I’d consider a yacht club to be an ideal wedding venue (maybe the New Englander in me is a little biased); with a seaside location and picture perfect views, you just really can’t go wrong. This beautiful Bride took that scene and ran with it, creating a personal celebration, full of little nautical nods. Meghan Andrews snapped up each and every one and this gallery has me dreaming of sunny days ahead.
From The Bride… This area has great significance to my groom, Alexi’s family. His parents have two homes next door to each other on the beach, where they spend their summers (and we love to visit to get away from it all and spend time with family). His parents got married in the same tiny town. His mother grew up spending her summers at the Buffalo Canoe Club. Our florist, Wayne, is the son of the florist that Alexi’s parents’ used for their wedding in the 1970s :)
The wooden sign that says “shoes here, vows there, love everywhere” was hand painted by Alexi’s sister and made using pickets from a fence of a neighbor’s house down the beach. She and Alexi’s mom also made the stand for the seating cards from pickets from that fence. Additionally Alexi’s mom and sister handmade the arbor that we were married underneath using driftwood found in Lake Erie.
I wore something old, my maternal grandmother’s delicate wedding band; something new, lingerie, something borrowed, I wore my maid of honor’s veil; something blue, my navy blue Badgley Mischka heels
There was a loose travel theme to our special day. Our tables were named after places Alexi and I had traveled. When we met (through mutual friends on a ski trip) Alexi lived in Boston and I in San Francisco; needless to say we spent a lot of time traveling back and forth across the miles and meeting in the middle during our courtship. We found our favorite photo from each destination and sent them to Etsy shop PaperHeartPrint who designed the most beautiful table name cards complete with the geographic coordinates of that place for a very reasonable price; we got tons of compliments!
Going along with the travel theme, for a thank you gift my bridesmaids, I had personalized necklaces made for them by Nicole Alashaian of Etsy vendor NicWhims. I asked each maid her favorite place in the world and had the geographic coordinates of that place hand stamped into a sterling silver or gold bar. I also gave them navy blue cashmere pashminas purchased during my recent travels with one of my maids to Turkey.
For our favors, we both are obsessed with chocolate so we knew we wanted to incorporate this. To pay homage to the city we love and now call home (San Francisco), we gave chocolates from the famous Ghirardelli Chocolate, as well as some Hershey’s kisses, and had thank you tags made by Etsy vendor DarbyCardsNashville saying “love is sweet, thank you for making our day complete.”
We had navy and pink flip flops available, aka “dancing shoes,” for when guests grew tired of their fancy heels :)
Alexi and I were married by his sister and my brother. We wrote the ceremony ourselves, incorporating readings we loved and some that were used in our parents’ ceremonies, and our siblings edited it and added some of their own words. We couldn’t think of anyone who knew us better or who we would want to remember in such an important role than those two. It meant the world to us to have them up there.
Photography: Meghan Andrews Photography | Floral Design: Crescent Gardens | Cupcakes: The Happy Baker | Reception Venue: Buffalo Canoe Club | Hair: Sara Mccann | Guest Transportation: Dunn The Mover | Guitarist: Tyler Ray | Rehearsal Dinner Venue: Ravine Vineyard