Real Wedding: Rebekah and Tim’s Sweet Maine Event

I have a really lovely destination wedding that took place in the town of Freeport, Maine located right off the coast. While this wedding wasn’t techinically seaside but held at the Harraseeket Inn, Rebekah and Tim incoporated many seaside elements that Maine has to offer and thought it would fit in perfectly here on Oceanside Bride. =) 

I absolutely loved, loved, loved Rebekah’s dress and thought it was a perfect destination wedding gown. It was designed by Nicole Miller and was bought from her store in Soho in New York where Rebekah and Tim live.  It seemed to incorporate everything that makes the perfect dress- a little bit of sexy, class, elegance, and overall looks COMFORTABLE!  Big thanks to Kim Chapman for sending us yet another little pretty Maine event our way!

From the lovely bride: We met online back in 2004 – my friends had set up a profile for a dating website after I had a bad break up, and Tim was the first person I met online. I kept him at bay and made him talk to me on email for the first couple of months. But he made me laugh and finally we met and became friends at first and then, we just fell for each other.

My family has a house in the town next to Freeport, and the Harraseeket Inn is a classic location. Also, the Maine coast offered lots of things to do for people from out of town, whether driving to the ocean or kayaking or relaxing. Plus, Freeport is a fantastic destination for people who love to shop.  

Because the wedding was a destination wedding over a long weekend (Labor Day), we had a pre-wedding party at my parents house about 20 minutes from the wedding locale. It was just so much fun, very relaxed, with barbeque, a band and a bouncy castle for adults and kids to hang out in. We all just hung around their house (there’s a pool so we could swim) and in the evening, had a fantastic time. It allowed people to meet ahead of the wedding, so when the wedding took place, people knew each other.

We decided not to have an official marry us, but our friend who knew us better than anyone else. Kyle became ordained online and wrote up a speech and married us. In addition during the ceremony, we wanted it to be just us up there, but wanted our close friends to somehow take part, so rather than have a wedding party, we had our very best friends read passages from our favorite books.

 

We also are not fans of wedding cake, so we had the Harraseeket recreate Junior’s Cheesecake, the famous cheesecake from New York, with various toppings to add. It was delicious!

As a giveaway, we decided on a little box of local sweets from Freeport, which included a chocolate moose, a candy lobster and salt water taffy.

What challenges (if any) did you face while planning your wedding?

None.  Maybe the threat of a hurricane, but nothing you can do about that!

Please tell us about your favorite wedding moment!

The whole wedding was fantastic! We just danced and had a blast.

What is your best advice for other couples planning a wedding right now?

1. Don’t sweat the small stuff. We’re very relaxed people and there was a hurricane supposedly headed to us the wedding weekend, but there was nothing we could do about it, so we just said, if it hits, inside. If not, outside. Whatever.
2.  Remember it’s your day, which means you only need to talk to the people you want to talk to. Our wedding day was spent dancing and laughing.
3. Eat!
4. If you want to go on your honeymoon right after the wedding, be sure to reserve the first couple of days to just relax. We took a “mini-moon” immediately following the wedding, going to Cape Cod where we sat by the beach and didn’t speak to anyone. It was worth it. We slept for 24 hours straight. And then, we took our real honeymoon in December to New Zealand.

Um, I want to go to New Zealand! Seriously- perfect honeymoon location don’t you think?  Thanks to our happy couple and to Kim Chapman again for sharing the beautiful wedding day with us and all the fun planning details.  Thanks Rebekah for the great wedding advice!

Bride/Groom:  Rebekah & Tim

Wedding Date:  Sunday, September 5, 2010

Location: Freeport, Maine

Approximate Guest Size:  100 people

Ceremony Location/Venue: Harraseeket Inn   

The Creative Team Behind the Scenes

Photographer: Kim Chapman Photography / Invitations: Brunswick Printing / Flowers: Ruby McDermott (hired by Harraseeket Inn) / DJ: Joe Farren / Hair & Makeup: Michele Lehr Studios

This wedding was submitted via Two Bright Lights!