Anneke and Austin were married at the architecturally perfect First Parish Congregational Church on York Harbor. The church was decorated with lush wreaths 0n the entrance doors, super cute galvanized buckets with blue and white grosgrain ribbon detail on the pew ends and full and beautiful arrangements at the altar.

Anneke’s bouquet was lush and lovely, made up of white and pink peonies and pale pink sweet peas. The perfect pink peonies were cut from my garden!

Fantastic photographer Eric Laurtis captured these happy moments following the ceremony at the historic John Hancock Wharf on the York River. And oh gosh Anneke’s dress from Madeleine’s Daughter was a stunner! She used to work at Madeleine’s Daughter so she knew how to shop for the perfect dress.

Anneke is one of four sisters and you can tell they are best of friends! The wedding party looked very sharp in navy accented with bouquets and boutonnieres of fuchsia pinks.

I created a custom monogrammed bridal bouquet wrap using a piece of Anneke’s grandmother’s wedding gown – love this type of detail and sentiment! And wow do I just have a crush on fuchsia…fabulous against the navy!

Pew end detail from the ceremony and the clean and classic cake from Beach Pea Bakery (on of my favorite bakeries!). I made a custom cake stand that was wrapped in nautical chart of the seacoast area and accented with white nautical rope. (or hmmm, I should  say “I designed” the cake stand since Beautiful Days’ master craftsman and carpenter aka my husband actually made the stand!).

This escort card display is one of the highlights for me…Gus & Ruby Letterpress (who did all of the fabulous print pieces – more coming I promise!) created the nautical flags which we assembled on tall picks to display on the custom compass table topper along with a gorgeous arrangement of hydrangeas, peonies, sweet peas and ranunculus accented with a wrap of nautical chart, ribbon and nautical rope. The compass graphic was used as a select accent in the perfect print pieces from Gus & Ruby. When it was all set up I was head over heals! (The above two shots are by Wendy Freedman)

Oh so pretty cocktail hour and centerpiece flowers were so perfect for this start of the summer celebration. The table numbers of nautical flag symbols by Gus & Ruby were great graphic pops of color and interest. We had 100% linen runners custom made for all the dining tables – a really crisp and classic finishing touch.

More details… beautiful letterpress menus from Gus & Ruby tied on with more of our nautical rope – and yes I now know how to tie a simple sailor’s knot!

The escort card table top on display after the table was moved aside to make room for dancing. The head table had a special and dramatic floral arrangement

And more details!…Drink stirrers and signs and the amazing invitation suite from Gus & Ruby complete with a hand stitched sailcloth belly band and monogrammed pennant flags.

What’s a party with out sparklers!?

The Reading Room has a large, gorgeous fireplace that we made glow with candles, candles and more candles!

If you are dancing into the night under a golden canopy of twinkle lights why not do it in flip flops? (I’ll take pink in size 9 please). The lighting we put up the large hall of the Reading Room added that extra layer of romance and festivity.

Congratulations to you Anneke and Austin! It was truly a special day. Anneke, I am so pleased you held onto that card for so long and you knew I was “the one” before you met “THE ONE!”

This wedding celebration was not only inspired by Anneke’s vision, fabulous taste and attention to detail but was also a collaboration of fantastic wedding professionals who I was so honored to work and create with!

Beautifully photographing the day: Eric Laurtis
The perfect setting:  The York Harbor Reading Room, York Harbor, Maine
Custom invitation suite and print pieces: Gus & Ruby Letterpress
Cake creation-classic on the outside, oh so decadent on the inside: Beach Pea Bakery
Filming the day as only the best can: Meg Simone Wedding Films. You can take a peek at Anneke and Austin’s day as told by Meg’s film here.
Gorgeous bridal gown and maids dresses:  Madeleine’s Daughter

Flowers, design, lighting, select decor details and partial day of coordination: Beautiful Days.

