Our Wedding: Part I

September 9, 2017 I married my best friend, high school sweetheart and love of my life. The entire weekend embodied so much joy, excitement and love and was truly more beautiful than Sergio and I could have ever imagined. Putting together this [very long] post to share with you girls made my heart overflow with joy yet again.

Sergio and I always knew we wanted to get married in Portland, Maine for many reasons with most all centering around the memories we’ve made there. We experienced so many different chapters of our relationship in this city.

From transitioning our high school love to a four year long distance relationship [I attended college in Portland, him in Boston] to carefree summers full of the ocean breeze and sand between our toes [we had internships summer’s leading to junior and senior year and lived in Portland which was an hour away from home] all the way to navigating adulthood with our first apartment together [something I had dreamed of all four years of college!!] and “real” jobs upon graduation. During these precious, but of course at times trying years, we grew together during a time when many relationships grew apart and we formed a bond that would last forever.

Then, three years after moving from Portland to Boston, Sergio brought me back on August 21, 2016 to get down on one knee on Peak’s Island and asked me to be his wife!! And now with our wedding day, this city holds an even bigger chunk of my heart. It also didn’t hurt that it’s absolutely breathtaking during the summer and had so much to offer our guests for food, drinks and entertainment.

Our wedding weekend kicked off on Thursday with our friends and family arriving from all over the country. My family lives an hour North, S’ in Kansas and our bridal parties live many different states. Having everyone together, under one roof for an entire weekend was one of the best parts of the entire event. A large chunk of our bridal parties are our friends from college who are all each other’s best friends as well so having the group, plus our other besties, together was just indescribable.

On Friday, we had a dry run through our Catholic ceremony location, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The all white marble structure and stained glass detailing easily makes this the most beautiful church we’ve ever seen. I’m probably bias, but once you see, you’ll agree!

After we had our ceremony dry run, our family and bridal parties enjoyed a private dinner at TIQA and regrouped at the Top of the East for drinks. Fun fact if you’re ever visiting Portland, the Top of the East is the tallest bar in Portland with a jaw dropping view. It’s actually located on the top of our reception location and where us and our guests were all staying. All throughout the weekend, this cute lounge ended up being the spot where our friends and family regrouped and gathered which was so fun!

Right before going to bed, my bridesmaid Hannah shared a memory book she and my other bridesmaids put together for me. Inside there was a handwritten note from each of my bridesmaids and stationary from all different phases of our engagement – save the date, bridal shower, wedding invitation, etc. Naturally, my heart bursted and I immediately started crying. It was the sweetest gesture EVER and is such a representation of the women I’m so lucky to call my best friends.

And then Saturday arrived.

I woke up with such butterflies, but also a sense of ease. Today was the day! My entire being was full of joy. I felt so blessed to be marrying the most humble, selfless, handsome, driven, strong, reliable, intelligent man in front of our friends, family and God. I’d been waiting for this day since we started dating nine and a half years ago. While I could’t wait to say yes to being S’ wife forever, I also wanted it to go as slowly as possible to soak up every emotion and moment!

We kicked off the morning with a whopping 5AM alarm clock. I had a sleepover with my bestie, Hannah, who is actually engaged to one of S’ groomsmen, Timmy, who also had a sleepover the night before. Waking up to Hannah is like starting your day with a ray of sunshine. While Hannah grabbed us breakfast, I quickly realized that the projected forecast of torrential downpour changed to a gorgeous, sunny sky without a rain drop in sight!

I also wore this to bed and got ready in it as well.

And if you’re wondering why we were up so early.. our ceremony was at 1PM with cocktail hour starting at 5PM followed by reception at 6PM. The reason being is that Maine Catholic churches won’t marry couples past 1PM so we had only a bit of time to get me, my six bridesmaids and my MIL beautified before heading over to the ceremony.

While we stressed about this when we first starting planning, it ended up being perfect for us and our guests. Our guests ended up exploring the cobblestone roads, oceanside breeze, cute local shops and endless bars Portland has to offer and I got even more time to be a bride, so win win hehe.

