If you have been following My Mystic Wedding on Instagram you have likely seen photos from Danielle and Michael’s gorgeous Mystic wedding from last summer which was memorable for SO many reasons. Danielle and Michael met at the office and decided to plan their beautiful summer wedding with a nod to The Office (the TV show) and use #WeMetAtTheOffice as their wedding hashtag! We have shared glimpses of their incredible wedding day on social media but we are thrilled that Danielle is joining us today to share their full story and all the details with even more gorgeous photos from Maggie Conley Photography. From the bride, Danielle…

“Michael and I got engaged 04.20.18 in Marina del Rey, California. It was a Friday morning, early like 6:45am and he randomly decided to come on a walk with me to take our golden retriever, Brady out for a walk... little did I know what he had up his sleeve. Our neighbors Rob & Amber (Rob ended up marrying us) were outside and were able to capture the whole engagement via photos and hold Brady's leash! After we got engaged Mike told me to check my phone where he had sent me an email starting off with that he had asked for me to get the day off from work already from my boss... in the email was two tickets to fly to Napa for the weekend and stay at Bardessono in Yountville. It was the most magical surprise of a weekend filled with lots of bread, pizza and wine!

We took a few months to enjoy being engaged before we started wedding planning. I am from Stonington, Connecticut and Michael is from Walpole, Massachusetts but we originally thought it would be fun to get married out here in Los Angeles where we live and work now. We looked at a lot of places in Malibu but we kept coming back to the thought that it would be very difficult for two of the most important women in our lives to be there... our grandmas. At the time Mike's grandma (Millie) was 99 and mine (Jean) was 96... now 97. We couldn't have our weddings and not make it easy and comfortable for them. So we decided to change our plans and come home for the wedding. And we could not have been more happier we did. Mainly because it was the most incredible day and weekend that we will never forget.”

“For our rehearsal dinner we had quite the bash outside by the lighthouse at the Seaport with the most delicious food from Coastal Gourmet! Their mac and cheese is everything! We had about 75 close family and friends attend and we had the best night, it was so much fun getting to hang out with our friends before the craziness of our wedding day! It was especially fun to gift our wedding parties their thank you gifts. Mike custom made about 18 Patriots jerseys with each of the guys’ last names on the back and two Belichick cut off hoodies for the dads. I gifted my bridesmaids custom Maya Brenner initial necklaces. We gave our moms custom Lingua Franca sweaters that said “LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED” on the front and our wedding date on the sleeve. And for our grandmas we got them custom lockets with photos from their weddings inside.”

“Once we decided on the location and the food we worked on a hashtag and all the paper goods! Michael and I both work in digital. I run the digital team at a movie studio in Los Angeles and he runs his own digital augmented reality company where he works with primarily music labels. We knew it had to be catchy. Michael loves The Office and wanted to see if there was a way to work that in. He used to always reference how we were like Jim and Pam from The Office since they met there much like us. Mike and I met in 2011 in Bristol, Connecticut while both working at ESPN. So we landed on the hashtag #WeMetAtTheOffice! It was perfect and it became the theme for the wedding!”

“When we told my parents about doing the wedding in Mystic they immediately mentioned a few locations... we knew we wanted a tent and being able to do it outside was a must for us and we wanted to be near the water. And being close to downtown Mystic was important to us so we had a place to go out afterwards to continue the celebration. We knew we also wanted to do it at a place where we didn't need a sit down meal and could have it feel more like a party. Latitude 41 and Coastal Gourmet checked every one of those things off of our list. We were able to get the water, the tent and the crazy food menu! And crazy food we did. A few faves from our menu...

COCKTAIL HOUR:
Mini Lobster Rolls, Mini Chicken & Waffles
DINNER:
- Four custom stations - Mystic Market signature crab cake, Beef sliders on a potato bun, BBQ pulled pork sliders on a pretzel roll, Fries (classic potato, sweet potato & truffle fries)
- Asian Stir Fry Bar - presented in Chinese boxes with chopsticks
(guests could choose what they wanted and a chef prepared for them individually)
DESSERT:
- We really went all out on an ice cream sundae bar which the guests went wild for since it was a HOT NIGHT. Flavors of ice cream: vanilla bean, peanut butter brownie and blood orange sorbet. We also had butlered freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and cold milk sippers passed around the entire night as well.

The food was very important to us and we wanted to make sure our wedding felt different and fun and this was one way we were able to make that happen.”

“Our save the dates were the perfect nod to The Office logo, our cocktail napkins used the logo and I even got the logo printed on a custom lucite clutch for the wedding! Once we had the food and the paper goods squared away and the hashtag, it was time to get our dream florist on board... there was only one we wanted and that was Hana Floral! I saw Yumiko's stuff all over Instagram and knew if we could lock her in we really did not need much more decor since we would be outside on a summer night. I met with Yumiko and my mom early on and locked her in. I showed her a photo my friend had on her Instagram for a wedding she was in and was like I NEED this flower at my wedding. Yumiko looked at it and immediately knew it was the King Ice Protea and she got my vibe instantaneously. I told her I wanted them in everything and I wanted it to be fun and chic. We went for more bold bright colors for the cocktail hour and then for the ceremony she did the most gorgeous arch that our friend Rob married us under. It was completely breathtaking. There were King Ice Proteas everywhere in the arch and then each bridesmaid carried one down the aisle and they were all over the centerpieces and the table runner on the head table. And my bouquet was breathtaking of course. Yumiko and her team made the wedding look like a fairy tale. It is still to this day one of the only things our guests say to us... THOSE FLOWERS! I actually have a friend who took the vase home in her suitcase to California!”

“For the photos we knew we wanted Maggie (Maggie Conley Photography) from the first day we saw her stuff. Photos are important to us working in digital so we knew how we wanted them to look and Maggie just got that. She captured everything for us. Our favorite photos, outside of the ones of us, are of our grandmas who were our flower girls! Maggie and her partner Steve made the photos so fun. We had a really big wedding party and somehow they wrangled all of us! And the photos they captured are worth everything to us.”

“The day of was quite magical… our friend Rob married us and it could not have been a more perfect ceremony. It was emotional, happy and celebratory! Mike and I each wrote our own vows which really made it super personal.”

“We also wanted a photo booth so with Yumiko’s help we were able to lock down Photo Booth Planet’s VW teal bus, Chloe! It was definitely a hit! We treasure those photos A LOT and the book we got with everyone’s silly photos and notes. For paper goods we did a lot on Minted and kept it simple white and black. My friend Natasha from growing up (co-owner of We’re Into It) helped with the menus and the name cards!”

“Our cocktail hour was awesome as was the meal and the celebration. We had DJ Doug from Power Posse handle (who crushed it) playing the music from cocktail hour til the end of the night. Lastly, we ended the night with a sparkler exit which was picturesque thanks to Maggie! We had the most amazing day and we couldn’t thank our families and friends enough. Would love to give a huge shout out to Jenna at Coastal Gourmet who worked with me for almost a year (3,000 miles away) and made sure our day was unforgettable. Also, can’t thank our families and friends enough for making it the best day ever! We would do anything to do it all again!”