Heather & Marc | Rhodes on the Pawtuxet Wedding

Heather and Marc were married on October 7th…a day that had a mix of New England weather! We started sunny, went to drizzly, then to pouring back to clear at night and ended the evening with some more rain – seriously a crazy New England day! Regardless of the weather, we had a great day together from start to finish!

The day started in the childhood neighborhoods of Heather and Marc. Although they haven’t dated since childhood, they actually grew up around the corner from each other – literally! I was able to start at Heather’s house for the details, run over to Marc’s for some getting ready shots, and then come back to Heather’s for her dress – all in the matter of one morning:)!All of Heather’s details were gorgeous (just look at those shoes!), but I am a bit partial to Alex and Ani:) I love my collection and this is the first time that I have seen a combination of bracelets for a bride…they looked awesome!

Heather’s flowers were gorgeous and I am going to let you in on a little secret – all of them, including the guys flowers, were artificial!! They looked so good, I didn’t even realize it until I saw the back of a leaf and noticed the artificial veins as I was pinning one of the guys! The fantastic thing is there wasn’t a single petal lost:)!

I grabbed this quick picture of the girls that were hanging out on the porch with me before I headed to Marcs’.

Then I grabbed a few pictures of the guys playing some frisbee and this group shot before we headed in for tux time!While they were getting to a point where I could enter the room, I had to photograph the beer that Marc’s best man made. He not only made the beer, he bottled and packaged it. I LOVE the design and all of the amazing details that he made sure to include!All of the guys got their tuxes on in Marc’s childhood bedroom. As you can see we were all packed in there, but the made it work and it was actually pretty comical!!All of the guys had these fantastic socks on – they say Party Rock. It was a hint towards an upcoming surprise at the reception!Before heading back to Heather’s we grabbed a few pictures of the guys…
When I arrived back at Heather’s, it was just about time to get her into her dress and details! We took a couple pictures with her pup while she was wearing Marc’s shirt AND when she was in her gown!I love all of the pictures from her mother and sister helping her into her gown. The three of them are exceptionally close and it totally showed!This was one of those moments where the bride says, “Don’t cry mom, you will make me cry.” It is something that I hear very ofter during the getting ready time and I always think about this day with my own daughter – I am already weepy and she is only 5:)!!Seriously Heather is stunning!! Just absolutely gorgeous….Heather’s cousin JUST had a little girl and she was included in the wedding! Donna walked down the isle holding her daughter…so petite and just beautiful!The rain started RIGHT when we were ready to head outside. The girls had some packing up to do, so we grabbed a few pictures on the protected porch and then headed to the ceremony:)!I always love the balcony shot. A bird’s eye view of everything going on below…Our original plans included this stop. A private home, on the water, with a few of the bridge. Although it was raining, we were hopeful that it would slow down by the time we arrived there….That didn’t really happen, but that didn’t stop us:)!Just Heather, Marc and I got out and quickly grabbed as many pictures as we could in about 5-10 minutes:)!Look closely and you can see the raindrops:) I was balancing an umbrella and two cameras, and the two of them were sharing this one umbrella…we seriously should have had a camera crew filming it….I think we would get a big kick out of ourselves in hindsight!The most important thing is that we got some outdoor pictures in the spot that they had wanted, and I LOVE the pictures:)! In my opinion, TOTALLY worth it!!When we got back to Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, we were a bit short on time, so I moved into overdrive to get all of our family formals done and a few more of the bridal party and couple:)! This was a picture Heather had really wanted and I am in LOVE with it:)! They even practiced their dipping for it – because we had struggled a bit at the engagement session:)One of Heather’s favorite details was the uplighting – and I have to say it is ALWAYS a favorite of mine too! Uplighting just adds SO much to your pictures – something to keep in mind if you are planning your own wedding:)The Party Rock socks were a hint for this surprise flash mob dance! It was AWESOME! It was choreographed by one of the bridesmaids who is a dancer and it was awesome!!A couple of the group shots that we did during dinner:)When someone told us that the rain had stopped we grabbed just a couple pictures in front of the venue!Heather and Marc honored 4 family members that all had just or were about to celebrate their birthdays – then the partying began!

This was the best garter/bouquet that I have seen! The guy in the chair is the boyfriend of the bridesmaid that caught the bouquet (she is also the choreographer!). He paid the boy that caught the grated $20 to sit in the chair (after the little guy turned down $5!!). They really got into it, and it was hysterical! I could have made a whole post with my series of pictures from just this 5 minutes of the reception!!A couple of the groomsmen with their girlfriends AND one of Marc’s mom and dad:)!One other picture Heather wanted to try was creating a heart with sparklers! We gave it a couple tries (this was my first time trying this technique), and I like how they came out! I can’t wait to try it again!!

Heather and Marc – welcome back:)!! Thank you so much for including me in your day! It was so much fun (and a bit confusing with the two Heathers:)!!

Vendor Info

bridesmaid dresses |  David’s Bridal

hair | Me: Diane Reed (family friend) Girls: Jennifer from The New Leaf Salon

make-up | Mariane Almeida (friend)

florist | Felicia’s Candies & Flowers

ceremony | Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church  Bristol, RI

reception venue | Rhodes on the Pawtuxet  Cranston, RI

cake |  The Cupcake Queen

dj |  Larry Machado

Songs

introductions | Family & Wedding Party : Get Up Offa That Thing – James Brown

                                   Bride & Groom: I Feel Good – James Brown

first dance | Hold On – Michael Buble into Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO  (flash dance!)

mother/daughter | Ballerina Girl – Lionel Richie

mother/son | In My Life – The Beatles

cake cutting |  Sugar, Sugar – The Archies

last dance |  This Will Be An Everlasting Love – Natalie Cole

Bride/Groom Questions

What was the most memorable moment of your day? 

Our first dance & then breaking out into our flash dance! We totally nailed it!!

What was your favorite detail?

 The uplighting and lanterns. They created a nice ambiance.

Any advice for future brides/grooms? 

Take a moment to sit back and savor the memories that are being made. The day goes by quickly, don’t let it pass you by.

 Funniest memory from your wedding day? 
When the boyfriend of the bridesmaid who caught the bouquet, paid $20 for the garter, which was originally caught by Marc's 7 year old cousin.

 If you could do it all over, would you change anything? 

The only thing that we would have changed was the weather, but that was out of our control (it rained but hey, they say that’s good luck!). Otherwise, everything went perfectly.

Where did you go on your honeymoon? 

Playa del Carmen, Mexico for 10 beautiful days!