Nantucket Weddings Unveiled

An intimate wedding with a spectacular setting!!

Have a wonderful weekend to all our Nantucket brides and grooms!

Photo courtesy Brea McDonald Photography

Though many of us consider Nantucket to be our home it is also a popular destination venue for weddings. If not for the couple then always for their guests! Destination Weddings & Honeymoons Magazine is featuring a stunning Nantucket wedding in their July/August issue coming out on stands right now. The breathtaking Galley wedding is featured in a two page spread with the couples personal story and some inside scoop on their wedding style.

You can pick up copies of this National publication in bookstores and local news stands OR you can purchase a digital download on their website.

Congratulations to all the vendors for their hard work and this recent feature!

Venue: The Galley

Flowers & Decor: Soiree Floral

Linens & Rentals: Placesetters, inc.

Photography: Brea McDonald Photography

Paper Products: Marty Kelly Paper

Cake: Jodi’s Cakes

Event Planning: Nantucket Island Events

Make-up: Beauty By the Sea

Hair: Darya Salon
Here are a few of the gorgeous details from the Nantucket wedding!

Photos Courtesy Brea McDonald Photography

With the style of the paper suite established, it made working on the paper-products for the wedding day very easy. For the ceremony program, the pattern was done as a border on the bottom of the cover, almost the same look of the reply card from the invitations. We incorporated another surprise – Jen did the most amazing pencil drawing of the Sankaty Lighthouse which was printed on the back cover of the program. It added a highly personalized touch to the ceremony programs. At the reception site, we had escort cards and on the table, donation cards. For the escort cards, we created a mini version of the save-the-date piece. Again with a grommet in the corner, the guest name was written on the front and the table name on the inside card. Instead of having favors for all the guests, Jen and Carter made a donation to cancer research. They had pins which they invited everyone to wear, in memory of loved ones. To convey this message, we created a card which was inserted into the napkins on the tables. It was double-layer, with a fuschia backer card and white top card. The ink was navy, keeping that color in the mix. Besides giving their guests an important message, the cards added a pop of color to the tables and tied the blues of the paper-suite to the colors of the flowers.

Creating a paper-suite for you wedding can be an overwhelming process. However, your stationer is there to help you! With communication and collaboration, you can create something as beautiful as this collection but reflective of your own personal style. I always advise my brides to bring in pictures of anything they see that they are attracted to. It helps me understand the look they are going for, and gives us a place to start. The wedding invitations really set the tone for the wedding, whether traditional or contemporary, formal or informal… the most important thing is that it reflects the style and personality of the bride and groom.

Flowers by Soiree Floral. Linens & Chairs from Placesetters, Inc.

Parchment is located at 11 Washington Street or you can e-mail Heidi directly at Heidi@parchmentnantucket.com

Today, Brea and Dawn asked that I write about one of my favorite invitation suites which has come out of Parchment. This job was a total collaborative effort between myself, the bride, and a few opinions from the groom! One element of the design process that was unique is that the bride is an architect, so she was not only able to envision the final product but she also had some fabulous ideas about the construction of the save the date and invitation.

Lets start with the save the date! The letterpress paper suite was produced by William Arthur, through their custom department. Using the custom avenue at William Arthur allows for variations on what is shown is their albums as well as creation of pieces that are not shown in the albums. Jen and I started with an existing design in the Save-The-Date album and altered it to allow for letterpress printing. We also used an existing pattern for the cover, but had William Arthur enlarge the artwork so the scale worked better for the size of the piece. On the interior pages, Jen and Carter included a brief note about the reasons they chose Nantucket as the location for their wedding. The third page had some information about getting to Nantucket and places to stay once here. They did a great job of keeping their copy tight and not turning it into a “Chamber of Commerce Guide” which allowed us to keep the piece on the smaller side as well as giving their guests important information without overwhelming them.

When we started out, it was not our intention to have everything match all the way through, but the finished Save-the-date was so beautiful that there was no choice… we had to carry that design forward! Jen had seen an invitation format that was more like a cover with a pocket on the inside. We designed it so when open, the pocket was on the left, holding the reply and reception cards. The invitation was mounted on the right side of the interior. When closed, the invitation had a double band around it. Instead of using the inner envelope, the band served as the place to write the guest names. It was a unique and fun way to not only eliminate the inner envelope, but add an element to the cover that broke up the pattern and brought forward the darker navy paper that was the base of the cover. Besides carrying forward the pattern from the save the date, we also used the same ink colors with one addition – just a splash of hot pink on the reception card, which said “and then they danced”. It was a fun surprise to open the invitation, in shades of navy and french blue, very traditional wording and layout, only to find that one line if whimsical copy in the fuschia! We also brought in the pattern just as a border on the bottom of the reply cards, and as a singular element on both the invitation and reception card. Again, that served to carry the design forward and bring all the paper elements together in a cohesive group.

