Vanessa and Mike: More from the Martha Stewart Weddings Feature

Each and every stunning image is courtesy of Rodeo and Co Photography. The mastermind designer behind all elements was the bride herself, Vanessa Finger of Giftable Designs.

This just an overview of Vanessa’s and Mike’s glorious wedding day on June 4, 2011 at One Harbour Place (complete with Sperry Tents and Sperry installed lighting). These are a few more shots from their wedding coverage as highlighted in Martha Stewart Weddings. This is also a continuation of my previous post about being featured in the magazine.

Vanessa’s and Mike’s was my first wedding where the photos have actually moved me to tears. It was soulful and personalized in every possible way. You can actually get a sense of who Vanessa and Mike are and how palpable their love for one another is. It’s plain see that they are each other’s soul-mate in every sense of the word. Their wedding was only icing on the the cake, as their love and commitment runs miles deep. I feel incredibly blessed to have been a part of it somehow.

My heartfelt thanks and appreciation goes to Vanessa and all the wedding vendors involved in this. Your dedication to customer service (for actually surpassing expectations by leaps and bounds) and love for your jobs was apparent. I am humbled and honored to have been so integral in such an exquisite celebration. Kudos to each and every one of you! Please see my previous post for a complete list of vendors.

MSW really showed only a sliver, a tip of the iceberg for what their wedding day was really like. This is a wedding I will never forget! See for yourself below.

Getting Ready

Vanessa’s dress was the “Fiesole” by Melissa Sweet for Priscilla of Boston, purchased from the Priscilla’s in New York. Her custom-made headpiece was courtesy of ban.do and those fabulous shoes are by Something Bleu from BHLDN.

The women got ready at the super chic, Ale House Inn right next door to One Harbour Place. The Ale House is a cozy inn that is beautifully lit, tastefully decorated (love the urban and modern elements throughout) with spacious rooms. Very fitting that these young city-dwellers from Manhattan would choose the Ale House as their number one choice of lodging whenever they were visiting Portsmouth (they loved Portsmouth so much that they have since found residence there!).

My favorite make-up artist of all-time, Joanne McDonough of Joya Beauty was on-hand to ensure everyone looked their most radiant. Jen Macek of JMC Weddings was the amazing talent behind all of the beautiful hairstyles.

Mike and his groomsmen got ready at the Portsmouth Sheraton Harborside and walked over to the Ale House in time for the couple’s first look (which took place at the Inn’s main sitting area).

First Look

The Personal Flowers

All flowers were courtesy of the Flower Kiosk right in downtown Portsmouth. The bridal bouquet was a mix of peonies, roses and lisianthus in pale shades of pink and dusty miller. Vanessa’s handle was wrapped in bright teal ribbon and secured with a family heirloom pin from Mike’s Mom.

The bridesmaids bouquets were more mixed, with brighter pink roses, carnations and tulips as well as peonies and dusty miller. They were tied with silver ribbon to balance out the bright pink.

The Ceremony

How gorgeous was their huppa?! Flower Kiosk dressed up a basic brass arbor with variegated ivy, Italian ruscus, white spider mums, magenta peonies and spray roses in both pale and fluorescent pink.

The ceremony took place at Goodwin Garden on Strawbery Banke. Mike wrote and designed the ceremony, officiated by David Tomkinson. These shots are from the beautifully written handfasting portion, where David asked both the bride and groom a question and then draped a ribbon atop their grasped hands. For each vow, another ribbon. And at the end, he asked the crowd for confirmation and draped a final ribbon. He then tied the ribbons to bind the bride and groom and then they unclasped hands, dropping the ribbon to represent that they were only a symbol as their real commitment, not shaped by anything physical, is what will always carry them.

Commuting from Strawbery Banke to One Harbour Place

The bride and groom showcased their free-spirited personalities by riding off to cocktail hour on borrowed bicycles from Ale House. Most guests elected to do the 10-minute walk from Strawbery Banke to cocktail hour, held on the dock at One Harbour Place. Few guests opted for the trolley ride that was provided by Seacoast Trolley Company.

Cocktail Hour

How iconic are Sperry Tents becoming for weddings? Just a couple of beautiful shots of the white flags and sweeping arched walls. Star lanterns were purchased from Paper Lantern Store and installed the night prior by the Sperry Tents staff.

