Rhode Island Weddings

Allison and Derek’s was your typical New England affair, or in other words: perfect. It’s the ultimate Block Island celebration that’ll have you pinning the entire day away (and honestly, who can blame you). Ryon:Lockhart Photography was on hand capturing every moment of merriment and as luck would have it – we’ve got it all waiting in THE VAULT!

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From the Bride…My husband and I first visited block island a few years ago for a friend’s wedding. It quickly became one of our favorite places. On one of our trips, memorial day 2014, we hoped on a moped, grabbed some snacks, our favorite champagne and headed to a little picnic on a remote beach by a beautiful light house. To my complete shock after he popped the champagne he then popped the question. By that evening we knew that we’d be returning to this very island to get married – Block Island style.

The island was a perfect place for us. We have always liked the idea of a destination wedding but didn’t want to create too much of an obstacle for our guests. For most, Block Island is a mysterious destination but in reality it’s actually a very convenient option, especially since most of our family and friends were coming from Long Island, Brooklyn or Manhattan. It was very exciting for us to introduce this island to our guests as most had never been. The weekend really had that destination feel as if we were on vacation with 100 of your favorite people.

Block Island is a pretty tiny place, just 17 miles around, and that actually worked in our favor. Everybody seems to know everyone “on island” and you won’t have to go to far into your planning before you realize that all of your options will be decided between a few select vendors. We chose the Rose Farm Inn as our venue for its amazing antique character, its sprawling land and it’s rolling green hills. Our ceremony was held at the iconic Southeast Lighthouse. This picturesque location provided panoramic views of the ocean while also giving us the most quintessential and authentic block island backdrop.

Being that I’m a graphic designer the pressure was really on. I hit Pinterest hard. I wanted something rustic yet glamorous. I love the contrast between mixed metal mercury glass and raw weathered wood. Our palette was ivory, cream, soft blushes, raw neutrals and gold. Our flowers we’re unbelievable thanks to the super talented Melissa from Painted Rock Designs. My father in law was tasked with collecting wood palettes and making flower boxes. We crossed our fingers and let him run with this DIY project. Thankfully no fingers were lost and the end result was awesome.

Designing my invitations was a very special experience for me. I have gone through this process with many brides but never truly understood how personal it was. Once everything was designed I worked with Kon from Coeur Noir Specialty Printers. These guys are the best and the day I picked them up I actually cried. Wedding stationary sets the scene of an event and it really got our guests excited for the weekend.

On to our best decision. Our photographers! They rock! It’s that simple. Everything they do is amazing we felt especially grateful and honored to have Ryon:Lockhart photography document our wedding day. They definitely nailed all of the classic shots but what really impressed us were all of the small moments, nuances and expressions of ourselves and guests. They captured the feeling and essence of our wedding perfectly and exceeded any expectations that we could have imagined.

We laughed all day, we danced for hours, we got to celebrate with everyone we love and I got to marry my best friend. All in all it was the perfect day.

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Photography: Ryon:Lockhart Photography | Event Planning: Summer Sisters | Floral Design: Painted Rock Designs | Wedding Dress: Karen Willis Holmes | Cake: Sugar Rush Designs | Invitations: Allison Rhodes Designs | Catering: Kimberly's | Hair + Makeup: Salon Sena | DJ: Marc Scortino - Island Wedding DJ | Suit: Black Lapel | Wedding Venue: Rose Farm Inn | Musician: Marc Phillip | Rentals: Block Island Party Rentals | Specialty Printing: Coeur Noir | Wedding Rings: Lori Mclean | Wine Favors: Village Wine Club

We have this theory that Arielle Doneson attracts the coolest clients – just look at Ayla + Brian’s wedding and you’ll understand just what we mean. For with the help of Jaime Nelson they planned the perfect party complete with homebrew, s’mores, and some seriously stunning Sayles Livingston Flowers. It’s the type of celebration that’ll have you craving the summer season and we’ve got it all in THE VAULT!

