DIY Shipyard Wedding: Chic Ocean View Celebration

Happy couple posing for wedding photo with bouquet

Thinking of having your own nontraditional wedding in an unconventional space? Then this chic shipyard wedding is the perfect example for you! This fabulous couple DIY-ed their way to one heck of a memorable event with a killer ocean view.

JR Magat Photography captured every last handmade detail of the day. Be sure you don't miss a thing by visiting the full gallery here.

Beautiful bridesmaids in blush pink dresses with bouquets

Bride holding beautiful pink and white wedding bouquet

Unconventional Wedding Space

We just wanted a wedding that felt like us. Our venue was a real working shipyard. Not only was it not a traditional venue, but it’s not even an event space. It was industrial, raw, and right on the ocean (with a gorgeous view) so this gave us so much flexibility to truly personalize every step of our wedding—but it also presented a huge challenge. It was an enormous blank canvas.

Wedding schedule: ceremony, cocktails, dinner, dancing, cake cutting

Boothbay Harbor Shipyard wedding ceremony @weddingchicks

Bride and groom sharing a tender kiss at their wedding ceremony

DIY Photobooth

We had a tight budget so the only way to get the wedding we wanted was to do as many things as we could ourselves. We knew that photography and the location were really important to us (and this was a substantial portion of our budget), so for the rest we just had to be as creative as possible!

We made our own photobooth, for instance. It was an iMac, with a webcam, and an $80 dollar Canon 4x6 photo printer. For the backdrop, we put gold stickers on large sheets of pearly vinyl.

Rustic photo booth sign with gold polka dot backdrop

Jeff & Laura's wedding photostrip, August 9, 2014

Rustic wedding seating chart on chalkboard easel

Rustic barn wedding reception, succulent favor Paloma

gold table number and bud vase centerpieces @weddingchicks

Small Axe Truck food truck serving delicious burgers

Craft Brew, Catering & Cake

Portland, Maine has an incredible food scene, and we wanted to try to incorporate that, too, so we chose to have a food truck instead of traditional catering. Small Axe Truck provided servers for the dinner service, and the food was incredible. We went to college with the founder of Baxter Brewing Co., a craft brewery in Maine, and they provided the amazing beer.

Instead of a single big wedding cake, we had a dozen regular sized cakes of all different types. They were delicious and simply decorated with fresh flowers.

Four wedding cakes: white, chocolate, German chocolate, carrot