One detail that was not in our original plan… the grommets! When the invitations first came back from the printer, there weight of the paper was causing the foldover for the pocket to not hold fast. It was a heartbreaking situation… we had literally spent hours designing this invitation! So, the solution we came up with was to fasten a grommet in the upper and lower corners of the pocket. It not only harkened back to the grommet that was used on the save the date, but it also added a fabulous architectural element to the invitation (not to mention that it solved a Big Problem!) With this problem ironed out, the beautiful invitations were off to the guests.

Stay tuned for more details on this stunning custom designed invitation set from Parchment! Programs…. seating cards…. so much more!

Breathtaking evening on Nantucket Harbor for this newly married couple.

Photo Courtesy of Brea McDonald Photography

We know we are going to be seeing a lot of our four-legged furry friends strutting around town this weekend – Happy Memorial Day everyone!

photo by Brea McDonald

Kristin from Destination Affairs has some last minute deals – if you can’t make it out to the island, she has a few ’secret locations’ so be sure to contact her for more information!

Memorial Day Weekend celebrates the official start of summer and wedding season in the Northeast.

The forecast is sunny skies and comfortable temperatures in the 70’s, making for perfect chance to enjoy two or three days of biking, golfing, paddling, hiking, kayaking, spa treatments, or simply relaxing.

Take advantage of these last minute deals and escape to Northern Vermont this weekend for a romantic getaway and some pre-wedding tranquility

Accommodation Specials:

Rabbit Hill Inn: $199.00 per night plus tax in a “Classic Room”

Stepping Stone Spa: $125.00 per night plus tax in their “Tranquility Room.” With your stay you also receive discounted spa treatments, such as a 60 Minute deep tissue or Swedish massage for only $80.00

Willough Vale Inn & Restaurant: $193.00 per night plus tax in a Lakefront Cottage.

Also receive 18 holes of golf at Orleans Country Club for $35.00 per person.

Other Regional Specials include:

3 hour Kayak trip on the Clyde River for $12.00 per person, Kingdom Trails Day Passes for $10.00 per person, private mountain biking instruction with ideride for $50.00 per person.

Check out yesterdays blog post to find out how you can outfit your wedding party with Vineyard Vines ties. Happy Friday!

Photo Courtesy Brea McDonald Photography

Flowers by Soiree Floral

How exciting to see a Nantucket wedding featured online at Brides Magazine and then to see the fantastic team at Nantucket Photo Booth featured was the icing on the cake! The photo booth is a great idea for wedding receptions or rehearsal dinners. A great way to create a guest book, as seen here, and a way to provide your guests with a memento from your wedding weekend.

Today we take a behind the scenes look of how a couple’s wish list becomes  reality with Dawn Kelly of Soiree Floral

I am often asked how do we come up with a look that celebrates who the couple is on their wedding day? The answer is never clear cut – sometimes it happens within the first few minutes of my very first interactions with client. Other times, it takes getting to know the couple – letting their ‘couple’s taste’ evolve during the process, and going back to the drawing board a few times. That was the case with our lovely Carter and Jen. Wellwed magazine asked me to share my insights as they showcased our process from the Inspiration board to the wedding day. There are some great tips in this article for clients and vendors setting out to showcase their personal style on the big day.

all photos by Brea McDonald Photography

Morning Everyone! It’s Brea here, and I just couldn’t resist talking about one of my favorite wedding elements this morning.

So, I have a thing for tented weddings. You may have noticed this from my website or if you are a fan of my Facebook page that I have a slight thing for those evening tent shots. I photograph a lot of tented weddings and I must say I get excited for that special glow that comes along with a stunning tent. It’s like a world of it’s own under there!

When one of my favorite tent companies was looking for some new photos for their catalog I of course e-mailed a few right over. (lets just say I had a couple of shots to share) And then a few weeks later received a package in the mail with copies of their shiny new catalog. I was super excited to see several of my tent photos featured on the stunning pages of their latest creation. But beyond that was some stellar information for those planning a tented wedding. All the details from the various types of tents to possible floor plans are laid out on the pages. It just goes to show what a professional company this is and the best part…. these tents are available on island at Nantucket Tents! They really know how to create an amazing space for your special day.

If you are planning a tented Nantucket wedding visit their website and take a look at all they have to offer. And check out a few shots of their Sperry Tents brochure below.

Phone : (508)228-5645
Email: Andegrennan@nantuckettents.com
www.nantuckettents.com