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From The Bride…When we started talking about locations for our wedding, Brian and I were all over the map (literally!). We toyed with the idea of a destination wedding because our favorite weddings have been those where family and friends were together for a weekend exploring a new place, but we struggled with how much we wanted to ask of our guests. We did know that we wanted to combine Brian’s love of sailing and the ocean with my love of rustic farms and local food. Born and raised New Englanders, we started our search on the eastern coast and landed on Block Island, a small island off the coast of Rhode Island, a place where Brian had camped growing up but I had never been. The moment I stepped on the Island I was sold! It is quaint, charming and absolutely stunning with a beautiful coastline that has the quintessential New England rocky cliffs and bluffs but also has some of the top rated beaches in the world. Much of the island is devoted to farming and land conservation, while the rest is filled with rustic farm houses and Inn’s. We chose a beautiful private estate that had views of both the ocean and Great Salt Pond and a farmhouse on the property. The goal of the wedding was to be casual and relaxed yet elegant. I think we achieved that in the details. As guests arrived for the ceremony they were greeted with lavender lemonade or prosecco as they enjoyed the beautiful views and light sea breezes. During the cocktail hour, we had a local musician play acoustic music while guest enjoyed appetizers, a raw bar, and lawn games that Brian and I had made. Our reception was elegantly decorated with a light, romantic color scheme and lit by twinkle lights and candles. We made a DIY photo booth in one corner that was a huge hit all night. We loved that the cool ocean breezes flowed through the tent and guests enjoyed the whole property throughout the evening. The evening ended with a wind-down beach bonfire right across the street where we roasted smores and drank Brian’s homebrew beer under the stars.

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Photography: Arielle Doneson Photography | Event Planning: Eventfully Planned | Floral Design: Sayles Livingston Design | Wedding Dress: Watters | Invitations: Tabitha Garner | Bride's Shoes: Badgley Mischka | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Anthropologie | Catering: Block Island Gourmet | Hair And Makeup: Caitlin Murphy Stylist | Groom's Attire: Michael Kors | Corhole Boards: DIY | Groom's Shoes: PF Flyers | Tent Rentals: Exquisite Events

An intimate Block Island affair planned to ultimate perfection by the lovely ladies at Bash, Please? Sign me up. Because if that doesn’t sound like absolute magic, I don’t know what does. And when we get to see the day play out through Karen Wise‘s stunning images, that’s when I really can’t believe our luck. Get lost in all the lovely here.

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The evening before the wedding, we chose to do a portrait session by the South East Lighthouse about 5 miles down the road from their clambake dinner at Spring House Hotel. This gave Lauren + Benoit some some quiet time to reflect before the guests arrived and the festivities began. The golden sun highlighted the couple as they strolled through the landscape, creating long shadows in the lush green grass in front of this historic tower.

The talented Bash Please team worked at planning all events for the weekend. On the wedding day, Liza Lubell’s artistic floral arrangements meshed beautifully with the watery palette of stationery, dress, and backdrop. The bride, a visual artist, and the groom, a software engineer, collaborated on an installation art piece that was raised above the dance floor inside their sailcloth tent. For the tables, Lauren designed pretty watery blue and violet vessels from geodes and crystals. The stationery which Bash Please designed so intricately brought together the colors and elements perfectly.

The moment I heard about all these pretty details, I knew it would be a stylish and photogenic wedding. I was thrilled to be included in this elegant seaside affair!

From the Bride… As a sculptor, I was excited to share my art with our wedding guests and to add my own personal touch to the beauty and magic of the day. By making the geodes for all the tables, I created another layer of interaction with our friends and family gathered there.
Benoit and I ambitiously created the installation that hung above the dance floor. Our piece literally crowned the day. That tremendous piece is a true reflection of our collaborative creativity. We were delighted to share our artistic vision with our guests!

Photography: Karen Wise Photography | Event Planning And Design: Bash Please | Floral Design: Peartree Flowers | Wedding Dress: Selia Yang | Cake: Abigail Kirsch | Stationery: Bash Please | Shoes: Hey Lady | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Amsale | Catering: Abigail Kirsch | Catering: Abigail Kirsch | Makeup: Saible Monique Malamud | Band: Mike Benjamin Band | Tux: Hugo Boss | Venue: Private Residence | Rehearsal Dinner Venue: Spring House Hotel | Veil: Selia Yang

The effortlessness of this wedding (and beautifully boho bride) is absolutely breathtaking. Captured by Artistic Wedding Films, guest sat on driftwood as the two exchanged vows and danced the night away under a lighted tent and a cool, late summer breeze. You can see all the intricate details photographed by Rebecca Arthurs here!

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From Artistic Wedding Films… Daniel and Tessa were married 13 miles out to sea on Block Island. It could not have been a more beautiful late summer day. Weddings are are not about the glitz and glam, they are about love, family and memories. Tessa was so happy to be getting ready with her girls; Daniel was full of anticipation.

They gathered unique and vintage items to decorate the beach house they rented for the week. The best part about the property is the long sandy wooded path that opens up into the dunes and spills out onto the beach. Adventurers at heart, Daniel and Tessa decided to invite their guests on a journey down a wooded path to the ceremony on a secluded beach. There they said their vows underneath a gorgeous driftwood chuppa, that their friends had spent the day before gathering wood and assembling.

