Fall in New England is a magical time with special scents, sights and colors, and an elegant wedding in the heart of it all is basically a dream come true. Emily Delamater captured this one here, complete with rich, jewel-toned florals by Apotheca Flower & Tea Shoppe and a beautiful, blushing Bride. This gallery is full of goodies and don’t miss Matt Devino’s film to guarantee a smile today.
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From The Bride… Tim and I met six years ago working on the national tour of a musical about a wedding. He has always joked that I didn’t fall in love with him until the night he went on as the groom in the show, wearing a fancy 1920’s style white tuxedo, but the truth is that I knew he could be my real-life groom long before that.
Before we were engaged I didn’t have too many set ideas about what my someday wedding might be like, but the one thing I was certain of was that it would be in New Hampshire in October. I was raised in the southern part of the state, and every fall was filled with feelings of comfort, magic, and romance. I lived for the bright colors and crisp air, for apple picking and pumpkin carving, and for the feeling of belonging, to both community and family. When Tim proposed we were very lucky to secure one of the last available October dates at the beautiful Bedford Village Inn, a venue that embraces everything we both love about the season.
We and most of our friends live in Brooklyn and my family recently relocated to the West Coast, so as it turned out we were essentially planning a destination wedding. Fortunately our extraordinary team of vendors made the process almost entirely stress-free. The lovely Alyssa at Apotheca Flower Shoppe took meetings with me over Skype to help bring our vision to life. Emily Delamater, our incredible photographer, flew to New York from Maine to take our engagement photos. My sister is a professional illustrator and designer and we worked together to create the invitations, a wedding logo and all of our paper elements. Most amazingly, the first dress I chose off the rack at a sample sale (literally within the first few minutes I spent dress shopping at all!) happened to be a gorgeous Elie Saab piece. Tara of The Williamsburg Seamster customized its look with expert tailoring.
In terms of design, things really came into focus once I had the dress. A satin ball gown cries out for more formal touches, so I decided on classic black, white and gold as our base colors. I was really in love with the stripe trend that was so popular last year, so to bring in a bit of pattern (and to be a little different) we used a pin dot fabric for the boutonnieres, napkins, cake and gift tables and the wrap on my bouquet. I wanted the floral design to complement the season and the exterior of the venue as well as bring in a bit more romance and color. I also asked Alyssa to incorporate lots of texture, which she delivered in spades! I especially adored all of the Queen Anne’s Lace as a fall-appropriate alternative to Baby’s Breath. Most importantly, a Friday evening wedding that late in the year meant it would be quite dark when our ceremony began, so I tried to embrace the intimate feel by collecting hundreds of candles and lights. The venue boasts beautiful lit birch branches attached to several of its beams, and we tripled their efforts by including additional twinkle lights and branches on half of the reception tables and on either side of our ceremony area and cake table. It felt absolutely magical to be in the space!
The week of the wedding our families stepped up to provide an amazing support system. My mother-in-law sewed the linens for the cake and gift tables. A family friend who is my personal superhero found a local carpenter to build the cake stand and wooden crates for our altar. My grandmother, mother and aunts made homemade jam jars for our favors, and my father, sister and cousin stayed with me at the venue until midnight the night before putting together our photo booth backdrop, centerpieces and ceremony decorations.
The day of our wedding, the chaos subsided and the torrential rain that had troubled us all week cleared. We were blessed to have family and friends travel in from all over the world to be there. Special note must be given to my Bridesman, who was in rehearsals for a major television event in New York that day and still made it to NH in time for our ceremony! Lindsey McKitterick of Lindsey M. Events styled each of our decorative elements to perfection and saved my sanity in the process. My brother generously offered to create our wedding video, and so many of our friends contributed to our ceremony with readings of their choice, songs, and poems. The music director for the tour we met on created new string arrangements for our processional music, including our very own versions of Fun’s “The Gambler” and The Beatles’ “Here, There and Everywhere.” Every speech was beautifully written and delivered. Tim created an amazing jazz playlist for cocktail hour and dinner, and I put together some of our favorite tracks for the dance party that ensued with our talented friend acting as emcee. Nearly all of our guests were performers in one way or another, so believe me, it was QUITE a dance party. The night was perfectly capped by a lantern release outside, as beautifully captured by the video. We are so lucky to have each other, incredible family and friends, and these wonderful memories of our wedding day to cherish for the rest of our lives!
Photography: Emily Delamater Photography | Videography: Matt Devino | Flowers: Apotheca | Cake: Chickadee Hill Cakes | Shoes: Badgley Mischka | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Jenny Yoo | Makeup: Making Faces Weddings | Hair: Hair That Moves | Groom's Attire: The Black Tux | Bride's Dress: Pronovias | Calligraphy Fonts: Great Lakes Lettering | Ceremony/Reception Venue: Bedford Village Inn | Day-Of Styling and Coordination: Lindsey M. Events | Dress Alterations: The Williamsburg Seamster | Dress Hanger: BHLDN | Geometric Lanterns: Anthropologie | Invitation Printing: Czar Press | Invitations/Signage: Bride And Her Sister, Steph Devino | Napkin Rental: Dot & Army | Table Numbers: Sweet Carolina Collective