If you are someone who had to cancel or postpone or rearrange your wedding plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I am so sorry. I can imagine what you are going through is stressful and heartbreaking. Every bride and groom deserves the best wedding, and I hope that it was or is going to be perfect for you. If you're reading this and still planning your wedding, it may give you some ideas, either of what you might want, or what you definitely don't. I tried to include many of the major details in order to a) be helpful to those planning a wedding and b) so that I would be able to remember the day! I'm trying to write more things down seeing as neither Hayden, nor I can even remember our first date!
In exactly one week, it will officially be one year since I married my best friend!
Hayden and I had gotten engaged about 8 months prior to September 21, 2019. I had only slightly stressed - okay, more than slightly - about planning a wedding in such as short amount of time, especially when everything I read said to give yourselves at least a year! But, we got it done and really, a lot of our time was spent waiting. There was only so much we could plan in advance until the few months and weeks prior to the wedding.
The big reason weddings are planned so far in advance is really just for booking purposes, but once you have the major things: venue, DJ/band (if using), hair/makeup, caterer, photographer, etc. Then you've got a decent amount of time to plan out the rest of the details.
Fortunately, for us, many things sort of fell into place. As we searched for a venue, we weren't finding anything that was a) available on shorter notice, or b) was in our budget. But, as we were visiting a summer camp in Moultonborough, New Hampshire (the camp I grew up going to), my father-in-law remembered a camp he did some landscaping for that he thought would be a great location: Camp Winaukee, also in Moultonborough.
At first the whole idea of getting married at a camp was unappealing to me. We wanted a barn wedding and I had always wanted mountain views, and we had found a place with both. But, unfortunately, they were no longer able to hold weddings due to a zoning issue.
We contacted Camp Winaukee about the possibility of holding a wedding there, and they agreed! We could only have it, though, in a short span of time: right after summer camp was over and right before it closed for the year, so September 21st it was!
The more we thought about it, though, the more it seemed like a camp was a great place to have a wedding. They had a dining hall for dinner, a rec area for the reception, cabins for people to stay overnight, a great view of the lake - what more could we ask for! It seemed perfect, and it was.
Hayden and I were fortunate enough to also have great friends, family, and connections who were willing to work our wedding or help out when needed, all together making it an amazing day. Sure, there were a few things that went awry during the planning, but everything worked out in the end.
It was a beautiful day when it was forecast to rain.
We thought we were using a birch arbor, but turns out it was being used for another wedding that day. Instead, we used the one built for my second cousin's wedding, which was just as beautiful and even more special.
We used benches from the dining hall for seating.
We borrowed things. This was at least the third wedding these signs were used in.
We hired a wedding planner, Sherri Collis of Creations by Collis, an old friend of mom's. She was awesome and took care of the decor after learning our style and what we envisioned (Pinterest was a huge help!).
I made table numbers out of leftover wedding invitations.
Hayden and I purchased coffee from Moulton Farm, who sources their coffee locally from Woodshed Roasting Company. I ground it and we filled mini coffee bags with enough grounds to make a full pot after writing love and celebratory-related coffee puns on each one.
An acquaintance, Stephanie Corts, who I purchase Beautycounter products through, did our makeup - all while holding her newborn, no less!
Another acquaintance, Tracey, who is a fantastic hairdresser and the twin sister of my former coworker, did our hair.
I gave my bridesmaids shirts that I designed using Custom Ink (who has fantastic customer service!) as their gift and something to get ready in. I hoped they would be able to wear them again. I at least know one of my sister-in-laws wears hers all the time!
Hayden and I picked out different fabrics and he made bow-ties for his groomsmen.
Hayden wore a black tie, and all the men wore boutonnieres.
I found my dress early on at the second store that I went to. It was more money than I ever wanted to spend on a dress I'd wear probably only once, but I also didn't want to leave the store without it!
But, I saved money in other ways. I wore earrings I already owned.
And purchased cheap sandals from Amazon (but only after having month-long debates with Hayden about wearing my Birkenstock's).
We also purchased our rings from Amazon, which were made of cheaper, yet still durable material.
Part of my bouquet was made of herbs grown from my mother's and mother-in-law's gardens. The flowers were purchased through Moulton Farm, but the arrangements were done by a family friend and former florist, Leslie.
My beautiful sister was my maid of honor.
Hayden's brother was his best man.
I did a first look with my dad, and the first image is one of the most loved photos.
Then it was finally time to start the ceremony! My bridesmaids walked to "Home" by The Piano Guys. I had to include them, they all looked so gorgeous!
While one of bridesmaids and best friends, Emily, who is amazing on the piano, played Canon in D for me and my parents who walked me down the aisle.
