Laid Back Maine Wedding
Cat and Karl were married at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Maine with its dramatic streaks of granite reaching to the sea, shaped by massive movements thousands of years ago. Their reception was held a few miles up the peninsula at their 200 year old rambling Maine farmhouse that they bought last year and have been renovating.
Their goal of the day - aside from exchanging vows - was to throw a fun party in a beautiful setting. They wanted their wedding to be laid back, romantic, natural, and with a touch of adventure. They accomplished all those things in their laid back Main wedding. You can see so much more in the full gallery here, all captured by Sarah Culver Photgraphy. Be sure to read on to here the complete budget breakdown on Cat and Karl's wedding. It really does help seeing how much things cost!
From The Bride:Maine is one of our favorite places on earth, and our wedding was our chance to introduce the state to so many of our friends and family. We wanted the scenery to give drama to the day - that's why there was no additional decoration at the Pemaquid lighthouse. Just the lighthouse and Mother Nature.
If I could have done something differently: I would have eaten more food. I was too excited to feel hungry - but after the wedding, everyone kept talking about how good the food was. I, unfortunately, had no idea how good it was because I didn't set any time aside to eat. That - and that I wish I had put some bronzer on my décolletage...my chest is a little paler than my face and shoulders in the photos. Not too keen on that.
From Sarah Culver Photgraphy Cat thrifted all of the gorgeous teacups, and they used mint from their garden to make a big jar of mojitos. Cat owns a local artisan co-op called The Good Supply and from there she sourced her bridesmaids gifts, beautiful pashminas made by Maine artists.
Photographer: Sarah Culver Photgraphy Venue: Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Cake: Kristen Roth Caterer: Harvest Moon Pizza and Red Plate Catering Dress Designer: Free People Flowers: Blue Cloud Farm Groom's Attire: Jos A Bank Bridesmaid's Gift: Custom-made Shoe Bag Band: Sassafras Stomp Jewelry: Heirloom gift from grandmother | Makeup: Bride did her own | Stationery: Jessie Renew | Hair: Friend To Read more from Cat on her budget breakdown Read On....
I'm happy to share some of the break down because, thanks to the help of our friends and the fact that the reception was held at our home, we were able to keep costs around $7,000.
Ceremony Venue (Lighthouse donation): $300
Food, Wine/Beer/Liquor, & Service: $3,500
Rentals (Tent, Tables, Chairs, Plates, Glasses, etc.): $1,400
Band: $500
Decorations (Napkins/Table Cloths): $300
Flowers: $200 (We bought some beautiful flowers for bouquets, boutonnieres, and a couple of nose gays - but we used flowers from our yard and from a neighbor's yard to make up the majority of table flowers. Luckily, there are a lot of hydrangeas in Midcoast Maine.)
Bride/Grooms Apparel & Gifts to Wedding Party: $650
Babysitters: $150 (We wanted our friends with children to rest easy and actually get to party with us so we hired 2 for the reception.)
With all of our vendors - we wanted to but our actions where our beliefs were in terms of local/seasonal. The food and flowers were local and organic prepared and grown by locals to the area. The band was local - and we hired bussers and babysitters locally, too.
To give our friends one more shout out of credit: One friend was the late night DJ and brought his equipment up with him, another played the processional/recessional on his guitar for the ceremony, another baked the cake, another cooked some appetizers, Sarah did the photography. I have a little bit of a floral background and did the flowers with my cousin and mother-in-law. Really, friends made our day magical.
