This is Erin and Trevor, who got married at the Laurel Hill Chapel in Saco, and then had their reception at the Coastal House in Wells, Maine.  We asked Erin to tell us a little about their wedding, some of the details of the event, and what she liked most on her wedding day.  I hope you enjoy hearing about it!

Tell us how long you’ve been together and how you met:

“ Trevor and I met when we were set up on a blind date by his mother and my uncle who graduated together from High School. During a summer high school reunion, our names came up and they decided to ask each of us if we would like to meet one another. When each of us agreed, my uncle and Trevor’s parents planned for a few of their mutual friends to have dinner at a local restaurant and they invited Trevor and I to meet there. During the dinner, we talked the whole time and really hit it off! We stayed at the table continuing to chat while everyone eventually left and before we said “good-night”, Trevor gave me his phone number. I clearly remember wanting to call him that same night as I was so excited to have met him and was looking forward to seeing him again!”

“The bride and her wedding bouquet”

Tell us something about the clothes you wore:

“ I chose an ivory, strapless, slim A-line, lace dress with a corset closure by Maggie Sottero from Andrea’s Bridal in Portland. I knew I wanted lace and it didn’t take me long to decide on the dress when I saw the lace with the beading and sequins that would catch the light and sparkle. I chose ivory as it is the color recommended for my fair skin tone. I decided to remove the ivory satin ribbon and added a cornflower satin ribbon at the waist that was tied as a bow in the back and had a very long tail going down my train. Not only did it match my Bridesmaid’s dresses, but Trevor had mentioned very early on in the wedding planning that he had always pictured his bride coming down the aisle with a blue ribbon accenting the waist of her white wedding dress, and I never forgot that.”

“The bride wore earings that had been her grandmothers”

Was there a theme or a style to your wedding?

The reception was coastal-themed with the starfish placecards and sea glass, sand, starfish, and seashell centerpieces. The reception location, The Coastal House, was also already beautifully decorated with coastal decor. Our wedding color was cornflower blue and the blue hydrangeas in the bouquets and flower arrangements and the blue sugar hydrangeas on the wedding cake helped bring the color into the day.

Our wedding ceremony was at the Laurel Hill Chapel on Beach Street in Saco. We had a Christian wedding ceremony. We chose this location as we were having a smaller wedding and didn’t want to be swallowed up in a large church. After touring the Chapel, we decided it was perfect for us, it was beautiful and the perfect size for our guest list. Also, we could decorate it how we wanted and there weren’t any rules for the officiant, photographers, or videographers which was the case in other churches we researched.”

We had the reception at The Coastal House in Wells. We chose this location as the entire venue was beautiful, well decorated, and well maintained. I really liked that we had the entire building to ourselves and there were several different rooms that we used. We used one for the cocktail hour for the wedding guests, another was used by the bridal party when we arrived at the reception during the cocktail hour to stay separate from the guests and then there was the beautiful ballroom. There was also a bridal hide-away, plenty of parking, wonderful food, and a great staff.”

Who did you work with at the reception hall?

“ We worked with the manager, Paul Gallant at the Coastal House. He was wonderful! The menu he designed for us was exactly what we wanted. He was professional and his staff were attentive. They set up the venue beautifully for us, as we dropped off the decorations beforehand. We were very happy with our choice of the Coastal House!””

The food at the Coastal House was incredible! We had heard positive comments from previous guests and then got to experience the food firsthand at the tasting they invited us to in November. I loved the honey crumb baked haddock but I didn’t even try the other two entrees. All three appetizers were delicious. My favorite was the maple roasted scallops wrapped in bacon. I was able to enjoy a delicious meal from the buffet and try all three appetizers.”

Trevor chose his best friend Aaron to be his Best Man. Three years ago, Trevor was the Best Man in Aaron’s wedding. Aaron gave a wonderful, heartfelt speech at the reception. The other groomsmen who did a wonderful job with the ushering duties were Eric, Trevor’s brother; Matt, my brother; and Andrew, a friend of Trevor’s.”

My Bridesmaids were beautiful! I am so happy they stood up with me on my wedding day! I enjoyed sitting in the Limo in front of the chapel with Jamie, Stephanie, Paula, and my dad as the wedding guests were filing in before the start of the ceremony. Jamie was my Matron of Honor and she did an excellent job! Before the ceremony, she gave me water and helped me with dress adjustments (with Steph and Paula). After the ceremony, she hustled around looking for my checkbook and gave the final payments to a few vendors. And during the reception, she ran out to my car several times to look for lists and other things. She waited on me all day!! My Bridesmaids were Stephanie, a good friend from college, and Paula, my new sister-in-law!”

