We’ve now arrived at the last of my ‘love story’ posts, OUR WEDDING!
If you’d like to start at the beginning of our story, start here with part one!
Before I share the details, you can watch our wedding video HERE!
I’m so very thankful that I decided to spend a little extra to have this video made as it’s so incredibly special and brings us so much joy!
We started our wedding plans a month and a half before we were actually engaged. To many people, this may seem very untraditional, but we decided to make our own rules and do what was best for us! We knew we wanted to get married within the year and if we were to marry in Maine (which was really important to me), it just seemed logical to do it before I moved to Virginia. Neither of us envisioned a huge wedding on which we would spend a lot of money and with our short timeline that didn’t seem to make sense logistically. We liked the intimacy of an elopement but also liked the idea of having some close friends and family with us to celebrate after, so we ending up doing a hybrid of both!
I had searched ‘city hall elopement’ in Google and ended up coming across some absolutely beautiful photos of weddings at Portland City Hall (the building is quite stunning inside and out). Portland is were I was born and I thought it would be fitting to marry here before I moved away to Virginia…a nice ‘farewell to Maine’ if you will. We decided we would get married just the two of us and then have a small group of family and friends meet us for dinner afterward. The perfect blend of intimacy and celebration.
But as is the case with all ‘perfect’ plans, there’s usually something that goes awry and our wedding was no exception. A few months before our wedding day I called the city clerk to make sure they would be open the day after July 4th to which she assured me they would be. Then, four days BEFORE our wedding day, I got a notice that said the city manager had just decided to close on July 5th so we wouldn’t be able to get married there after all. You can imagine my panic after receiving this news since our wedding was at the end of the week! Fortunately, after my mom contacted the city manager directly, he kindly offered to personally open up City Hall to us on our wedding day, which meant we ended up having the whole building to ourselves- a truly private ceremony!
We stayed at The Regency Hotel in Portland’s Old Port section, which is centrally located between Portland City Hall and the ferry to Great Diamond Island. We checked in on July 4th and spent that evening with Farmer Man’s parents and close friends who were able to make it up from Virginia for the wedding festivities. Lobster rolls and fireworks were on the agenda!
The next morning, our wedding day, we ordered breakfast and then I sent Farmer Man to a hang out with his buddies while I got ready. I hid in the bathroom while he popped back in to our room to put on his suit before heading outside to wait for me. We did a ‘first look’ in front of the hotel then walked together to city hall to say our vows.
After our exchanging our vows, we walked through the streets of the Portland Old Port down to the waterfront where our immediate family and some close friends were waiting. We all took a scenic ferry cruise of Casco Bay to Great Diamond Island where we had a lovely, intimate dinner in an old brick barn on the island. The space was gorgeous enough that I didn’t really need to do much decorating, which was great. I did, however, make our ‘just married’ sign out of a thrift store frame, sewed some simple table runners, and purchased the white lanterns for the floral centerpieces from IKEA, which all went well with our coastal setting. The Maine coast is absolutely breathtaking, particularly in the summer, and we are so happy to have had this special island outing.
Other Details
After watching lots of YouTube tutorials, I decided to do my own hair and makeup. I’m very particular and decided to trust myself (and practice SEVERAL times before the big day). A couple of my friends came to the hotel and helped me get ready, which was really helpful.
I found my dress for $120 from Lauren Bridal. The website doesn’t have very good reviews and I didn’t know if it would actually fit or be good quality but the price was great so I decided to take a chance and order the dress. It ended up fitting really well and was exactly what I imagined for a city hall elopement!
My shoes are Badgely Mischka via Amazon and are the prettiest shoes I’ve ever worn! They were also the most uncomfortable shoes I’ve ever worn but the look was totally worth the pain! At $123, they were the priciest part of my outfit but I have no regrets- so beautiful!
I was on the fence about wearing a veil with a short dress but ended up ordering a simple $25 style from Etsy. Luckily, one of the friends helping me get ready on the wedding day was really persistent in convincing me to wear it. It ended up completing my look perfectly and made the photos and videos that much more beautiful! My entire wedding day look cost less than $300, perfect for a budget-friendly, low key wedding.
Farmer Man wore a suit coat & pants from H&M, paired with a shirt, shoes, and a belt that he already owned. I purchased his tie from Amazon, which completed his look for under $120. He could pretty much wear anything and look handsome!
Wedding Venders/Sources
Floral Arrangements: CM Skerritt Designs
Photography: Molly & Victoria Co.
Videographer: Miles Drouin
Marriage Venue: Portland City Hall, Portland, Maine
Officiant: Janice Gardner of Hitch Maine
Reception Dinner: The Art Gallery at Diamond’s Edge Restaurant, Great Diamond Island
Ferry: Casco Bay Lines
Wedding Whoopie Pies: The European Bakery (owned by one of my former teaching colleagues)
Invitations & Place Cards: Minted
Following our wedding, we had a more casual “I Do BBQ” in both Maine and Virginia so we could invite and celebrate with a larger group of extended family and friends, both of which were really fun and relatively stress-free! Our wedding day was everything we hoped it would be, the intimacy of both our ceremony and dinner was very special and being able to celebrate with more family and friends after the fact only added to our happy memories.
Some have wondered if people were upset or offended because we got married without anyone at the ceremony and had a very limited guest list for the dinner reception. To that I would answer that the couple getting married should do what feels right to them and those who love them will understand and respect their choices, whatever they may be! Thank you for for reading our love story!