The fabric swags added that extra layer of joy to the festive occasion. I worked with local potter Amy Clark of Ocean Fire Pottery to create these custom white clay vase trios for the centerpieces…perfect for highlighting simple groupings of yellow spring flowers. The vases were then given to VIPs at the end of the party.

Yup that’s me mixing up the party’s cocktail of prosecco, limoncello, and lemonade. It’s no wonder ranunculus are a favorite flower for so many – how it fits soooo many petals in one flower bud is beyond me! Guests were asked to write down some words of mama wisdom which were then read aloud after lunch -yes there were a few tears but alot of laughs too!

I had to include this photo of my gift to Sarah – my son’s gently worn Converses increase the gift wrapping cuteness factor by at least 10! The fresh lemon slices of the party cocktail fit right in with the party’s color scheme of course!

The napkins at each place setting were wrapped with strips of fabric used in the ceiling swags adding another punch of color. I LOVE how clean the vases are and that you can see the texture of Amy’s hand work in the clay from throwing them on the wheel.

The guests were invited to decorate onsesis and burp clothes which a new mama cannot have enough of!

The day really was lovely and the space at the Brixham General Store was the perfect location…sunny, bright and open…and Brixham catered a delicious luncheon for the ladies.
Congratulations to you and your beautiful family Sarah! I hope I’m around for the next celebration!!!
You can get a glimpse of Sarah’s wedding flowers here or see her and her family (pre baby) be the best models ever for a Beautiful Days inspiration shoot here.

A special thanks to Wendy Freedman of New Castle, New Hampshire for the photos, Amy Clark of Ocean Fire Pottery of York, Maine for the collaboration and perfect vases and Brixham General Store of York, Maine for the great spot and fantastic food!

If you want to see more of the shoot you can check out my blog post from last spring here. Heidi and I  first collaborated on another shoot in a green house almost two years ago- alot warmer and we didn’t have to wear our snow shoes! Check it out here! Thanks so much to Heidi for her amazing images and fantastic collaboration! Visit Heidi at White Loft Studio to see more of her beautiful work.

Beautiful Days pops up one more time in the same issue Well Wed! A dear friend of mine did the flowers for this perfectly modern preppy Nantucket wedding celebration and I had so much fun going home to be a part of her team!

Thanks a million to the always brilliant Meg Simone for capturing the shoot! Photos and more details coming soon but just keep playing the video over and over for now!

FAB wedding pros we couldn’t have done this with out:

Beautiful photos from Geneve Hoffman Photography.

This shoot will be featured in Maine Magazine’s wedding issue coming out in April! Yey! Make sure to grab a copy! And check out Video Design Films fantastic video of the shoot here!

Flowers,Design & Styling: Beautiful Days

Photography: White Loft Studio

Location: Snug Harbor Farm

Event Rentals: Be Our Guest

Invitation Suite, Menus, Offering Cards & Place Cards: Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Calligraphy: LoveJenna

Dress: Madeleine’s Daughter

Cake: Wild Orchid Baking Company

Hair: Hair That Moves

Make Up: Joya Beauty

Culinary Concepts: Robyn Friedman

Chocolates: Byrne & Carlson

Video: Video Design Films

Lanterns & Candle Holders: Luna Bazaar

Special thanks to Wendy Freedman for styling assistance and Sarah, Randy & Olive for being the perfect (non) models!

- David R. Reed, Jr.

Floral & Design: Beautiful Days

Photography: White Loft Studio

Make up: Jen at Bernadettes Day Spa

Dress: Pure Bliss Bridals

Earings: Chouettes

Hair: Angela at Fresh Hair Studio, Newburyport

The day was captured on film by the very cool and adventurous Meg Simone…love a girl who’s not afraid to get her boots wet! Check out the video here!

The shoot was even published by the always inspirational Well Wed magazine – whoo-hoo!

Photography: Brea McDonald, Stationary suite: Sara O’Brien, Griffin-vites, Video: Meg Simone, Wedding dress, Occasions Bridal & Tuxedo, Table top, Longleaf Lumber