Afterwards they celebrated under a lovely tent, decorated with all of their favorite garden foliage. Their wedding represented a true marriage of love and family, and it was the perfect celebration for Tessa and Daniel who’s love of life is so contagious.

Photography: Rebecca Arthurs | Videography: Artistic Wedding Films | Floral Design: Painted Rock Designs | Wedding Dress: Claire Pettibone | Reception Venue: Mystique | Catering: Block Island Gourmet | Band: Mystique

Watercolor details are fast becoming a wedding world darling and this Bride has embraced them with open arms. Painterly tid bits are woven throughout the day from the stationery to the dress – yes, that gorgeous gown crafted by her fashion designer Mom is indeed watercolored – and to say it’s a beauty is a gross understatement. The whole affair is a fusion of approachable, fun elegance captured by Katie Slater Photography. See it all here.

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From Katie Slater Photography…Julia and Jonathan are one of our favorite couples of the year! They totally win the award for “cutest, most laid back, totally madly in love couple of the year” if there is such a thing. This wedding is filled with DIY touches made by the bride. The girl water colored everything she could get her hands on….including her custom made silk ballgown! She’s such a free spirit. You’ll want to be her bestie as soon as you see these pictures. Speaking of….this. gown. It’s to die for. It was lovingly created by her fashion designer Momma! We can’t stop looking at it.

From The Bride…I’m not a formal human being. Jonathan is a bit more proper than I am, but also generally really jovial and easy-going. So, having a big wedding and keeping it approachable and lively and equal parts elegant and casual was our biggest goal. I didn’t want anything to feel put on. (Though having said that, I am extraordinarily particular, visually, so I wanted to perfectly curate all of that informality. Now you’re probably getting a sense of my particular brand of insanity.)

From the beginning, I was in pretty deep on the whole DIY thing. I’m fairly hands-on, generally, and I also felt that if this was going to be a big extravaganza, per my husband’s wishes, I wanted it to feel as personal as possible. This was a celebration of our life together with our most-loved-ones; I wanted my own hands on every single inch of it.

I knew almost immediately that I would paint my dress, so I was testing various paints and dyes on different kinds of washed and unwashed silks before we even had a venue. Secretly from my husband, of course. Interestingly enough, he never asked why I had so many paints when I am not a painter.

I then designed our Save The Dates and decided to hand-letterpress them. This did not go quite as planned, so I ended up blind embossing and then hand-inking each one. This was my lowest point in the process, probably. But! It led me to the wonderful people at Coeur Noir when it came time to print our invitations. I was so psyched that I got to work with such an amazing hometown business and they executed my designs beautifully, while walking me through a lot of specs and details very patiently.

I water colored and did the calligraphy for each invitation’s envelope and designed a return-address stamp as well. Designed/calligraphied/drew the welcome letter, map, and menus. And then subsequently did the calligraphy for the top of each (pre-printed) menu. And also the table assignments. Man, looking back, that was a lot of paper.

We also put together little welcome baskets in those lovely teal berry containers and dropped them around the island. Block Island’s signature cocktail is a banana mudslide, so Jonathan and I (and a couple AMAZING friends) put together small bottles with mudslides, and added them to the baskets with a banana, some Cape Cod chips, and water. Again, I water colored the bottle labels. Oy.

I made a morning-of decision to buy all the mason jars I could at the local grocery store (I don’t think anyone even knows I did this), which I then handed to my mother and her amazing friends, along with scraps of leftover rose-gold sequin fabric from my rehearsal dinner dress. They put together our votive holders with the jars, sequins, and extra fabric from my blush-colored veil.

I’m trying to think if there was anything else we did beyond the piles of paper. Do the globe lights I bought online and then forced my family to hang day-of-wedding count? I did also write a song for Jonathan that my younger sister and father performed during our ceremony. Music is not really what you think of as DIY, but… well, I did do it myself.

I feel so materialistic saying it, but the dress reveal was SUCH fun. My mom is a designer and we’ve been trading ideas on my wedding dress for years. The shape was modeled on a 2008 Oscar De La Renta dress that I’ve loved forever, though we rounded the neckline, inspired by another gown she had done. That original Oscar dress had had flower apliques as well, and I think those played a big role in my ultimate desire to paint. Designing, making, and painting the dress was such an amazing mother-daughter experience and one I wouldn’t trade for the world. And (per my mom’s prediction) when Jonathan saw me walk down the aisle, he give a great big laugh. That was the best.

