I had such a happy heart putting together all the photos of our wedding weekend and reflecting on the day of our Nantucket wedding! It was hands down the most joyful day and special occasion of my life and I truly felt like the luckiest girl in the world to be marrying Will in the company of our closest family and friends in our favorite place in the world, Nantucket Island. This post has all the photos from our wedding ceremony and wedding reception, but feel free to check out our Nantucket rehearsal dinner, our welcome party, and our first look if you’re just tuning in! I hope you enjoy them and/or find them helpful if you’re planning your own Nantucket wedding!
OUR NANTUCKET WEDDING CEREMONY
After many, many months of wedding planning, our big day was finally here! We held our wedding ceremony in the ‘Sconset Chapel. My parents were married in this same chapel in 1986 and that I always dreamed I would get married here someday. Thankfully Will has grown to love the chapel as much as I do and we decided to have two priests — the local priest who’s a dear friend of my Grandy’s and a priest from Will’s Catholic high school in Dallas — co-officiate our wedding ceremony.
If you’ve read my post about what Nantucket means to my family, you may recall that my Grandy and her girlfriends needlepointed all the kneelers in the chapel, including this one of the Chanticleer, where we had our rehearsal dinner two nights before. It was so important to me to honor her and my grandfather’s rich history here and the chapel was the perfect place to share some of that with our wedding guests!
I love the shot of my brothers Grayson and Camden passing out wedding programs at the entrance to the chapel. (Our wedding programs were designed by Albertine Press — you can see more of our wedding paper goods here!)
Our wedding ceremony started with my Uncle Teddy playing guitar before my brother Camden escorted Grandy down the aisle. Our cockapoo Rory was the ring bearer and I was so happy to have him sitting at the altar with Will when my dad and I walked down the aisle. (We had a friend take him home after that as there’s no way he would have behaved for a full Catholic mass!) We hired a trumpet player to accompany the piano for “Trumpet Voluntary” as we walked down the aisle and it still gives me goosebumps to think about it.
After the wedding ceremony, we pushed open the doors of the chapel as the church bells rang and our wedding guests blew bubbles. (I ordered the bubbles here. Some of you asked about the logistics of the bubble exit and the way it worked is Will and I walked down the aisle and walked through a back door of the chapel while our bridal party, family, and friends exited, then did a second exit with all our guests lined up outside.) It was pure magic and made for some of my favorite photos from our wedding weekend — highly recommend to any engaged couples who are looking for wedding exit ideas!
A SHORT WALK TO THE SUMMER HOUSE
I had a vision of us leading our guests on a mini parade through ‘Sconset for the short walk from the chapel to our wedding reception at the Summer House Beachside Bistro. (A quick addendum as I have received many emails in the last year about planning a wedding reception at the Summer House and I wish I had more wisdom to impart! I deeply believe that the Summer House is in an absolutely perfect location and could be one of the most popular Nantucket wedding venues, especially as it is the only Nantucket hotel on this side of the island, but their team was consistently difficult to reach throughout our wedding planning process in 2016/2017 and they were notoriously difficult to work with according to most wedding vendors on the island. It has a rich history dating back to the early 20th century and again I think it could someday be one of the most spectacular venues for intimate weddings on the island, but as it stands this is not a luxury hotel that specializes in attentive personal service or hosting corporate events and summer nuptials every weekend of the season, and we would have struggled to pull off such a special event without our extremely hands-on wedding planner! I hope this changes in my lifetime as it is a truly perfect setting for a private event or special occasion and both the dining rooms and guest rooms could be absolutely exceptional in the right hands.)
Our wedding planner ran ahead to make sure everything was set up for our wedding reception while we took the short walk from the chapel to the Summer House and I’m so glad it didn’t rain on our wedding day so our wedding guests could really some of the best views of ‘Sconset! I was so thankful when the ‘Sconset foot bridge reopened just in time for our special day — it made for a short walk in my very high wedding shoes and it provided a backdrop for some of my favorite candid shots of our parents, bridal party, and wedding guests from our wedding day!
We arrived at the Summer House for our cocktail hour and wedding reception and the sight of our sailcloth tent with the ocean just behind it absolutely took my breath away. (P.S. We rented the Sperry tent from Nantucket Tents and they were one of my favorite wedding vendors to work with! Planning destination weddings especially on a tiny island is no small feat and we were extra grateful for certain wedding vendors who went above and beyond to provide exceptional service and make things seamless and straightforward!)
OUR COCKTAIL HOUR
Our cocktail hour took place on the lawn next to the Summer House pool. We rented cocktail tables and simple white tablecloths from Nantucket Party Rentals (where we also got our tables, chairs, and place settings for our wedding reception under the tent) and our wedding planner Caroline tied grosgrain ribbon around the top to make them a little more special. I love the photo our wedding photographer took from the top of the Summer House stairs looking down at the cocktail hour, wedding tent, and the ocean beyond it! I ordered custom Krazy straws that read ACK and M&W for the Summer House bartenders to hand out and they were a huge hit, even if it took ten seconds to get a single sip of your drink. 🙂 I like to think these were some of the personal finishing touches our wedding guests will remember looking back on our wedding weekend!