The hair and make up team from Bei Cappeli arrived and my bridesmaids all started funneling into my bridal suite to get all dolled up, listen to music, drink mimosas and share a lot of hugs. My thoughtful bestie Rachel came in with emergency kit and espresso in hand and my MOH Amanda with the champagne and the sweetest memory box [we’ve been friends since fourth grade!]. My girls are so sweet.

People had asked me all different times through the week leading up to our wedding if “it had hit me yet”. Which I responded with a serious no! We took the entire week off to enjoy time with family, but the actual MARRIAGE hadn’t hit me yet! I remember the exact moment it did though.

Our photographer walked in as I was sitting in the chair getting my hair make up done. For some reason, that was the moment it hit me. Butterflies engulfed my stomach and I was so giddy that in a few short hours, I would be marrying my best friend!

Through wedding planning, I didn’t contemplate wedding accessories at all! Even before getting engaged, I saw these Kendra Scott earrings and these Valentino Rockstuds knew I wanted to wear them both on my wedding day. I also always envisioned myself with a long, stunning cathedral veil and that dream only seemed fitting with our ceremony location! I basically had my accessories picked out before my dress, haha!

I found my dream wedding dress dress at Flair! on Newbury Street in Boston. I only visited one boutique, walked in wanting to try on two gowns, tried on six and left being tied in love between the two I went in for! After sleeping on it and chatting my supportive and patient dad and bridesmaid Rachel’s ears off for 12 hours, I woke up knowing this was most absolutely ‘the one’.

I wore a gorgeous Hayley Paige gown that is modern, yet timeless and in S’ words ‘very Mindy’. The unique lace bodice, tulle bottom and stunningly detailed back made me feel so confident and gorgeous all day long. I LOVED being a ball of tulle all day. SO BRIDAL and so fun!

One of my very favorite moments of the day is the first look I had with my dad. We have been though a lot together in life and he’s played the role of both a mother and father to me. So while most people have their mom by their side planning their wedding day, I had my dad and I wouldn’t have it any other way. My dad has shown me more endless love than an entire village of parents could ever provide and for that, I’m not missing anything in life and am forever lucky.

He was such a great sport too. My 6’2″ dad went to an itty bitty, 500 square foot bridal shop with three of my bridesmaids [and two other consultations.. packed house!] to find my gorgeous, dream wedding dress. He helped us narrow down our menu choices and taste tested our wedding cake. Even though he was four hours away, he was involved in so much of the planning and there are so many moments I’ll cherish forever  – especially this first look that put me at total ease.

And of course seeing my gorgeous besties was so exciting! They wore gorgeous Adrianna Papell beaded gowns in the color ‘taupe’. We actually pulled the trigger on their gowns before I even purchased my own! That’s how in love I was with them. They all looked gorgeous. They wore nude, open toed heels to create a cohesive look. I gifted them all Kendra Scott jewelry to wear day-of, floral satin robes to get ready in and a skin care set to treat themselves later and it was all wrapped up in cheeky bridesmaids bags!

S’ has such a huge heart. When he asked me to marry him, he was down on one knee for ten minutes with the most eloquent words, going through all the things he adored about me/us and the reasons he wanted me to be his wife and spend forever together. Naturally, his wedding card was just as heartfelt and brought me to tears with many laughs thrown in as well.

We chose not to do a first look because he wanted to see me for the first time walking down the aisle. He is very traditional on a lot of things, that being one of them. Exchanging cards and reading his words before leaving for our ceremony put me at such ease. We didn’t get his card captured professionally, but on the front it said “I have loved you for 3,469 days” and I gifted him awesome Patriots tickets.

He wrapped up a gorgeous David Yurman cable bracelet that has a blue stone and said it was my “forever something blue”. Yup, crying again just thinking about it.

Oh, my handsome boys! It made this day even more special that all S’ best men are all my best friends too! All seven of these boys went to college together and are so close. Three of them are S’ roommates and the other three were his college room neighbors. I was basically Tyler, Hayden and Matt’s fifth roommate through college and visited every other weekend HAHA. We’ve all grown up together from early 20’s to now and I love just them all so much. Two are actually dating/engaged to two of my bridesmaids as well! 🙂

S, my grandfather, our father’s and the groomsmen wore custom fit traditional black tuxedos and a sleek bow tie for a modern pop. They’re all so handsome! Our amazing florist made them boutonnieres from olive branches and to set S a part, his had a white garden rose.

