Gina + Steve’s beautiful spring vineyard wedding included some of our favorite things - a happy couple, a cute dog, a beautiful vineyard venue, gorgeous flowers, incredible catering, and an absolute dream team of vendors. We are thrilled to be sharing some of the gorgeous photos from their wedding day here on the MMW blog, captured by Maggie Conley Photography, along with a lovely summary from the bride.

“Writing this brought back such wonderful memories and it’s so nice reminiscing about how many amazing people we worked with! Everyone in the Mystic area is so talented and I am beyond grateful we had our wedding there. Steve is from New Jersey and I’m from Massachusetts so we wanted our wedding to be somewhere in between.

What a weekend! We started the wedding celebrations off with a rehearsal dinner/seafood feast at Costello's Clam Shack. It was the perfect casual dinner on the water - just what you would imagine for a Mystic wedding weekend. After dinner, we invited all of our guests to M/BAR to enjoy some drinks and music. They had live music and a fire pit outside. It really set the mood for our perfect weekend and we got a chance to catch up with friends and family before the chaos began.”

“My hair was done by Five Zero Mane Salon. I expressed that I wanted a simple classic style to complement the simplicity of my dress. They did just that. Again, another vendor that exceeded all of my expectations in what I initially had in mind. I love the circle bun. I even have friends that used my wedding hair as their inspiration for their big day.

My makeup was done by Le Spa Mystic. If I could go to Kimberly every week for false eyelashes I would. They looked so natural and full for our wedding day and ended up lasting throughout our honeymoon as well.

I have always loved the Spanish designer brand Pronovias for wedding gowns. So I knew I would find my dress there. I love the tight form fitting style with subtle details only noticeable if you see the dress up close. My dress had a floral fabric and small crystals that outlined the front and sides.”

“Maggie Conley was our incredibly talented photographer. This was also another easy decision for us. The soft, bright and classic style of her photography really resonated with what we envisioned having to look back on for our wedding day. She was a pleasure to work with and Steve and I were able to have fun, relax and just be ourselves. She also did our engagement photos.”

“Saturday, June 2nd was the big day. Something that was so important to the both of us was to have our dog, Duncan, be part of the wedding in some way. We didn’t want him to be the ring bearer - he is way too attached to us and would have definitely caused a scene! We wanted him there in the crowd during our ceremony and to be part of our happy hour. After doing a lot of research, we found Maddison at Rover to agree to bring Duncan from the hotel to Saltwater. He was there for photos before the ceremony and socialized with our guests at cocktail hour. Maddison was great. We met her beforehand and felt 100% comfortable with her taking care of our baby.”

“Our ceremony was outside at the beautiful Saltwater Farm Vineyard. We cut it close with the rain, but decided to take a chance and set up outside. It worked out in our favor. The clouds broke and it was a perfectly sunny evening, just in time for our ceremony and cocktail hour. The harpist (Wendy Kerner) and cellist (Carolyn Engle) were positioned on the side in the lawn playing ever so eloquently as the wedding party started to walk down the aisle. My dad custom made a platform for the musicians to perform on. Our ceremony was around 30 minutes.”

“Victoria Burdick was our reverend who came highly recommended in the Mystic area. Everyone thought she was our pastor from home because she knew us so well! We met with Victoria a few times before the wedding to talk about our lives and our dreams for the future. She told the story of our relationship in a way that kept all of our guests laughing, smiling and engaged - which is exactly what we wanted. We were able to customize our ceremony to be the style we wanted it to be.”

“Now onto the cocktail hour... Gourmet Galley! I cannot say enough great things about Gourmet Galley. Not only is their food to die for but we worked with them on decor as well (I’m obsessed with the moss name board that Gina created for us). Keri Bell was our main contact at Gourmet Galley and she helped us with everything. Food selection, seating, and the entire wedding day timeline. She kept us on track throughout the night. What I found amazing was that any type of food or flavor we wanted to incorporate, they were able to do it. We love these popovers from BLT Prime in the city, and Gourmet Galley made them fresh for all of our guests. All of the food was incredible. We had passed hors d’oeuvres, meat and cheese and a “summer station” during cocktail hour. My favorite passed bite was the deconstructed clam chowder served on a half shell. Saltwater also provided a wine tasting for guests during this time as well. Our signature drink was an espresso martini. We had tables asking for them by the pitcher they were so good! Made with real espresso.”

“Our floral decorations were done by Hana Floral. They by far exceeded any expectations I had in terms of quality and quantity of flowers. They were stunning. My bouquet was so big my wrist was sore the next day from holding it! I asked Yumiko to make a floral crown for our after party as well. I went into wedding planning with the idea that flowers would be the least important part of the wedding (I initially wanted a bunch of baby’s breath and simple white flowers as the floral decor). The flowers ended up being one of my favorite parts about the wedding. Our centerpieces were tiered small vases/bottles filled with a variety of flowers white, pink and green. The were standing on top of round slabs of bark. It added another element of detail to the overall venue that you wouldn’t get from just one single arrangement in the center of each table.”

“Zest Fresh Pastry made us a custom lemon strawberry cake that was to die for. We decided on a lemon cake with strawberry and champagne frosting. It’s still the best cake I’ve ever had.”

“We had a live event painter, Sheila Foley, there throughout the evening. She was posted upstairs on the balcony and people were able to watch as she painted what would turn out to be an incredible piece of art of our first dance. The amount of detail she puts into each person’s face is what really caught our attention when we were looking for a live artist.

Charles St. Paul band was an easy decision for us when it came to choosing music. They were the band for Steve’s cousins wedding in 2014 and we both knew one day that we had to have them at our wedding too. They were so easy to work with, accommodating and professional. We wish we could hear them perform all the time!”

“We chose to book our hotel room block and after party at Mystic Marriott. Kelsey Gonzalez was beyond accommodating with everything we had in mind. It was fun creating our after party with her. She had great insight into what other couples have done and was able to give us recommendations on who to use for decor and what type of late-night food to order. We used Balloons Above for our after party decor, and had plenty of glow sticks for the cocktail tables. My uncle is a DJ and he brought all of his equipment to host our after party. It was so much fun!”

Thank you so much, Gina + Steve, for sharing your wonderful wedding day with us!

V E N D O R S
MMW Cake Bakery: Zest Fresh Pastry
MMW Caterer: Gourmet Galley Catering
MMW Florist: Hana Floral Design
MMW Hair Stylist: Five Zero Mane Salon
MMW Hotel: Mystic Marriott Hotel & Spa
MMW Makeup Artist: Le Spa
MMW Photographer: Maggie Conley Photography
MMW Venue: Saltwater Farm Vineyard