A cheery & bright Martha's Vineyard summer wedding

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Word on the street is all of our Northern folks are ready for summer? If it’s true, we have a sweet summery wedding treat for you from cheery & bright Martha’s Vineyard.

Ana & Adam were engaged on the beautiful, floral-frenzy of an island off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusettes – Martha’s Vineyard. Known for its quaint farmland & idyllic New England beaches, it’s no surprise that the moment they were engaged, Ana new they should marry on the island.

With the help of their talented (and seemingly beloved) wedding planner, the couple created a trendy, colorful wedding dream scene that complemented the cheery wildflowers & vineyards abound.

Summer strawberries embellished a tall naked cake & pale pinks & blushes made their way across the florals & attire. The couple offered guests the cutest VW photo booth bus & a sailcloth tent provided chic refuge in iconic New England style.

Photographed by Lena Mirisola, this summery scene is warming our long wintered bones.

The Proposal

As high school sweethearts, even though we are only in our late 20s, we have already experienced so much of our lives together. We know each other incredibly well, are the best of friends, and yet somehow Adam was still able to surprise Ana the day they got engaged.

We got engaged on Martha’s Vineyard, which sealed it in Ana’s mind as their official destination wedding venue immediately. After a couple of days spent mostly indoors during a very rainy Memorial Day Weekend, we were finally able to make it outside for our last full day on the island. Ana should have seen it coming when Adam was oddly dressed up for a sightseeing tour. However, as per usual she questioned nothing and proceeded to leave their Airbnb with her sneakers, leggings and all black athleisure outfit (as one does when sightseeing).

After stopping at a few sights on the island and taking turns posing for pictures with our friends, we arrived at the lookout overlooking the Gay Head Cliffs and Lighthouse. When our friend Chad once again had Ana and Adam pose for some scenic shots, Ana thought nothing of it until a comment from Chad and Jeanne made her turn and face Adam instead of the camera where he proceeded to get down on one knee and ask her to be his wife. Needless to say, she was shocked, and Chad being the incredible friend he is – captured the most beautiful pictures of the moment.

The Inspiration

It all started with seeing a video on the internet that led her to the KG Events and Design website. The video showed a gorgeous sunset wedding overlooking the Menemsha Harbor – complete with all the summer dream wedding vibes she had ever dreamed of. From the hydrangeas in full bloom throughout the property to the sunset photos, to an open-air dance floor complete with bistro lights.

Once she saw the video there was no turning back. She googled the wedding photographer, hunted down the venue, spoke to the manager and locked in a date and then immediately contacted KG Events & Design when she realized they were the masterminds behind her perfect day and hired them immediately after their first conversation.

The Planning

My number one tip – if you can, hire the wedding planner (and especially KG Events & Design) even if just for day-of support. They are truly worth every penny. Throughout the entire process, everyone kept asking us why we were so calm even in the chaos leading up to the big day (see the saga of events that unfolded in favorite moments). The answer? Because we knew that no matter what happened, Meghan and her team had our backs. From picking bugs out of my dress after the ceremony to holding my dress while I used the loo, to making sure everyone was in the right place at the right time – they had every single moment covered. I cannot imagine handling everything they did with even an ounce of the grace, professionalism and joy with which they operate. They truly made our day.

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The Style & Attire

From there, all of Ana’s visions of pale pinks, natural greens and gold accents with rustic touches (and the fact that KG Events has a serious talent for creating the same gorgeous and absolutely magical ambiance we loved) came true.

We gave all of our vendors basic instructions (color palette, vibes, etc) and let them do their thing. Our florist and calligrapher used their creative magic to bring together the perfect touches to take our decor from rustic to chic summer vibes. Keep in mind these people are professionals – and when you hire people that do what they love and let them have fun with it, they will far exceed even your wildest expectations.

The groom had a vision for his wardrobe from the get-go – and with a little coaxing from the bride – agreed to match his gorgeous bright blue suit with a pink vineyard vines classic printed bow tie. It’s the vineyard right!?

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Favorite Moments

In all honesty, the fact that our wedding day happened at all was nothing short of a miracle. Ana was hospitalized for two days the week of the wedding as a result of major kidney issues – including bilateral kidney stones and a kidney infection. Once she was able to leave the hospital, she arrived on the island only to be in a hit and run car accident that same night. When they thought nothing else could possibly go wrong, Ana started passing a stone on the morning of the rehearsal (aka the day before the wedding).

With the worst of worst-case scenarios happening over the course of the wedding week, we felt truly grateful to be able to stand together on our big day and watch the events unfold exactly as we had dreamed. Saying I do in front of everyone we loved (even though Ana’s name was mispronounced by both the officiant and the groom – we chalk that one up to nerves) was definitely the highlight only to be matched by the incredible party atmosphere thanks to our vendors, band and our wedding planners making every single detail perfect for us.

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The Photography

Ana actually started stalking Lena’s social media years before we were engaged. When Lena launched her wedding business, Ana reached out and confessed that she loved her style, her website, and her eye and was 100% calling her when she got engaged.

Lena was the first vendor Ana emailed when she got engaged. In addition to her pure, raw talent Lena is a gem of a human. She is incredibly bubbly, positive, fun and makes any situation behind the camera feel completely natural. She has a way of making you feel completely at ease while she works and makes every moment fun. She captured the whole spectrum of raw emotions throughout the big day because it felt far more like hanging out with a friend than being photographed. I would say that is what makes working with Lena truly special. She has a wonderful gift of capturing people as they are, in the most beautiful of ways, in what results in the most gorgeous photos I have ever seen. She is a wonder to work with and a true joy to have accompanying you on your big day. In fact, we have become great friends as a result of the process.

We also had a gorgeous vintage VW Photo Bus that just happened to be Ana’s favorite color on site as a photo booth for guests. The owner also let us use Daisy (the bus) for some of our wedding portraits, which are Ana’s favorite from the day.

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The Reception

As for the rest of the day – everything else we chose meant something to us. The music was a combination of family favorites (Frank Sinatra for the whole ceremony as a nod to Ana’s late grandfather Bill), to our entrance song (Wagon Wheel – the groom’s favorite) to our first dance (I Only Wanna Be With You – Hootie). The mother-son dance song was picked by the mother of the groom and the father-daughter dance was a surprise father-daughter duet where together they sang Stand By Me (as Ana’s dad taught her to play guitar when she was 10 and together they have been playing and singing together since).

We had our incredibly talented band BearFight manage their entire setlist and they absolutely nailed it. Our entire group of wedding guests from Grandma to our youngest cousins were on the dance floor all night belting out the greatest hits and jumping around to the beat. We had late night donuts from our favorite local shop Backdoor Donuts which we ate far too many of on our first trip to the vineyard.

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Photo by Lena Mirisola Weddings via Bridal Musings

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Advice to Other Couples

The biggest thing we learned in going through the process is ‘YOU DO YOU.’ At the end of the day, your wedding day is a celebration of your journey together (you and your partner that is). You are surrounded by family and friends whose sole purpose is to celebrate the joy you two bring each other and your decision to spend your lives side by side. Allow yourself to be ‘selfish’ because the only thing that matters is how you and your partner feel on your big day. It can be so easy to get caught up in the drama and stress of it all when you lose sight of that.

So make it a mantra. Every time someone tells you how your wedding day should be, or shares a story about a great wedding they went to and how yours would be so much better if you did the same, keep in mind that the person sharing is just trying to help (or maybe provide constructive criticism) and that is OKAY. But at the end of the day, this is about you, your relationship and your life together. Make it that way and forget everything else.