Maine holds a special place in my heart so I may have entered into this wedding a teeny bit biased…but that extra advantage wasn’t even necessary. Ruth Eileen’s pretty pics were more than enough to turn my Monday morning from dreaded to dreamy, with this Reem Acra wonder and an invitation suite that’s too sweet for words. This week is gonna be a good one; this gallery guarantees it!
From the Bride… From the moment Pluton proposed, we knew that we wanted to enjoy the wedding planning process just as much as we enjoyed the big day – and we truly did! We approached every aspect of planning as a team, emphasizing what would bring us, our families, and our friends the most joy and always remembered to have fun!
The first item on our wedding planning to-do list was to find the perfect venue. In our minds, the ideal venue would be a destination for our guests, incorporate the natural beauty of New England, and allow for an elegant but relaxed celebration! Upon visiting the Camden Yacht Club, we knew it would be the perfect setting for our big day! The venue space was ideal – the front lawn overlooking the harbor for cocktails, a tent on the side lawn for dinner, and the clubhouse for dessert and dancing! Plus, the Camden Yacht club is located on the outer edges of the Camden Harbor, just a 5 minute walk from the center of town. Camden, known as “where the mountain meets the sea,” is a small picturesque harbor town located just 3.5 hours north of Boston (where Pluton and I live today). In addition to satisfying all of the items on our venue punch-list, Camden also holds a special place in both of our hearts. I grew up in Louisiana and spent my childhood summers vacationing in Camden. It was through those family vacations that I fell in love with New England and decided to attend school in Boston. Therefore, I attribute my move to Boston and meeting of Pluton (as a freshman at Boston University) to Camden! Throughout our seven year relationship, we have taken many trips to Camden and Pluton has grown to love the area just as much as me!
After selecting the venue, we identified the elements we wanted to tackle ourselves and assembled a team of amazing vendors to bring the celebration together! We sought to create an elegant, cheerful, joyous, and fun environment as the backdrop to the celebration of our marriage. In line with our honeymoon to Italy, we chose an “Italian al fresco” theme, highlighted by our family style menu selections (assorted pizzas and pastas), color scheme (emerald and sage green, white, and pops of pink!), and miscellaneous accents (our thank you gifts were pouches of balsam fir stamped with “Grazie, Meredith&Pluton, June 13, 2015”). Most importantly, we wanted our wedding day to be a reflection of us as a couple and incorporate a few of our favorite things! To name a few: A jazz quartet lead by John Stevens (American Idol Season 3) performed Frank Sinatra style jazz/swing (Pluton’s favorite!) during the cocktails hour and dinner. In addition to our delicious 3-tier lemon raspberry wedding cake from Sweet Sensations, we served an assortment of pies from Moody’s Diner (a required stop on every drive up to Camden – their pies are AMAZING!). Finally, to culminate the celebration, we incorporated some of my Louisiana heritage in to our “grand exit” – we ended the night with a New Orleans style Second Line band leading us and the wedding guests in a procession out to the front lawn of the Yacht Club! From the front lawn, the groom and I exited through a tunnel of sparkers on to a boat which took us on a tour of the Camden Harbor before bringing us to our hotel!
Throughout our 1.5 year engagement, we had a blast planning our celebration and handcrafting many of the elements of our big day! From custom designing and creating our invitation suite to delicately crafting the bouquets and boutonnieres the days leading up to the wedding, Pluton and I were involved in each and every little detail! I will always be grateful to our amazing family and friends who put their DIY skills to use to ensure our wedding day was absolutely perfect! My Mom hand-wove the eucalyptus garland, the bridesmaids crafted everything from our custom signs to signature cocktails, the groomsmen hung all of the Edison bulbs – we were truly blown away by all that our friends and family did to ensure our day was perfect!
On the big day, everything came together seamlessly! We had such fun celebrating with our family and friends and were so grateful to be surrounded by so much love and support as we started our new adventure as husband and wife! We are also so appreciative to all of our wonderful vendors who helped to make the day so perfect, especially to the fantastic Ruth Eileen who captured our wedding day with photographs that we will treasure forever!
Photography: Ruth Eileen Photography | Event Coordination: Whim Events | Floral Design: Fifty Flowers | Floral Design: Trader Joe's | Wedding Dress: Reem Acra | Cake: Sweet Sensations | Ceremony Venue: St. Thomas Episcopal Church | Reception Venue: Camden Yacht Club | Bride's Shoes: Kate Spade | Rings: Longs Jewelers | Bridesmaids' Dresses: J.Crew | Catering: Megunticook Market | Calligraphy: Overdressed Paperie | Band: Occasional Brass | Groom's Attire: J.Crew | Groomsmen's Attire: Banana Republic | Bride's Engagement Ring: Brodney's | Bride's Necklace: BHLDN | Groom's, Groomsmen's Accessories: The Tie Bar | Rentals: One Stop Event Rentals | Wedding Website: Riley & Grey