The day started off with the two grooms enjoying a three hour massage together at The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Boston. If only every wedding couple could start their wedding day with pure relaxation like this!! Then they joined their four groomsmen and nine groomsmaids in a suite at the Lenox Hotel for lunch and got ready for formal portraits before the ceremony with their photographer, Kelly Griffith of Closed Circle Photography.
The ceremony for 76 guests was held at in the Dome Room at the Lenox Hotel, and was set beautifully with walnut chiavari chairs and white draping from Rentals Unlimited. Warm amber uplights were placed around the room from Groove Entertainment, and alternating green and blue square petal envelope programs were placed on the chairs. The aisle was covered with a navy blue lamour runner, with 10 giant hurricane vases with ivory candles lining the aisle along with yellow rose petals and violet orchid flowers from Orchids N' Blooms, who created all of the flower arrangements for the wedding day.
The Amherst String Ensemble played "Claire de Lune" by Debussy for the last part of the processional where Justin came in with his mother, and then after they made it to the front, the doors re-opened and David came in with his mother. It was one of those moments where everyone watching held their breath... loved it.
After the ceremony, guests walked across the hall to the Heritage Room for cocktail hour. There was a framed guestbook tree where guests signed a leaf and stuck the leaf on a tree branch in addition to many old wedding photos of generations past, and two large canvas prints of the couple's engagement photos. Along with an open bar of beer, wine, and "Bostonian" signature drinks, there was a stationary artisan cheese display as well as passed hors d'oeuvres such as vegetable spring rolls and mini crab cakes with an orange-chipotle aioli.
Guests found their table assignments on an escort chart propped on a bed of wheat grass in the foyer as they made their way back into the Dome Room for the reception. Navy blue pintuck ruffle linens and lemon bengaline napkins adorned the tables along with gorgeous centerpieces from Orchids N' Blooms. Tables were named after places in Boston like The Esplanade and Beacon Hill, and there was a mini jar of wild blueberry Stonewall Kitchen jam as the favor at each place setting. The entire room looked spectacular with tons of candles and deep violet uplighting along the walls and the columns.
For dinner, the starter was an oak leaf lettuce salad with warm hazelnut crusted goat cheese, pecans, red grapes, and balsamic vinaigrette. It was then followed by a choice of three entrées: filet mignon with garlic whipped potatoes and green beans, vegetable risotto, or roasted statler chicken breast with tarragon and roasted tomato veloute and roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary and olive oil. For dessert, there was a wedding cake from The Icing On The Cake with chocolate covered strawberries on the side, as well as a milk & cookies bar with cookies baked by one of the groomsmaids.
Going back to the wedding cake, the cake cutting was definitely interesting! The grooms cut a slice of the cake together and once it was on the plate, David cut the slice perfectly in half... (my thought was, hmm.. that's a rather large piece to eat) then he placed the knife down, and in the next second, each of them grabbed a half and totally smashed chocolate cake in each other's faces! It by far was the best cake smashing of all of my couples =) Guests danced the night away with music by DJ Deja, and here are some photos that I took of the day!
David and Justin, you two are truly one of the sweetest couples that I've ever known and I'm so grateful to have had the chance to work with you both. You were surrounded by so much love on your wedding day!! I wish you both the very best in your marriage together and hope you had an amazing honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta.~Emilie
