I’m seriously speechless over this wedding. It’s perfection. From the old stone walls to the fresh picked berry favors, this wedding is the epitome of Cape Cod casual and Ruth Eileen Photography captured the cozy, intimate and handmade day insanely well. The wedding was kept super small so the bride and groom could really spend quality time with each and every guest and I must admit, that’s totally the way to do it. If you’re into all things mismatched, vintage, and laid back, you better get your booty to the full gallery because it’s chock full of pretty, pretty inspiration!
From the Bride… Jacob and I met on the west coast and eventually moved up to the east coast when I got into graduate school. My family has had a house on the cape since the turn of the century, and it is full of history. We would go don to the cape on weekends and whenever I had breaks in school, and he fell in love with the place that I had always loved growing up. When we got engaged, we knew the cape would be the location of the wedding. After looking at many of the resorts, we realized they all felt a bit too stuffy for us. We didn’t want to be out by a certain time or have certain restrictions, and we didn’t want it to feel too formal. Actually, what we wanted was our guests to feel the same way we felt on a summer day at the beach on the cape, going blackberry picking or kayaking. When we found Bourne Farm, we knew it was perfect. Over the year, we had rescued many birds on the cape (in winter many of them get blown off course and dehydrated), and the antique farm was a bird sanctuary. We included some bird details (the cake, table numbers) to honor this — and during the ceremony our minister pointed out to birds flying above us!
Much of the antique furniture either came from my family’s cape house or from yard sales or antique shops we visited the year before the wedding. We still have the impulse to stop and look for antique plates — it’s been so ingrained in us! We knew from the start we wanted everything to be authentic. My parents spent months working on some of the furniture, my mom made little burlap bags of stones to throw in the water and make wishes (a Celtic tradition). My aunt set up a candy bar with Jordan almonds (Italians eat 5 of them and celebrate the bittersweet nature of life at weddings). My grandmother had passed away before the wedding — and her wish was that I have a gift from her present on that day. The candy bar was my aunt’s idea.
Life is perfect, relationships aren’t perfect — the beauty is just being alive. We didn’t want matching plates or crystals everywhere — we wanted people to feel relaxed and surrounded by meaning. There were times when people would look at me in disbelief at something I was doing that seemed unconventional (seven bridesmaids and only 30 guests!) or embroidered handkerchiefs instead of flower boutonnieres and corsages for family. We did what felt right to us — and that made it just right on the day. Walking down the aisle, my father stopped me and asked me to look over by the water. Underneath the chandelier we had hung from a tree was this gorgeous Victorian couch I had seen at an estate sale a year earlier. Jacob had seen my eyes light up and had bought it, keeping it from storage until the wedding day surprise. It became a focal point in pictures, and friends laughed that they were “on the couch” — a nod to my being a psychologist and entering into psychoanalytic training.
Both of us felt so happy, excited and not nervous — I think for us it was because we planned a wedding that felt so authentic. Because we only had around 30 guests, we were able to dance with our friends, eat dinner together and enjoy a boat ride with them. The intimacy on the day was incredible, and since so many of our family and friends live far away, it was important that we got to spend the day really celebrating with everyone. One of my favorite moments was during our sparkler send-off where Jacob and I were supposed to get in our row boat and paddle away into a star-filled night. Except that as the sparklers lit up the night-the boat was already way out in the water — a bridesmaid and groomsmen had taken it out for a romantic row together and lost track of time. We are still hoping that our day of celebrating our love may have kindled a new romance!
Wedding Photography: Ruth Eileen Photography / Wedding Venue: Bourne Farm in Falmouth, Massachusetts / Wedding Planning: Jill Korchin of Plan On Forever Events / Floral Design: White Flowers / Catering: Chef Roland Catering / Wedding Cake: Cape Cod Cakes / Pies: Fiore’s Bakery / Band: The Three Tops Jazz Band / DJ: John Laviolette (jlaviolette@charter.net) / Wedding Dress: Anjolique via Sposabella Bridal / Hair: Pam Goodale + Erin Cress of Station 8 Salon / Makeup: Geah Johnson of Station 8 Salon / Suit Rentals: Puritan Cape Cod