Katherine and Dave’s wedding weekend began in Portland, Maine, with a welcome party at RiRa. Nearly 200 people had come to Maine to celebrate them, and Friday night was the first time all of those different parts of their lives were in one room. Friends found each other at the bar, families settled in together, and Katherine and Dave had a full evening with everyone before the wedding day arrived.

Saturday took us to Flanagan Farm in Buxton, Maine, where we had spent months imagining how this wedding would live across the property.

Whimsical was one of the words on Katherine and Dave’s moodboard, and it opened up so much for us creatively. We could make choices that were interesting and a little unexpected without making the wedding feel themed. We could play with scale and light, bring in pieces with history, and give guests something new to discover as they moved through the day.

The flower garden seating chart was one of my favorite results.

We built an entire garden for guests to find their table assignments. With nearly 200 names, it needed to function incredibly well, but I wanted the experience of finding your seat to feel like part of the wedding itself. Flowers and greenery surrounded the assignments, turning something completely practical into one of the prettiest moments on the property.

Katherine and Dave also sourced thrifted vintage Hermès ties, which brought a completely different kind of character into the wedding. I loved that these pieces had already existed somewhere before they became part of this day. They had history, beautiful pattern, and that slightly collected quality that made them so much more interesting than something purchased simply because it coordinated.

When it was time for the ceremony, nearly 200 people gathered to watch Katherine and Dave stand beneath the chuppah and get married.

It was beautiful.

Jewish ceremonies carry so much history within them, and seeing those traditions surrounded by this enormous gathering of family and friends gave the ceremony real weight. For all of the design we had created around the day, this was the moment that everything else was built around. Katherine and Dave were standing together beneath the chuppah making their promises, with generations of family and a huge community of people there to witness them.

There was nothing we needed to add to make that moment matter.

After the ceremony, guests moved into the apple orchard for cocktail hour, and the feeling shifted naturally. Drinks were in hand, conversations started everywhere, and people wandered beneath the trees while the property opened up around them. For a wedding with nearly 200 guests, I loved how the orchard allowed everyone to spread out just enough while still feeling like they were part of the same gathering.

From the orchard, guests found the flower garden, located their table assignments, and made their way to dinner beneath the tent.

This is where I get very excited.

A tent gives us the opportunity to create a room where there was no room before. We decide how guests enter it, what they see first, what is happening overhead, how the tables fill the space, how dinner moves through it, and how it will feel when nearly 200 people are finally sitting inside.

For Katherine and Dave, we wanted that first look inside the tent to be worth it.

The design had layers and warmth, with enough personality to hold its own against the scale of the gathering. Everything we had been developing through the wedding could continue here, but dinner was not a set waiting to be photographed. It had to work beautifully once 200 people sat down, food began moving through the space, glasses filled the tables, and conversation got louder.

And the food deserved the time we gave it.

It was excellent.

Guests settled in and actually ate dinner. There was no rush to clear everyone out of their seats and move on to the next scheduled moment. With that many people gathered in one place, sitting down together for a genuinely great meal was part of the celebration.

Some of my favorite moments of the entire weekend happened while everyone was still at those tables.

The toasts were incredibly special.

They were funny, emotional, specific, and full of history. The kind of toasts where you learn something new about the people getting married even after spending months planning their wedding.

I watched Katherine and Dave while their people spoke about them, and their gratitude was written all over their faces. They had been that way throughout planning. They noticed the work people were doing for them. They appreciated the people around them. And sitting beneath that tent with nearly 200 people who had traveled to Maine to celebrate their marriage, they seemed to understand exactly how extraordinary that gathering was.

Later, the mood changed completely.

The lighting shifted, disco balls came alive, the band started playing, and all of that meaning and emotion gave way to a really good party.

I loved that we never asked this wedding to be one thing.

It could have a Jewish ceremony rooted in generations of tradition and, hours later, disco balls and a live band. Guests could drink cocktails beneath apple trees and then sit down beneath a tent for an incredible dinner. A seating chart could become a flower garden. Vintage Hermès ties could find a new life inside the wedding.

That was our version of whimsical.

Not cute. Not precious. Not a theme we needed to repeat everywhere.

Interesting. Layered. A little surprising.

And full of life.

By the end of the night, nearly 200 people had experienced the wedding we had spent months creating. They had celebrated Katherine and Dave in Portland the night before, watched them marry beneath a chuppah at Flanagan Farm, wandered through the apple orchard, found their names among the flowers, shared an incredible meal, listened to toasts that were worth remembering, and danced while a live band played under the lights.

Katherine and Dave were such a joy to work with through all of it.

They trusted us. They cared about the choices we were making. They were thoughtful without getting lost in the details, and grateful throughout the entire process. By the time the wedding arrived, I cared very much about giving them a weekend that lived up to everything we had been creating together.

And watching them take it all in was one of the best parts.

When I look back at their Flanagan Farm wedding now, I see a celebration with so much range. Tradition and whimsy. A huge gathering that still had intimate moments. Thoughtful design that was never afraid to have fun. Really good food, meaningful words, and a party that knew when it was time to be a party.

It was a very good wedding.

And I am very grateful I got to be part of it.

Creative Partners:

Planning and Design: @charitylynnweddings

Photographer: @emilydelamater  

Venue: @thebarnatflanaganfarm 

Video: @adamgorhamfilms

Caterer: @Misshamills

Bar: @thenightcapbarco

HMUA: @sarahandcodesigns

Cake: @bearbrookbakery

Band: @plushmusiclive

Florist: @1timesthecharm

Rentals: @peakeventservices , @revelryeventcollections, @bbjlatavola, @sunflowereventsme

Lighting: @maineeventdesignanddecor

Invitation suite: @freckle_studios

Seating chart: @cove_mill_design_co

Day of paper: @minted

Transportation: First Charter

Welcome Party: @riraportland

Bridal Shop: @markingramatelier

Gown: @danahareldesign

Rings:@sohogem, @laurenbjewelry, @holdenrings