Photography: Katie Slater Photography | Floral Design: Blazing Star Farms | Wedding Dress: Kathryn Conover | Cake: Momofuku Milk Bar | Reception Venue: Spring House Hotel

Block Island weddings are magical, that’s a well-known fact.  But when you combine a breathtaking setting like Block Island with vibrant pink peonies from Blazing Star Farms and a sweeter than sweet duo, it takes that magic and kicks it up a notch or two.  Think a darling puppy and nautical stylings throughout.  See every gorgeous moment captured by Olivia Gird Photography right here.

From the Bride… I was never the little girl who dreamed about her wedding, but I always knew it would absolutely be on Block Island, where I had spent my summers from birth. It became a special place for Jack and I as well during the course of our relationship, and a place we were excited to share with all our friends who had never seen it. Danielle Dziok at The Spring House made everything supremely easy, and we had a lot of fun planning. More than anything we just wanted the wedding to be fun, both for us and for everyone attending. We tried to incorporate both of our backgrounds into the ceremony, and also included details throughout honoring Block Island as well as Philadelphia, where we met and our home for four years.

When the big weekend rolled around, a full-on tropical storm hit Friday afternoon just as everyone was trying to get on planes and boats to head out to the island. Some people got stranded and we were crazed trying to help with contingency planning for everyone, but once our guests made it to the island they were that much more excited to be on dry land with a beer in hand. The morning of the wedding was glorious, and though it was touch-and-go during the ceremony, by the end of the evening it was positively balmy! We had such a blast with all our family and friends (including our dog, Rosie) laughing and dancing the night away. Six months later we still talk about how much we wish we could get married all over again, we had so much fun. 

Photography: Olivia Gird Photography | Gown: The Plumed Serpent Bridal Salon | Cake: Sweet Indulgence | Rings: Adorn Boutique | Bridesmaids Dresses: ModCloth | DJ: DJ Libre/Danielle Duffy | Groom's Attire: Express | Officiant: Richard Kyte | Bridemaids Shoes: Jack Rogers | Ceremony & Reception Venue: Spring House Hotel | Vendor: Blazing Star Farms

Have you ever been to a wedding where your heart just wanted to burst out of your chest because you were so darn happy for the two people tying the knot? Well, that’s just how I felt when I watched Cheryl and Ben say I do. Thanks to their team of ridiculously talented vendors (including True Event, Hana Floral Design and Jennie Fresa) their day was just as perfect as they are, and every fabulous moment captured by my dear friend, Leila Brewster, is waiting for you right here.

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From the Bride..Ben and I are beach bums during the summer. We both grew up spending our summers on the Atlantic Ocean in our respective beach towns in Rhode Island and New Jersey. Over the years I’ve adopted his Rhode Island beach town as my own which helped our decision to get married on Block Island.

Not having any experience with planning weddings, I immediately contacted my good friend and wedding guru Abby Capalbo for help. She knew this email would be coming her way years in advance and immediately put me in touch with Sarah of True Event and Leila of Leila Brewster. Ben and I didn’t know specifically what we wanted we just knew we wanted our wedding to be relaxed, elegant and most of all fun. Sarah knew exactly what we were looking for and created a theme and feel that was perfect for us and somehow made all these ideas come to life. She proceeded to connect me with a group of vendors who I refer to as the A-Team because they were all simply the best.

We chose green and white with pops of yellow for our colors just because green and yellow are our favorite colors. They ended up complimenting The Spring House with its enormous green lawn. Yumiko of Hana Floral went above and beyond by making all the flowers classic yet wild which really added to the casual elegance of the whole day.

Leading up to our wedding we knew we would be happy through out the day but we were both surprised by the sheer elation we felt the entire time. Leila and Mike of Buzz Media Company somehow captured that happiness. Our wedding was far and away the best day we’ve ever had.

Photography: leila brewster | Floral Design: Hana Floral Design | Wedding Dress: Pronovias | Invitations: Minted | Reception Venue: Spring House Hotel | Bridesmaids' Dresses: For Her And For Him | Make up: Jennie Fresa Brow & Beauty Bar | Hair: Antonio Sauza | Lighting: Ryan Designs | Band: Pat Roddy Band | Coordination + Design: TRUE Event | Detail Signs: Hale Koa phineas Estate | Getting ready shirts: Pretty Personal Gift | Linens: BBJ La Tavola | Photo booth: Photobooth Planet | Rentals: Rentals Unlimited | Video: Buzz Media Company- Wedding Films | Welcome Bags: Branders