One thing I don’t want to forget about the wedding day was the “first glance”. My excitement to start our wedding day while I walked toward Trevor was unbelievable. I was full of anticipation to see how handsome he would look in his tuxedo and I was excited for him to see me as his Bride, in my beautiful dress and veil, with my hair and makeup done. It was such an amazing feeling when he turned around to look at me, we hugged and kissed each other, and both teared up a little with the emotion of the moment. We are both so glad we saw each other and spent time together doing photographs before the ceremony. For us, it was the best decision. It allowed us to get any anxiety and overwhelming emotions under control before my walk down the aisle and the ceremony. We both remained tear-free during the ceremony (which never would have happened otherwise!) so we were able to completely focus on and enjoy our pastors words and our ceremony.”

Will and Lucia were outstanding! They were a joy and very easy to work with. We had a great time during our “photo shoot” (as this is what it felt like!) They made the couple hours of photo taking fun instead of tedious and the time really flew by. All I can say is I had a great time with lots of laughs and smiles taking pictures with my groom, my bridesmaids, our bridal party, our parents, and our siblings. Will and Lucia were extremely organized and efficient to move people in and out of photos and move people around in photos. My mother-in-law was impressed by how organized and fast the family photos went. My father-in-law stated “The photographers were incredible.” This was seconded by other family members as well. Another comment I remember was “They were everywhere.”

“ My father was also impressed with how quickly Will would come over when called at the reception to take group shots. My dad really liked how Will said “If you want me to take a photo, just call me over.” My dad was happy he could get a group shot with a couple of his dear friends. I was happy that Trevor and I as well as each member of the wedding party were given specific directions on how to position themselves (sit/stand/look up/smile/not smile/hand here, etc.) as this was very, very helpful and I’m sure makes all the difference in the images. I also love how Focus Photography doesn’t just use traditional photography where everyone is lined up. Lots of creative and artistic images were taken of Trevor and I as well as the wedding party, and I can’t wait to see them!”

“ The Roaming Artists did all of my bridesmaids’ hair, my hair, and my mother’s hair. They also did my mom and I’s makeup. Tina Wardwell is the owner of the company and did my hair. She did an excellent job! Christina Hughes was the makeup artist and she did a wonderful job! Sarah Allard was the second hair stylist to work with Tina to style the bridesmaids’ hair. And all the stylists came to my hotel room to work their magic, so we didn’t have to go anywhere!”

“ The bride’s gown was purchased at Andrea’s Bridal in Portland. I found the cornflower color satin bridesmaids’ dresses at David’s Bridal. We used Classic Tuxedo of South Portland for the men’s tux rentals.”

“ My flowers were from Prestige House of Flowers in Biddeford. Dolly did a wonderful job and my bouquet was exactly as I had pictured. I chose the blue hydrangeas to pull the color blue into my bouquet. I chose the light pink roses as I think roses are just beautiful flowers and the classic, elegant flowers for a bridal bouquet. I chose light pink for the roses because they matched the light blue hydrangeas and they were such a beautiful color. I also had several white cymbidium orchids in my bouquet to match Trevor’s boutonniere as these are his favorite flowers.”

“ It was very special to us that our Pastor, Eric Samuelson could unite us in marriage and perform our wedding ceremony. He is the pastor of The Rock Church in Scarborough. We knew he would do a great job and the ceremony couldn’t have been more perfect! We were so blessed to have him officiate.”

“ Gayle Forte of Let Them Eat Cake designed our beautiful 3-tiered almond white and deep chocolate wedding cake with buttercream frosting. It was delicious! I needed to try both flavors so I had a piece of each and they were both great! Trevor’s mom made his Groom’s cake, and that was served as well. It was his favorite, carrot cake, and we got to bring a few pieces home from the wedding. It was very tasty as always!”

“ Our DJ was James McNally from Fred Pappalardo Disc Jockeys. He did a great job as our emcee and DJ. His love of music was contagious as he danced behind his setup and mouthed every word to every song. He played upbeat dance songs that the crowd enjoyed and kept the dance floor full most of the time. He also mixed in some slow songs for the couples like I had asked him. Overall, he did a great job and I would recommend him to others!”

“ Our first dance was to “Amazed” by Lonestar- Trevor picked it, he really liked it, so I agreed to go with it for him. My dad picked the Father/daughter dance song “I Know You’re There” by Casting Crowns. I was so touched that he had chosen a song on his own without me asking him to that we had to dance to the song he had chosen. Plus, it is a beautiful song. Trevor chose Kenny Rogers’ “Through The Years” to dance to with his mother. He knew she used to love Kenny Rogers’ music and that song. He knew it would be special to her and she loved it when I told her what song he had picked.”

“ My mother-in-law was impressed by how organized and fast the family photos went. My father-in-law stated ‘The photographers were incredible.’ This was seconded by other family members as well. Another comment I remember was ‘They were everywhere.’ ”

“ I researched wedding photographers for several days and chose Focus Photography after seeing several stunning images online and then browsing their website. I loved all the images they captured of the couples, and their wedding photography was just amazing! After examining their entire website and blog, I knew I wanted them to be my wedding photographers! – Erin”

Thanks for reading all this, and looking through our blog.  We had a great time with Erin and Trevor, and we hope you enjoyed their images.  If you did, please comment on the post and let us know! – Will