"Gillian and Nate love to ski and have spent many vacations together doing so. However they live and work in Boston and their wedding was to be held in the city, on the water, at the Boston Harbor Hotel. We wanted to create an elegant, city chic wedding combined with traditional New England winter details ...

Sarah True Boston Harbor Hotel

photography by adeline & grace weddings

Because they met while on the slopes in college, weaving in this detail was super important to them without making it feel too much like a wedding at a ski lodge. So we carefully immersed subtle design elements throughout the wedding. The invitations were custom designed by Lucky Luxe, where we used a vintage pattern of snowflakes in the envelope liner, the escort cards, which also doubled as a ski ornament favors and hung on an evergreen tree (that they have planted in their yard). The guest book, two vintage wooden skis that guests signed, now hang in their home as a special keepsake. It was the combination of all of these details that made the event truly unique to them." - Sarah True, Event Planner/Designer

From Gillian ~ "My husband and I met on the alpine ski team at Tufts University and have been together ever since! Skiing is one of the activities we enjoy most in our free time, and we both have many fond memories of skiing with our families and friends. So, when we started planning our wedding last year we wanted to infuse a subtle ski theme, while still keeping the city chic vibe going. We toyed around with hosting the event at a ski resort, but after some thought, decided on our current home of Boston and are very happy we did.

As a busy orthopaedic surgery resident I knew I would need help with the wedding planning process and was so lucky to be connected with Sarah True of True Event. She became my wedding planning angel! Once we settled on the beautiful waterfront venue of the Boston Harbor Hotel, she put together an amazing creative team including Erica of Adeline & Grace for Photography, Erin of Lucky-Luxe Couture Correspondance for a custom letterpress invitation suite, Betsy Dunlap Calligraphy, and Kelly of Beautiful Blooms for a gorgeous display of calla lillies, roses, and orchids. Throughout the process I kept a blog (great idea I got from my now sister-in-law) at Once Upon A Time to look back and remember how it all came to be. Every detail was just perfect!

*Quick Note to Brides from THIS SMP Editor: Keeping a blog throughout your whole pre-wedding experience is almost a no-brainer in this day and age! When will you EVER have so much to say about a subject nearest and dearest to your heart!! And ~ you know, to toot our own horns ... it's SO easy over on SMP's Style Circle! You can keep it private, or not. You can save your favorite images. Favorite your fellow-brides-in-need-of-help. Join the SMP community of brides who find SMP a warm and friendly place to get feedback on their ideas! But, if you're the private sort, and just want to keep track of what's going on in your head ... it works for that too!! I do have to say though that sharing your thoughts and ideas with the rest of us wedding visionaries is only perceived as an outstretched hand for faith in all of you designing brides! And who doesn't need that?

On our wedding day in October everyone kept commenting on how calm a bride I was. It was so easy to relax knowing Sarah had it all under control. Our ceremony was beautiful! Having everything at the Boston Harbor Hotel made for easy transitions from the ceremony to the cocktail hour and reception. Guests picked up their mini ski ornaments off our Norway Spruce to find their tables, all named for mountains we had skiied together. And now our "wedding tree" is thriving in our backyard, a daily reminder of our wedding day! There were so many rich details and everything really came together perfectly. As everyone says, the evening goes by so fast, but we both enjoyed every moment. It was incredible!

The boutonnieres and ornaments were inspired by the boutonnieres we found by Fritts Rosenow, but we DIY'd them! I purchased the mini skis online and Nate, Felicity (Nate's sister), and I put all the ornaments together! Kelly Harris, my florist, crafted the boutonnieres based on the photo I sent her from the Fritts Rosenow site. We'd really like to thank them for their inspiration!

From Erica at Adeline & Grace Weddings ...

One fun part of pre-wedding photography production is hearing about all the details of the wedding and seeing them all come to life the day of, like a chapter in a book. With Gillian, I heard about family, friends, place settings, flowers, the dress (always my fav) and shoes. After hearing about the wedding and photographing their engagement shoot, I was really looking forward to the day. I couldn't have been happier for them throughout the whole event! We managed to sneak outside in between some of the rain showers. I have to say, I love a recent rainfall ~ the clouds, the light, and the wet glossy ground. It makes for beautiful images. The day flew by, and just like Gillian and Nate, I loved reliving the images Jenna and I captured on their big day. It is always such a joy to work with a fantastic group of vendors behind the scenes at weddings. Gillian and Nate couldn't have scored a better team!

Congratulations Gillian and Nate from all of us at SMP!

You can see more of Gillian & Nate's wedding on Erica's blog, and in the SMP Gallery!

Vendors: Event Designer/Planner: Sarah True, True Event

Photographer: Erica Mancini, Adeline & Grace Photography

On-Site Coordinator: Michael Boivin, Boston Harbor Hotel

Flowers: Kelly Harris, Beautiful Blooms

DJ: Renzo Hernandez, Top Entertainment

String Trio: Michael Reavey Music

Calligrapher: Betsy Dunlap Invitation

Invitation/Menu Design: Erin Napier,

Lucky-Luxe Couture Correspondance

Programs: BeeHive Designs,

(Bride's sister-in-law; Shop on Etsy)

Videographer: Joel Osgood

(Best man; made YouTube clip of the wedding video)

Hair and makeup: Athena Aveda Salon and Spa

Officiant: Edi Pasalis