Cocktail hour took place on the lower dock-level of One Harbour Place. The couple included a variety of locally brewed beer, like Red Hook photographed above.

Their signature cocktail was a frozen whiskey sour… aren’t they beautiful? The cocktails were mixed by a NH Margarita Man machine and consisted of margarita mix, whiskey (instead of tequilla) and enough blue curacao to turn the mixture teal. How’s that for attention to detail?!

World-class catering was courtesy of immensely talented Evan Hennessey of Flavor Concepts. Evan put together a meat-free wedding feast (as Vanessa and Mike are vegetarians).  For hors d’oeuvres,  bites of fried goat cheese, local heirloom tomato tartlets with smoked salt, and a bean and corn succotash over a grilled tomato puree on a cracker were served.

The Reception

The escort cards (as well as the invitation envelopes, photo 2 from the MSW web site) were hand-calligraphed by NYC-based calligrapher, Tucci Cursive. The escort cards were inserted in a pair of old shutters that belong to Betsy at Flower Kiosk, who agreed to allow Vanessa to paint teal for the sake of the wedding!

Vanessa found a teal-lined vintage suitcase on etsy to collect wedding gifts and used a teal-colored guitar (accompanied by silver pens) for guests to sign in lieu of a guest book.

Centerpieces were filled with the same variation of flowers used in the bridal and bridesmaids bouquets. Vanessa collected vintage teal-colored mason jars and glass containers and arranged for pre-delivery with Betsy, of Flower Kiosk, to fill for the reception. I have take a moment and give props to Betsy…. she came back to the tents the following morning to collect leftover flowers to deliver and donate to a local nursing home. It’s that rare combination of natural talent and a big heart that makes me love working with her. XO

Vanessa designed and produced the table signs, as well as all stationery elements for the wedding (she owns the fabulous design firm, Giftable Designs). The table signs were named after Portsmouth neighborhoods. How cute is that? All elements of the wedding were tied together perfectly, from the teal, pink and silver color palette, to starting anew as married folk in the city they love most. Ugh… I’m tearing up as I write this! The level of personalization that went into this wedding is beyond incredible!

Rentals were provided by Be Our Guest in Boston, MA.

The Candy Buffet/Dessert Table

The candy table showcased a whimsical mix of teal and pink candies displayed in vintage teal glass containers. The children (shown above is Mike’s baby brother who was also the ring bearer) especially enjoyed helping themselves!

Meg had a lot of fun with their rings, using vintage “V + M” blocks Vanessa scored at a flea market. The blocks were used decoratively on the candy table.

This is the design put together by my favorite cake artist of all time, Jeanne Kalman of The Well Dressed Cake. It is the computerized version of the hand-drawn sketch Vanessa showed Jeanne. Vanessa expressed that she had envisioned fresh peonies as a cake topper.

What about the attention to detail on the bottom layer? Jeanne insisted on the tiniest of tiny gumpaste bows affixed with even more tiny dragee pearl centers. Uniform and flawless as usual.

Jeanne, being the exquisite craftswoman she is, strongly encouraged Vanessa to allow her to make sugar peonies instead. I would say she just about nailed it in the accuracy department!

The Party

The dancing took place in a second Sperry Tent.

Grandpa’s 90th Birthday

Vanessa insisted that we build in time in the schedule to celebrate her grandfather’s 90th birthday. Cupcakes were also created by The Well Dressed Cake. Here, she describes all that her grandfather has meant to her (I feel the tears prickling again!).

The cupcakes were for my grandfather’s 90th birthday which was later that month. When he was a kid, instead of having cake he would always have a watermelon, so that was where the design came from. They were pink velvet inside to match. FWIW, he was a policeman in Miami until about four years ago when he got very ill. He and my grandmother (my only remaining grandparents) are two of our major life role models, so having them at the wedding was extremely important. When he got sick, I thought it wasn’t going to happen, and when he came out of the hospital we decided to do the wedding as soon as we could to ensure that they would be there. So it was a really special moment we got to have when we presented him with the birthday cupcakes and the whole family was around.

Vanessa and Mike, words cannot express how much gratitude I feel for allowing me to be involved on such a huge occasion in both of your lives. You are both beautiful, intelligent and incredibly kind. Your love for one another is so pure and inspiring. May you prosper in love and happiness. Above all, I’m thrilled that you’ve made your move to NH permanent so that we can see each other again!  Here’s to a LIFETIME of happy memories. XO