Hayden cried. He usually does at weddings, so, he came prepared with a handkerchief knowing he'd definitely cry at his own. He also had not seen my dress beforehand.
My aunt, who has now married my two second cousins, my only first cousin, and me, performed the ceremony.
Because it was really important to me that she be our Justice of the Peace, we had the couple who guided us through premarital counseling say a few words and pray over us. We wanted there to be a religious, but also personal, aspect
Hayden and I wrote our own vows, which was very important to us as well. Not everyone agrees with writing their own vows, but one of the biggest reasons I wanted a wedding was to be able to express my love for Hayden, why I think he's so wonderful, and what I am promising to him in front of our closest friends and family. I wanted the words to come from my heart, and there were specific things I wanted to say.
We walked up the aisle together to "Send Me On My Way" by Rusted Root. It's my favorite song, but it also felt fitting.
I was too nervous and excited to cry during the ceremony, but eventually when it was over and it hit me that everything was perfect and I had finally gotten married, I broke down during pictures and sobbed happy tears.
I got it together though and we took a bunch of pictures while our guests had appetizers.
Yes, we had a large wedding party. It came down to this: I wanted all of my sisters (new and old) and closest friends by my side throughout this process. Plus, it was way more fun to have them all there to get ready with me (not to mention great to have support!).
As you can see, none of their dresses were the same. I had them choose whatever dress they wanted from wherever they wanted as long as it was a shade of sage green. While initially I thought this was a good idea and offered freedom with style and price, it proved to be fairly problematic. Mainly because everyone wanted me to be happy with what they chose and I wanted everyone to be happy with what they chose (hello enneagram 9). Also, there are waaayyy more shades of sage green than I realized, so it made for some confusion! But, it worked out eventually. They all looked beautiful!
Hayden and I were able to take pictures on the lake and in the woodsy area. Camp Winaukee really is a great spot!
After pictures, people made their way to the dining hall and we had introductions!
Our family friend purchased champagne for us to have a champagne toast! My maid of honor and Hayden's best man gave speeches.
Then we ate! Moulton Farm catered the dinner, something I knew I wanted ever since we catered a few weddings when I was still working there (not something they are doing anymore though). The food was phenomenal and everyone seemed to be telling us it was the best wedding food they'd had, which was my intention. I wanted it to be delicious (and healthy)! I worked with the chefs and baker to decide on the menu. I believe we had: roasted vegetables, green salad with roasted squash, a bean and vegetable dish, fish, chicken, roasted potatoes, and fresh bread. We settled on doing a two-sided buffet in order to move guests through more quickly.
The recreation hall (which we used for our reception) was decorated beautifully as well, also done by Creations by Collis and Leslie.
We had a gift table with a place to leave cards (mailbox) and a guestbook.
I made a poster of mine and Hayden's friendship, dating, and engagement journey.
We hired Corks Cocktails to serve wine, beer, water, seltzer, and soda (which I totally forgot about buying because the beverage doesn't occur to me as an option, so someone had to run out that afternoon and get some!). They were set up on the porch outside the rec hall and put up this cute sign.
After dinner, the guests were able to head to the reception area and enjoy cupcakes, also provided by Moulton Farm. I'm pretty sure an employee from Moulton's built these beautiful birch cake stands.
Hayden and I had a private cake cutting, which my sister-in-law and I baked (it was gluten and dairy-free) and dropped off with Tricia, the baker at Moulton's, for decor and buttercream frosting.
Afterwards, we went to the reception area for our first dance, which was to "Heaven's Knife" by Josh Garrels. I wanted our guests to eat first so that they didn't have to sit through our dances ready to chew their arms off!
I danced with my dad to Paul Simon's "Father and Daughter."
And Hayden danced with his mom to Tim McGraw's "Humble and Kind."
Later, one of my bridesmaids and best friends, Irene, and her friend who plays guitar, sang Jason Mraz's "Lucky" for us and our guests. One of the first things Irene told me when we started talking about me marrying Hayden was that she wanted to sing for us at our wedding!
My mom also really wanted us to do a Dollar Dance, so we did that as well, which was pretty fun. All of our music was done by Dumka productions, an awesome husband and wife team. Everyone danced and celebrated until 10:00 pm (when quiet hours began at the camp and the music had to stop) and people either went home, retreated to their cabins, or hung out by the fire pits until the following morning for a send-off breakfast. Later everyone would tell us how much fun our wedding was, which makes my heart so full. It was truly a great day.
All of these amazing photos were done by Shayla Ashley Photography. Shayla is a friend of mine, and I have now used her business three times because her photography is beautiful and she is super fun to work with!