Gretchen being able to pin pictures that inspired her, and get ideas out of her head and into board gave me a peek into her wants and hopes for this wedding. What I came away with was a rustic, sweet, and romantic barn wedding. She chose jewel tones and deep purples for her colors, and let me fill in the blanks. I loved using lace and wooden boxes for floral centerpieces, and the use of craft paper for all our paper goods. We had custom chalkboards for the program and shuttle schedule. For the ceremony, we filled wood cones with dried lavender for the guests to throw, and had personal wood fans for the heat.The entire day was filled with personal touches. The love of their lives is their dog Revis, who couldn’t be at the wedding. We created the special cocktail for the day called The Revis Island, to have him be a part of the celebration. The “guest book” was actually a polaroid camera. Guests took fun pictures of themselves then glued them into a custom book with a little note to our happy couple. One of my favorite touches to the wedding was the “table numbers”. They chose places/restaurants that had special meaning or importance in their relationship and told the story of why on the back of the cards. Every guest came away knowing a bit more about them as a couple. One of the big things that makes Andrew and Gretchen so wonderful, is that they are people who give. Helping others is part of who they are, and they are passionate about it. So instead of giving their guests a traditional gift, they let their guests choose what charity of three that were important to them to donate to. We made cards that were placed on each table setting, then set up a display of 3 jars for guests to put their cards in. They chose North Shore Animal League, Minds Matter, and Root & Rebound. The most beautiful thing to see was people not only putting their cards in, but dipping into their pockets and putting cash into the bowls.
This wedding ended up helping three organizations in need. The food was served family style by Cucina out of Woodstock. The day was captured by the wonderful Rebecca Yale. And the 45 Riots kept everyone dancing all night. We ended the night with a grand sparkler exit towards their after party, where we had a bonfire and late night drinks and snacks waiting for everyone. It was a beautiful day, for a wonderful couple.
From The Bride…Our wedding day was everything we could have hoped for and more. In the morning, I had so much fun getting ready with my bridesmaids – admiring the hair stylists’ and the makeup artists’ work; popping champagne and lots of laughter. I was so lucky to be surrounded by such inspiring women who were also my closest friends, and it helped distract me from the butterflies in my stomach. I only learned later that my soon-to-be husband was experiencing the same butterflies while watching World Cup games with his groomsmen, even though I assumed he’d be the calm and collected one!
Seeing my husband for the first time for our First Look was probably my favorite moment of the day. Us being together (forever!) was the whole reason everyone had gathered in Hudson that day, and so seeing each other in our wedding-finery was both exhilarating and calming at once. My husband told me his favorite moment was later on seeing me walk down the aisle, but I was concentrating so hard on not crying at the time that I barely remember it.
Our officiant was a mutual friend who got ordained for the occasion and led a moving and personal interfaith ceremony. Despite an iffy forecast earlier in the week, the weather was perfect, and we got to enjoy the beautiful grounds of our venue for our ceremony and cocktail hour. We moved into the barn for the reception, which had a natural beauty without any adornment, but really took my breath away when I saw how our planner had set everything up – from the hanging twinkle lights, to the table runners, to the floral centerpieces, to the dance floor…no detail was overlooked!
We enjoyed a delicious family-style feast from Cucina and then a rocking dance party care of 45 Riots. And of course, through all the craziness, our incredible photographer was there to capture the special moments that were over in the blink of an eye. She was the best vendor decision we made for our wedding, and I will relive the day for years to come through her gorgeous images. Now that it’s all over, I’m just so excited to be married to the love of my life, and we’re so lucky to have celebrated our love with our nearest and dearest in the most wonderful way possible!