We got married (again)!

My husband and I had the pleasure of hosting our wedding reception this past Saturday. We originally scheduled May 2nd as our date (and ended up getting legally married then anyway), but Covid restrictions in Connecticut pushed us back. Fortunately, we only had to wait two more months to celebrate with our family and friends. It was such a lovely time and I highly recommend all of our vendors for any of your future events!

**Note - I am not being paid to speak about the following. I really just want to share how much I loved everyone we worked with!

Photographer - Elyse Heise Photo

Elyse is super easy to work with. She has great knowledge of poses and camera angles, and works with you to come up with your ideal portfolio. She brought in Maegan from Fox and Veil as her second shooter. They were both so pleasant and complemented each other perfectly when taking photos.

One of my favorite parts of working with Elyse is that she likes to experiment. During our reception, she asked to come outside where she had set up a background light to take photos in front of in the rain. They came out beautifully!

She also shot our engagement shoot - which made us so excited to work with her for our wedding!

Flowers - Fountainhead Floral Design

I found Kate and Fountainhead Floral Design through a local Wedding page on Facebook. From the very beginning, Kate kept our interests in mind and worked to come up with the best ideas for our floral arrangements. She put together a proposed vision board which made us even more excited to work with her! The bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, and centerpieces were so beautiful!

An added bonus is she is located in Stratford - we were super happy to work with someone local!

DJ/Emcee - Rob Newberry and Bobby Wheeler

Rob and Bobby are fantastic to have at your wedding. Rob is a great DJ and picked the best tracks that kept everyone dancing. And Bobby made a great emcee - providing a good mix of humor and seriousness to keep the night going while keeping us on schedule.

Hair & Makeup - Ashleigh Taylor Bridal & Beauty, LLC

I found Ashleigh through one of the local Facebook Wedding pages. She scheduled me with Rhaya for hair and Krista for makeup. Both women are insanely talented. They took the time during my trials to ensure that I liked the way my hair and makeup looked, and took plenty of pictures and notes for reference for the day of my wedding. They are both so friendly and my family and friends loved getting ready with them!

Dress - The Savvy Bride

I purchased my dress from The Savvy Bride in Stratford. It is an off-the-rack boutique, so the dress you try on and buy that day is the one you're going to wear on your wedding day! The prices are super reasonable because it is off-the-rack. Erica was so lovely to work with - she sent a questionnaire ahead of my appointment to get an idea of what I was looking for. She helped me experiment with styles and fabrics. The second dress I put on ended up being the one I bought! Erica also helped me order my cathedral veil - it was identical to the one I tried on in the store.

I did get the dress altered a little - it originally had a full lace back. I went to Nights in White Satin, where Linda showed me how it would look with an open back. I absolutely fell in love with my dress all over again - she helped me create the gown of my dreams!

Venue - Saint Clements Castle

Our wedding took place at the gorgeous Saint Clements Castle. We were on the Prince Edward Ballroom side. The venue offers two rooms, and even though there was another wedding happening at the same time as ours, we would have never known it. The grounds are beautifully manicured and the estate is amazing to walk through.

Our Recommitment Ceremony was supposed to take place in the Sunken Garden, but due to the rain, we were moved to under the Porte-cochère. It was set up with 24 chairs with the remainder of our guests standing behind the chairs. The aisle was much shorter than it would have been in the garden and, honestly, I preferred that (the walk still felt so long! lol).

Our package include the ceremony, cocktail hour - which included a full open bar, our choice of seven passed hor d'oeuvres, and a Bountiful Harvest Table with charcuterie options, a full seated dinner - which included a continuation of the open bar, an appetizer, a salad, and four dinner options (beef, chicken, fish, and vegetarian), and a cake supplied by Chimmirri's Bakery - we opted for the Canoli Cake. Dinner also included a choice of white or red wine, and a champagne toast.

Overall, it was truly an amazing day. I am so lucky to have had a beautiful wedding and to have married the love of my life for the second time this year!