Wedding at Moraine Farm, Beverly MA – Alison and Dan

What lead you to have a wedding the way you did? Family, friends location etc?

We knew our wedding would be on the bigger side just because we both have larger families, and since we met after school, we both have our own full friend groups! Beyond that, we knew early on a few priorities. We wanted it to have a ‘cocktail party’ feel, with no formal seating charts to make sure everyone could get up and mingle or eat or dance whenever they wanted – we had been at a few weddings where we felt trapped in our tables, and definitely didn’t want anyone to be in that position. We also knew the band would be a big priority – music and dancing together has been part of our relationship literally since the day we met, so that was important! Location was a little bit trickier for us – we wanted to be sure we were in, or close to, a more urban area because we didn’t want people to be stuck without transportation or things to do the rest of the weekend, but we also love the outdoors and wanted somewhere with a nature-y component. The venue we found ended up being a perfect middle ground, and we knew we found it as soon as we saw it!

What were you most excited about before the wedding?

The music, the dancing, and the food : ) Plus getting to see so many people we love all in one place! Dan’s friends and family are more centrally located around New England, so we’re lucky to see them a lot, but I (Ali) grew up outside Washington DC and went to school in California, and have friends and family spread out all over the country, so this was such an amazing chance to get everyone together!

Did anything happened that you weren’t expecting?

We had some unexpected weather obstacles! There were major storm systems all up and down the east coast that weekend, and we had a lot of people with cancelled or rescheduled flights – my grandma ended up stuck at the airport in Florida for 10 hours! A few people did unfortunately end up not being able to make it as a result, but a number of people really went above and beyond to rearrange things and be there. It also ended up giving us some day-of stress, because the storms hit the towns around our venue that morning – we pretty quickly just made our peace with the fact that we would have to switch to our under-cover plan B, but then had the ultimate luck when the weather cleared just before the ceremony, giving us an absolutely beautiful day! Beyond those logistics, I honestly think most things went according to plan – but I also have no idea if people were hiding the chaos from us, in which case, well played : )

Which images did you love the most?

Oh my gosh too many to choose!! Our first look was so special, and the pictures absolutely captured it – and then the candids from the dance floor were just perfect, SO much fun! We loved how all the pictures conveyed the whole atmosphere of the day in the most natural way, and haven’t stopped looking at them since we got them : )

Any advise for couples going through this process or about to go through the process?

Don’t stress about the details!!! There are so many decisions that need to be made, you end up getting sucked into the small stuff that you might never otherwise have cared about, but on the day, you’ll be taking it all in and thinking about how beautiful everything is, and I can promise you that you won’t be thinking “Hm if only those centerpieces were a little different…” Put the planning in and work with vendors that you trust, but in the end don’t be afraid to let some stuff go – it’s your wedding day, and that’s all you need for it to be amazing! Also try to build in time to greet people and such – whether that’s some sort of welcome reception the night before (which we did, worked out really well), or being really efficient with cocktail hour – so that you can dive in and enjoy the reception after!