With a total of 10 guests, this Nantucket wedding may be the epitome of intimate, but despite the small guest count, no detail was forgotten. With stunning, colorful flowers by Soiree Floral and Katie Kaizer snapping photos throughout the picturesque island, this was one stylish celebration. See the whole happy day, from the sparkling dress to the last kiss, right here.
From The Bride… Everyone said that you will just know it when you meet the right person and they were right. Jeff swept me off my feet and I never looked back. A mutual friend had mentioned to each of us individually that she had “someone that she’d like us to meet”. She had mentioned this in passing once or twice, about two years prior to us actually meeting. It is funny how life works, but a number of things fell into place for each of us, both personally and professionally, and our friend and a little serendipity brought us to meet in person on April 2, 2013. We were engaged approximately eight and a half months later in Stowe, VT on December 20, 2013.
The first vacation Jeff and I ever took together was to Nantucket, where we attended the annual Wine Festival. Both of us had visited the island many times before and it is one of our most favorite places in the entire world to visit. Nantucket has an absolutely magical charm and beauty that anyone who has ever visited there just falls in love with. It is a very special place.
We wanted our wedding to be simple, elegant and intimate. We decided to keep it very small and just included our parents, our siblings and their significant others (a total of 10, including us). Our siblings were our attendants, Jeff’s sister, Tracy was the maid of honor and Erin’s brother, Michael was the best man. We rented a private home for a week and made a vacation out of the wedding week. We wanted our families to spend a week getting to know each other, sharing family stories, playing games and enjoying the island together. It turned out our families had a lot in common and really enjoyed their time together. Everyone arrived on a Saturday which enabled us to have a few days prior to the wedding to vacation and relax.
On the day of the wedding, we woke up to a foggy morning, however, just as we started to get ready for the ceremony, the sun came out and we experienced the most gorgeous bright blue skies with a light Nantucket breeze. The island provided such a tremendously beautiful backdrop for our photos. We ended up taking a variety of photos in various locations on the island such as Nantucket’s historic cobblestone Main Street and picturesque Siasconset. Everything was super blue and green and island flowers were in full bloom. The island provided a beautiful canvas for our wedding.
From a color scheme design perspective, I wanted to add pops of color. To incorporate these pops of color, I selected a coral Amsale bridesmaid dress for my maid of honor and for the floral arrangements I chose bright corals, soft peaches and greens. Dawn and Julie from Soiree Floral are so incredibly talented. Their work perfectly captured the vision of the wedding with stunning arrangements that fit with the overall theme of the wedding. Dawn and her team also designed the menu cards used for our place settings. I still wanted the wedding to have a nautical/preppy feel so I chose navy and white striped ties from Brooks Brothers to bring in the nautical look. The ties worked perfectly with Jeff’s custom suit which was light navy and the other guys’ suits which were a khaki/sand color. I chose a cathedral length veil to wear with my Martina Liana dress. The veil became such a special element in the wedding photos (especially with the lovely island breezes on the afternoon of the wedding). The veil literally floated in the wind for most of the pictures and our incredible photographer, Katie Kaizer was able to capture its ghostly magic.
The wedding ceremony was held at The First Congregational Church of Nantucket which is one of the most photographed historic churches on the island. We felt very welcomed by the church. Reverend Klingsporn took the time to get to know us as a couple and tailored the wedding ceremony to make it personal and special for the both of us.
The reception was held at the private residence where we vacationed for the week. The home boasts a beautiful expansive lawn. During the cocktail hour, we had two jazz guitarists play in the background as we sipped champagne and indulged in hors d’ oeuvres. The first dance, father/daughter and mother/son dances were held on the lawn as the warm afternoon sun shone over us.
Jeff and I are self-proclaimed foodies. Mark and Eithne Yelle from Nantucket Catering Company created an extensive and intricate gourmet menu of passed hors d’ oeuvres and a five course wedding dinner featuring local island faire such as oysters, sea scallops, locally made cheeses and produce from the local island farms with wine pairings. The wines we selected for the pairings included some of our favorites that we sipped on when we attended the Nantucket Wine Festival the previous year. To incorporate elements of Nantucket into the wedding, we chose a basket weave cake which resembled Nantucket lightship baskets. This custom two tier cake by Jodi Levesque of Jodi’s Cakes, had one layer of lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting and a layer of toasted coconut and toasted coconut buttercream. It was amazing!
As Jeff and I have reflected on our wedding we smile every time we talk about it. The day was filled with emotion with lots of smiles, laughter and happy tears. It was the most relaxing day/week and we treasure the time spent with our closest family members where we built memories to last a lifetime.
Photography: Katie Kaizer Photography | Floral Design: Soiree Floral | Wedding Dress: Essense of Australia | Cake: Jodi's Cakes | Ceremony Venue: First Congregational Church Of Nantucket | Reception Venue: Private Residence | Catering: Nantucket Catering Company | Makeup: YG Makeup | Hair: RJ Miller | Ties: Brooks Brothers | Groom's Attire: David Morra Of Marc Allen Fine Clothiers | Transportation: Highland Drivers | Bridesmaids Dress: Amsale | Menu Design: Dawn Kelly Designs | Rentals: Jen Shepherd