The original plan was for Kim, my younger sister, to do both my hair and her own. Turns out we definitely didn’t have enough time for that, but luckily, Lauren, a very, very good (and talented!) friend of our family stepped in to take care of my ‘do. Thank you, Lauren!! I decided on a low, curly side ponytail. Kate had had her massive amounts of hair professionally styled in the Harbor earlier that morning.

Everyone was very relaxed and happy, and interestingly, there wasn’t as much emotion going on as I thought there might be. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised — Kate is a very rational, sensible person, and though she was very excited to be getting married, she’s not the type to run around flapping her hands screaming “I’m getting married!!”

Anyway, while we were getting prettified, Meredith was a busy bee capturing all of the details. I love how she set up the stationery suite! She does such a nice job photographing details in realistic environments.

For more details on the invites, click here, and the save the dates, here.

The shoes! Kate asked each of her ‘maids to choose their own pair of yellow shoes (the navy flip flops are my Mom’s).

Kate herself had two pairs — one, I think, for the ceremony, and one for the reception. Both pairs were flats, since we were walking on grass the whole day!

The rings!

And the ring branch! Kate’s ring bearer carried this fine evergreen bough down the aisle, but I modeled it for the detail shot. Our bridesmaid dressed were from J. Crew.

The vows! (Written out by yours truly, though of course, Kate and Cormac chose the words themselves.)

The heirloom necklace! If I’ve got the story right, Kate, my Mom, my grandma, and her mother have all worn this necklace on their wedding days.

Kate’s bouquet! (I call this the Millie Holloman shot… anyone with me?!)

The bridesmaid bouquets! I’m not usually a huge fan of greenery in bouquets, but I loved the big green leaves at the base of our blooms.

The only real hiccup of the day occurred around this time. My Mom happened to be sitting out on the deck, and noticed that the ferry appeared to be stopped in the middle of the river. Turns out it had run out of gas on one of its many trips back and forth from the mainland! There were several surprised guests headed to the ceremony on board, but they handled the situation with good cheer. The problem was quickly solved, anyway — a Whaler towed it back to the wharf, there was (thank goodness) an extra gas can, and the ferry was refueled in no time.

With that, it was time for Kate to get dressed! Jenna was on hand to capture the moment.

Dad approves!

And Kate looks just gorgeous, don’t you think? She wore the “Zuri” by Maggie Sottero, purchased from The Wedding Shoppe in Minnesota.

With everyone dressed, it was time for a few portraits. But first, the veil:

I love this one of Kate with our grandma:

My favorite from our family session:

Hilariously, this was the scene just outside the above frame:

We had a few wayward branches to deal with :)

Didn’t Jenna do a wonderful job with the group portraits? I think she was a bit worried about them (possibly because of my posts (here, here) about how picky I am about family shots!), but we LOVE the photos she took. Thank you, Jenna!!

By this time it was about ten of eleven, which meant it was time to get in place for the ceremony. The real action was about to begin!

All photos by the super talented and lovely Jenna Cole and Meredith of & Unlimited.

Previously:
We arrive
We prepare
We raise the tent
We rehearse and play wiffle ball
We jump off the wharf
We eat lobster
We wake up very early, and the gents get dressed

read more

We’ve arrived at the wedding morning!! And oh, what an early morning it was. With an 11am ceremony, and no professionals in site (except caterers), the bulk of last-minute prep was on my family and our relatives and friends. The up-shot? A 5am wakeup call for me, my Dad, my younger sister, and John. Lucky Kate and my mom — they slept in the Harbor, and got to sleep in until Kate’s hair and makeup appointment at 6:30!

So that 5am wakeup call. I set my alarm for 5, with the intention of rolling out of bed, throwing on some clothes, shaking Kim and John repeatedly, and then being out the door by 5:15. Well, 5:15 rolled around. And it was still dark. And I was really tired. And no one else was moving. Then 5:30 rolled around. More of the same. Somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45 the black outside the window lightened to a medium gray, and I decided it was finally time to shake a leg. I believe we made it down to West Shore by 6am, and, as it turns out, the 45 minutes we “lost” weren’t a big deal. Whew!

That part of the morning is pretty much a blur, but I know we made multiple wagon trips across the Island, set out the linens and runners on the guest tables, set out the blankets on the lawn, set up croquet and lawn games, arranged centerpieces on all the tables, strung bunting on the buffets, and set up the sound system, among many other things. I do know that at one point Meredith, the second shooter for the day, arrived, and I’m pretty sure I looked and sounded like a crazy person — basically still in my pajamas, unwashed face, etc. She was as sweet as usual and probably told me it looked like we had everything under control. Thank you, Meredith!!

Speaking of sweet people, my wonderful, wonderful cousins took care of setting up the ceremony site, so we only had one “venue” to worry about. And by 8:30 or 9, we were done! We ran back to the cottage where Kate and my Mom had just arrived, and took turns hopping in the shower. But before we get to that, I want to share a peek at the gents!

Jenna headed straight to the groom’s cottage when she arrived on Island.

She would probably want me to mention that she handed her camera to a groomsman to get this next shot!

That’s right, Cormac showered outside on the morning of his wedding.

Kate tied those rope boutonnieres, and the flowers were from Boothbay Region Greenhouses! The ties were purchased at Macy’s, I believe. Once everyone was dressed, it was time for a few portraits.

Yeah, that last photo pretty much sums up these dudes.

I would also like to give a shout out to one Mr. Josh, groomsman extraordinaire, who I know reads this blog and who I can only imagine was eagerly anticipating his Peach & Pearl debut. Hi, Josh!

Up next: the girls!

All photos by the talented Jenna Cole!

Previously:
We arrive
We prepare
We raise the tent
We rehearse and play wiffle ball
We jump off the wharf
We eat lobster

read more