So, I wanted to post some more details from our July 3rd wedding. We got married at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport, and we stayed there since we live about 2 1/2 hours away. Many of our guests stayed there, and the rest were at nearby places (we also had blocks at Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, and Best Western).
The Harraseeket was a great choice for us. They include hot breakfast and afternoon tea in the room rates, so those gave us more time to greet our guests (and for them to socialize with each other) without having to plan or host more events. Melissa, the sales director, was a really big help and made us feel a lot better about the logistics of the big day. I felt like every time I saw her over the weekend, she was asking me if I needed anything and she took care of so many little things, like grabbing my comfy shoes for me to change into and making sure presents ended up in our room.
Also, Freeport was a good choice for us. It wasn't too hard to get to for all the OOT guests--or at least it was easier than midcoast locations or MDI--and people went kayaking, shopping, hiking, sightseeing in Portland, etc.
We had a BBQ in Winslow Park on Saturday, which was gorgeous and we couldn't have asked for better weather. We had Finest Kind Catering for the food, and we had some snags with them, which was unfortunate, but I think it was mainly us that noticed the problems (not our guests), and we are working things out. It was nice to spend time with all of our OOT guests in a more relaxed setting, since we knew things could get rushed on the wedding day and we might only have time for a quick hello. We brough frisbees and DH got a volleyball game going, and we brought our dog so everyone go to meet her.
The wedding itself was overcast and not uncomfortably hot, which is actually some of my favorite New England weather. Our photographer was happy, since the photos wouldn't be shadowy from the sun. And the rain held off until we went inside for the reception, so we had our outdoor ceremony in the garden, cocktail hour inside/outside, and then into the ballroom for the meal (we started at 1pm, so by the time we ate, I'm not quite sure whether we were on lunch or dinner).
We did first look photos and family pictures beforehand, which was good, and then some extended family photos during the cocktail hour, which were much easier than I expected. We had our uncles as ushers, and we gave them the heads up that we'd want them to help us get the families together, which probably helped. Our photographer was Mariko Brown (and her husband), and she was so calm. My hair appointment took longer than expected, but Mariko was there with me to take pictures and reassure me that we would be ok, time-wise (and we were!).
I wore my hair mostly down with the sides pulled back. Rhonda at Salon Freeport worked serum through my curls to keep them defined, and I got lots of compliments. I picked up a package of swirly rhinestones from Wal Mart and had them in my hair under the veil, so I had a little bling for the reception.
Between the ceremony and going into cocktail hour, we took 10 minutes for ourselves (Jewish tradition called Yichud), and DH and I sat in a room with some appetizers and just enjoyed some quiet time together, which was wonderful and I'm so glad we did it.
The reception was a lot of fun. The Harraseeket did a great job with the food--we had Alaskan salmon and halibut (DH is from Anchorage) and the rest vegetarian. We did Nick Drake's Northern Sky for our first dance, which the band did really well. (The band, Flipside from Boston, was generally amazing and I'm so glad my parents convinced me to go with them.) We used Paul Simon's Father Daughter Song and Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World for our parent dances. The dance floor was pretty full all afternoon/evening. I put Cee Lo's "Forget You" on my list to see if the band could put that on the ipod when they took a break, but they played it live, and it was so fun to dance with my college friends for that.
I think that my dress ripped when we walked into the reception and were getting introduced. The chiffon separated in one spot where it was attached to the underlayer, and only the underlayer was bustled, so the chiffon kept falling down and getting in the way. A couple friends decided just to tie the chiffon in a knot, and it worked! I even got compliments about how the bustle was nice and low and natural.
The next morning we had a brunch to say goodbye to everyone, then DH and I packed up our car and headed home. We did a massive house cleaning/organizing, then it was back to work. My inlaws were visiting this past weekend, since they came out from the west coast for the wedding and extended the trip, so I think tonight after work we will finally be getting back to normal, or our version of normal
Anyway, I just wanted to share some of the highlights, if you want to know more about anything let me know. I am going to hang around at least until this wedding season is over, because I want to see all of you through your weddings! If anyone wants to keep in touch beyond that, send me a PM and we can connect on FB.