After six years of adventure, these re-connected classmates wed in what can only described as an authentic and intimately New England affair. A beautiful mélange of all things classic, this Wychmere Beach Club soiree is filled with happy tears and plenty of personality. From the laid-back, family-style, New England “Glam” bake, to their dockside first dance, Melissa Robotti captured every moment here!
From the beautiful Bride… Tim and I met in first year at the University of Western Ontario, but didn’t wind up re-connecting until several years after we had graduated and were living back in Toronto. At the time, he was in medical school, and I was working in television but pursuing my degree in education to become a teacher. With one quick “add” and a cute message or two (or 100!) later, Facebook can be credited with starting something that was meant to be all along. What followed were 6 amazing years of adventure, friendship, laughter and love that brought us to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Amongst those beaches were those of Cape Cod, a place Tim and his family had been visiting every summer since he and his brother were babies. Being on the Cape, every August, quickly became our tradition too. We longed for our runs on the beach, catamaran adventures with family friends from New Jersey, dinners at The Ebb Tide, and (several) ice cream cones from the Cape Cod Creamery in South Yarmouth!
When we pictured our wedding celebrations, this was the first (and only) place that came to mind. It has always felt refreshingly familiar, charming, and comfortable to us. We knew we would love to share our love for the Cape with our most favourite people in the world. We also knew that we wanted our celebrations to be simple, authentic, organic and intimately ours: a beautiful mélange of all things classic and a little bit bohemian. As our dear friend so perfectly quoted the British scientist Richard Dawkins at our reception, “Love is both an art and a science”. This, quite serendipitously, became the overarching theme for our wedding.
Having our ceremony and reception at Wychmere Beach Club was out of a Cape Cod dream; everything from the picturesque Wychmere Harbor that served as the backdrop for our magical lawn ceremony, to the beautiful views from the Ocean Room which complemented our laid-back, family-style, New England “Glam” bake dinner. We had trolleys from Cape Destinations transport guests from their various accommodations, this was a perfect opportunity for guests to experience a tour of the area in style! As the second trolley pulled in, the misty rain stopped and we were able to keep things outside on the Hydrangea lawn. We had the pleasure of having Kathleen Geagan officiate our ceremony. We had met with Kathleen at her home the previous summer and instantly formed a beautiful connection with her. She has the warmest spirit and loveliest presence and really brought a level of intimacy to the ceremony that day that we will never forget. We chose not to have a wedding party, but instead asked each of our handsome brothers to stand with us during the ceremony. The ceremony, itself, was filled with beautiful, happy, tears and included an incredibly creative and personal poem written by one of our dear friends. He so cleverly surprised us with a mash-up of our story as told through the lyrics of some of our most favourite songs! The second surprise, one that I had coordinated for Tim, was having his grandmother read a passage from the beautiful children’s book “All the World” by Liz Garton Scanton- a book I had given him one year for his birthday. The ceremony concluded with Tim and I reading each other our personal vows and a dockside first dance to Sam Smith’s acoustic version of “Latch”.
My art teacher self really embraced the DIY projects- everything from the illustrated map of our favourite Cape spots for the French letter style invitation to the various chalkboard signage. I am so lucky to be surrounded by incredibly talented friends and family. My mom, an amazing sewer, made the burlap table runners and also created my “something blue” garter- a piece of her wedding dress lace sewed together with a baby blue ribbon.
The flower vases were ones that I had collected and purchased leading up to the wedding (most of them were on sale from Indigo!) and the beautiful flowers came from New England Gardens. A lovely group of some of my most favourite women helped me transform the flowers into a whimsical reality. We made an event out of it on the rainy Saturday! I painted the watercolour escort cards taking inspiration from a tutorial that I had seen online by Ginny Au and Holly Hollon. In an effort to do add a meaningful touch to each place setting, we put miniature glass bottles filled with Cape Cod sand and a little piece of paper inside asking guests to “make a wish” and then toss it into the ocean before leaving that weekend. This was something I had loved to do as a child and have continued to love doing well into my adult years, friends and family loved that
We were so lucky to work with the ever so talented Melissa Robotti. Her and her second photographer, Erin McGinn, were an absolute dream. What lovely women! We truly felt we had known them forever and so enjoyed, and appreciated, their creativity and willingness to take us around that afternoon to some incredibly beautiful spots in Harwich. They really captured the essence, spirit, and beauty of the day. Some of the moments captured on film are so raw that we have a hard time looking at them! I had never seen Tim cry in all of our years together. We are so grateful to the Melissa and Erin for helping us relive these incredible memories.
Photography: Melissa Robotti Photography | Floral Design: New England Gardens | Wedding Dress: Ivy And Aster | Ceremony Venue: Wychmere Beach Club: A Longwood Venue | Reception Venue: Wychmere Beach Club: A Longwood Venue | Bride's Shoes: Loeffler Randall | Hair & Makeup: Lisa George | Groom's Attire: Garrison Bespoke | Groomsmen's Attire: Club Monaco | Transportation: Cape Destinations | Groom's Shoes: Johnston & Murphy | Invitation: Someone.ca | Photos: Cape Cod Lavender Farm | Rentals: True North Rentals | Save The Date: Minted