WEDDING PHOTOS ON THE BEACH
Will and I snuck away for a short walk to take pictures on the beach that has direct access from the Summer House patio for the last ten minutes of the cocktail hour. Even though we had taken most of our family wedding photos before our wedding ceremony, I’m so happy we have these photos taken right after we were married! It was so nice to take a step back on our big day and have a quiet moment to ourselves where we could feel like, “Whew, we did it!” and look back at all our wedding guests enjoying the cocktail party before heading into the most fun-filled part of our big day: the wedding reception! I think taking a moment alone with your new spouse (with or without your wedding photographer present!) was one of the most common pieces of wedding advice I received leading up to our special day and I imagine it’s advice I will repeat when my siblings get married someday!
NANTUCKET WEDDING RECEPTION DECOR
During our wedding reception, we sat at a long table with our bridal party — our bridesmaids, groomsmen, and their significant others. It is so rare to have the chance to share a dinner table with literally all of your favorite people in the world and I will always fondly remember looking up and down the table with all our bridal party seated together! We did our wedding guests’ escort cards on navy cardstock with white script by Delighted Calligraphy, who hand lettered each name on our guest list and arranged them alphabetically in two white trays that my mom and I filled with sand. I searched long and hard for navy and white striped tablecloths and finally tracked them down at Rhode Island Rentals. I love that they make an unexpected statement but still feel crisp and classic.
Our florist Sheila Daume had cylinder vases of blue and white Nantucket hydrangeas on all the tables as well as acrylic frames with table numbers featuring our Kearsley Lloyd wedding crest (we put some version of her work on practically everything throughout our wedding weekend!). We kept our wedding flowers super simple — I really didn’t think we needed anything over-the-top given the view of the ocean and honestly it was a great way to save a little money in our wedding budget. Our red velvet wedding cake was made by Nantucket Bake Shop and again we went with a really simple wedding cake design accented with blue hydrangeas from our florist.
And I’ve gotten so many questions about the monogrammed napkins my mom had made for our reception! We ordered these plain white napkins and had them monogrammed with our married initials at the aptly named Nantucket Embroidery Co. in Milford, Connecticut. They were lovingly ironed by my Grandy and folded at each place setting (so we now have ~130 of them at home!). I loved putting together these personal finishing touches and it makes me so happy to imagine us serving holiday dinners with them for many years to come!
OUR WEDDING RECEPTION
Once our wedding guests had taken their seats under the tent, our bridesmaids and groomsmen entered the dance floor to the timeless classic “Miss New Booty” that inspired our wedding hashtag #missnewbeutty. We were doubled over laughing at everyone’s choreography, particularly my sister Reilly who had Will’s best men carry her onto the dance floor. The photo doesn’t do it justice — it was legendary.
Will and I did our first dance to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” played by our wedding band, the Sultans of Swing. I was so nervous I practically blacked out the entire thing, but I’m told the dance lessons paid off? You’ll see a few snippets in our wedding video tomorrow. I also danced with my dad and Will danced with his mom — and of course Grandy (Dancing With The Stars’ number one fan) was riveted.
My dad, the two best men David and Paul, and my sister Reilly all gave toasts and all three toasts made me laugh and cry hysterically. You’ll see parts of my dad and sister’s toasts in our wedding video tomorrow, but everyone hit the sweet spot of being both entertaining and poignant. Reilly gave the commencement address at both our high school and when she graduated from Amherst, so I should have known my eye makeup didn’t stand a chance. Thank goodness for eyelash extensions! 🙂
OUR NANTUCKET WEDDING CAKE & WEDDING EXIT
After cutting our wedding cake (with the sword Grandy used at her wedding!) we had the best dance party of our lives. So many more gems where these came from! ? Grandy was basically the queen of the dance floor and I don’t know if I’ve ever laughed harder than watching my brother Camden ballroom dance with her to this. The dance floor felt like one big family reunion, plus beloved friends from all chapters of both our lives! We had such a blast letting loose with everyone and our band truly kept our wedding guests on the dance floor for hours straight.
A little while after wedding cake was served, I changed out of my wedding dress and into a custom bridal jumpsuit by my insanely talented friend Katie Fong for our sparkler exit and after party at the Summer House piano bar. It’s one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve ever owned and the fact that I got to design it with one of my good friends makes it all the more special! If you’ve ever dreamt about designing your own wedding dress (or any evening wear!), Katie is your girl. We didn’t take photos at the piano bar but seeing our wedding guests clustered around the piano requesting and belting out their favorite songs was the perfect end to our wedding day.
I hope you enjoyed all the photos from our wedding weekend! I know I went on and on but it really was the most special day of my life and it was so fun to choose my favorite photos to share with all of you. Pop back tomorrow for our wedding video — it’s one you won’t want to miss. xx
*Photos by Cameron & Kelly Studio
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