Wedding Planning Update

It’s hard to believe that this Friday marks one year since we were engaged on St. John, USVI (you can read more about our trip here and our engagement story here). 🥺❤️ I’m sure you’ve all seen the March memes floating around Instagram. I find them soooo accurate. It feels like 10 years have passed since life was “normal” and yet, at the same time, feels like we were just here. How is it already March again?! 🤯 Anyways, we are fully in the midst of wedding planning over here!

It’s crazy that our wedding is just a short 5 months away [8.14.21💗], and to be honest, it’s scaring me a little with how close it’s getting. With everything going on with COVID, I’ve definitely been finding myself procrastinating certain pieces of wedding planning since things have been ever-evolving weekly with the pandemic. Additionally, it’s been really difficult at times to find vendors who are free (especially hair/makeup) since two years worth of weddings are all combined into one year (technically a few months since the majority of New England weddings tend to be June-September for the nice weather it brings). ☀️

This past week, the state of Massachusetts announced that they’ve increased the capacity of weddings. Outdoor weddings can now have up to 150 people. We’re getting married in Maine so this news doesn’t directly impact us, but since Massachusetts has been more conservative around COVID restrictions compared to Maine, this made us feel hopeful that our day will work out just as we imagine (or at least close to it).

If you’re feeling stressed, frustrated, or negative while wedding planning, first of all, remind yourself that it’s completely normal. The majority of us have never been in charge of planning such an extravagant event with tons of moving pieces. Next, remind yourself that we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Everything feels hard right now since our lives have been flipped upside down for a year. And lastly, your day will turn out amazing. 💗 These are all things I have to remind myself of daily when wedding panic starts to creep in.

Vendors We’ve Booked So Far

Venue:

We’re getting married at The Edge in Lincolnville, Maine which is located at The Inn at Ocean’s Edge. This was the very first vendor we booked and one of the most fun to research, in my opinion! All along, I’ve known that I’ve wanted a quintessential coastal New England wedding. Think ocean views, lobster, and a perfectly manicured green lawn that makes me reminisce of running through the grass barefoot as a kid.

I’m so happy that we’re getting all of that and more with our venue. We’ll be having an outdoor tented wedding with a large sail cloth tent on the lawn. Our ceremony will also be located at The Edge. I’m so excited that all of our friends and family will get to experience coastal Maine in August. It’s truly a dream!

Photographer:

Our wedding photographer is Jaimee Morse (you can look at our engagement photos here). We actually found Jaimee because she shot a wedding at our venue and we immediately fell in love with her style. We knew that we wanted a photographer who captures the landscape and people as they are and as the colors really look. It was important to us that we booked a photographer whose style is timeless. Editing styles can often be trendy. Since Jaimee’s style is so timeless, I know that in 30 years, we’ll still love our photos as much as we do in 2021.

Caterer:

Our caterer is 111 Maine. This was another really fun part of wedding planning. As someone who loves looking at menus (don’t ask why lol I just love it), I loved looking at the catering menus and samples of what we could possibly have at our wedding. Swoon. I just love food haha. In Maine there are two major caterers, 111 Maine and Trillium. We found 111 Maine to be drastically less expensive than Trillium, however, I recommend checking out both.

We’re envisioning passed apps during the cocktail hour, possibly a small raw bar, and then a plated dinner. 111 Maine has a liquor license which makes our lives a lot easier vs. having to find another vendor who could provide our bar service. We’re still deciding on what we’ll do for a cake/desserts, but we’ll likely have 111 Maine handle this as well. Really hoping we still get to do a wedding tasting. It sounds silly, but I’ve dreamed of going to my wedding tasting for years and years so please say a little prayer that we still get to experience this piece of wedding planning. 🙏🏻

Makeup:

I’m going with Ashley McGuire from Snatched Beauty Bar out of Plymouth, MA for my wedding makeup. I love Ashley’s makeup style that is glam with natural skin. I have my wedding makeup trial in early June and am so excited! Makeup was one of the most difficult vendors to find availability so I recommend locking this down as early as possible.

Still finalizing:

Next on the agenda are flowers (we’re close to locking this down!), save the dates, hair, a DJ, rehearsal dinner location, transportation, videographer, wedding invitations, our registry, etc. There’s so much more beyond this and lots of wedding planning to be had, so stay tuned for updates as I secure the rest of my wedding vendors.

Our Wedding Inspiration:

Our inspiration for our wedding is coastal chic and we’re leaning towards a neutral color palette of whites, grays, and greens. The venue has a beautiful, bright green lawn that is impeccably manicured. When we visited the venue in May we were blown away with how beautiful it looked. If you know Maine, then you know that April and May are very much mud season and the weather can be dicey. We knew that if it looked that good in May, then it will be even more beautiful in August.