Amy and David's Thompson Island Wedding

On Sunday, May 29th, I was the coordinator for Amy and David's elegant wedding on Thompson Island. Yes, it's actually an island, and takes approximately 25 minutes via ferry to get to the island. This small fact proved to make everything a bit more challenging, but as their wedding coordinator, it was my job to make sure everything went smoothly! In addition to three vendor ferry rides over to the island, there was also a bigger boat chartered through Boston Harbor Cruises for all of the guests from the Long Wharf dock.

The bride, groom, and some of their close friends & family came to the island earlier in the day before the rest of the guests. The bride, her sister (who was also one of their officiants), and her niece got their hair and makeup done by Charlotte Phinney. Amy wore a gorgeous Monique Lhuillier gown and carried a white and green floral bouquet from Winston Flowers. The bride and groom decided to do a first look to maximize the amount of time they would spend with their guests later on, and it was captured by Michelle Turner Photography and also on video by Vera Ventura of Veracious Productions.

After guests arrived at the island, they walked along the dock to find photos of Amy and David attached to the railing, starting out as babies, and progressing through the years. A guitarist played music on the dock as guests walked by, and they also helped themselves to two different "hydration stations" where there was fruit flavored water: strawberry water, lemon & lime water, orange & mint water, and rosemary & cucumber water. There were also baskets of flip flops lined up by size available for guests to change into.

The ceremony area faced the water, and the chairs were perfectly under the shade of some large trees. Amy's sister and David's brother were the two officiants for the ceremony, and a few of the bride's cousins were the ceremony musicians. During the recessional, guests blew bubbles out of bubble tubes that the ushers passed out earlier in the day.

During cocktail hour, guests enjoyed drinks, appetizers, and games like cornhole and horseshoe. Afterwards, guests took a scenic path around the island to the North Lawn Pavilion, where the dining and dancing tents were. The dining tent was truly stunning. Fruitwood chiavari chairs from Peterson Party Center lined the rectangular dining tables. Winston Flowers decorated the tables with unique succulents and square glass vessels to hold the lobsters. CJC Event Lighting provided the uplighting in the tent along with the gobo texture projections of a leafy pattern on the ceiling. The amazing custom lantern chandeliers in both the dining tent and the dancing tent were created by Erik and Christen of Ryan Designs, who also provided the fire pit, custom lounge vignettes, driftwood tables, draping along the corners of the tent, luminaries & lanterns around the island lighting the walking paths, as well as some cool wooden signs to point guests in the right direction.

Guests enjoyed a dinner buffet of lobster, steamers, clam chowder, bbq chicken, ribs, and vegetable lasagna, all catered by Thompson Island. Following dinner and toasts, the newlyweds cut into a pie instead of a regular wedding cake, and a cute little pair of birds in a nest were placed on top of their wedding pie. To start the dancing portion of the night, Amy and David began their first dance in the dining tent, and then made their way into the dancing tent asking the guests to follow. Guests danced the night away with music by the band, Men in Black. Surrounding the dancing tent, there was a firepit with a basket of s'mores items, and two other picnic blanket areas with large lanterns and baskets of games. Photos from Michelle Turner Photography will be coming later, but for now, here are some photos that I took!

This was definitely one of those weddings where I'm so glad that it didn't rain! There were just too many fun elements that would have not happened if the weather did not cooperate.

So, a fun little fact about this wedding: a few weeks before the big day, David emailed me asking if I could help put together a small surprise for Amy for the room that they'd be staying in on their wedding night. Specifically: candles lit around the room, champagne on ice, and a few chocolate covered strawberries. Of course, I said no problem and I made some calls to Denise on Thompson Island to see what she could provide (champagne, champange glasses, and ice bucket), and also called in a favor to Ryan Designs (thanks, Christen!) for 10 extra votive candles since they were providing a bunch already for the wedding. The only thing left were the chocolate covered strawberries, so I made some at home the night before and brought them to the island on the wedding day, concealed with some wax paper in a little plastic container.

Now here's the funny part about the surprise. A week before the wedding during our walkthrough on the island, Amy pulled me aside and told me just as a heads up that she had asked some of her friends to decorate their wedding night room as a surprise for David! I said "that sounds great, thanks for letting me know!" not wanting to mention that David wanted to surprise her! So on the wedding day, Amy's friends and I collaborated and their decor (which was different than what David had requested) was just added onto what I provided and so both of them were surprised on the wedding night!

A special thanks to Fiona & Rachel for assisting me on the wedding day. Amy and David, it was wonderful getting to know you through the planning process. I wish you the very best in your married life together and I hope you had a wonderful mini-moon in Nantucket!

~Emilie