Now it was time to travel from the getting ready suites to the ceremony. It was only five minutes away, but we wanted everyone to feel comfortable and have efficient transportation so we rented the most adorable trolly. Since our photographer traveled to the ceremony with the guys, my dad snagged a beautiful photo of us girls traveling over and it’s actually one of my favorite photos captured from the day! I’ll have to share it later!

My bestie and bridesmaid Hannah is so talented. She hand calligraphied the mirror my dad put together for our ceremony entrance! I had a heart attack the day before our wedding because I forgot the gold marker, but our fiends Hannah, Rachel and Tim were ON IT. I totally forgot we were getting married in the art district of Portland, so they found a local art shop that helped them find just what was needed! Isn’t she so talented?!

From hopping off the trolley, to getting ready to walk down the aisle is all a total blur of excitement! Once I was hand in hand with my dad and saw S waiting at the alter, time slowed down.

While guests were waiting, we had a live pianist playing Taylor’s Swift’s Love Story and Begin Again as our prelude. We couldn’t get married without a touch of mah girl TSwift, duh. Our bridal party walked down to the piano instrumental of Ed Sheeran’s How Would You Feel. My dad and I walked to Perfect. We wanted the music to be modern songs that mean something to us with a hint of traditional aspect which the live piano beautifully presented.

Once we got to the end of the aisle, my dad put my hand in S’ and leaned over to whisper to me. He told me to stop crying or else I’d mess up my make up which immediately made me laugh!

Just a little excited 😉 We walked our to the piano instrumental of ‘Marry You’ by Bruno Mars! We loved curating the songs for our ceremony. S got really into it. We felt like leaving on an upbeat, fun note and this song did just that!

This is my 87 year old Grampy Thompson. I love him so much and his personality lights up a room! Everyone that meets him adores him. I have some cute moments of him from our reception that I’ll be sharing with you all too. We had a couple special dances together. He’s got moves!

For our ceremony exit, our guests blew bubbles! I love the cute touch this added and our guests had so much fun with it! Here is a little video of our exit that our friend Jackie captured.

After walking through the aisle of bubbles, S and I snuck onto the trolley by ourselves to have some moments alone and head to our portrait location. The awesome thing about our location was that the ceremony, portrait location and reception were all in a five minute radius. After about fifteen minutes, our immediate family and bridal party joined us. We stocked the trolley up with healthy snacks, waters, beers and Itz Spritz to hold people’s bellies over and give them a head start on the part-ay.

Having a moment together after the ceremony was so perfect. S and I soaked in the moment together at Portland’s City Hall. The location made for the most gorgeous backdrop and was were we applied for our marriage license two months earlier! The photo above may be my favorite of the entire day. My groom is so handsome!

I’ve always dreamed of having photos by the water so S and I scooted over to Cape Elizabeth for some more portraits. We also had fun roaming through a gorgeous field full of yellow flowers. I cannot wait to frame these for our future home!!

Thank you so much for reading! I went through thousands of pictures to select the highlights and had so much fun. We have loved sharing our engagement and now wedding day with you all! Next week I’ll be sharing our cocktail hour, reception and personal details so check back for that! Xo Mindy

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 VENDORS
[one-half-first]Ceremony: Cathedral of the Immaculate Concepetion
Reception: Harborview Hotel
Planning: Back Bay Bride
Photography: Peter Greeno Weddings
Florals: Flour! Flower & Sweets
Trolley: Portland Discovery
Beauty: Bei Cappeli
Bridal Dress: Hayley Paige from Flair!
Heels: Valentino Rockstuds
Nightie: Show Me Your Mumu
Earrings: Kalina Earrings Kendra Scott c/o[/one-half-first][one-half]
Bracelet: Cole Bracelet Kendra Scott c/o
Lipgloss: Tom Ford in ‘Sahara Pink’
Perfume: Tom Ford Soleil Blanc
Tuxedos: The Black Tux
Bridesmaids Gowns: Adrianna Papell in Taupe
Bridesmaids Earrings: Ellie Stud Kendra Scott c/o
Bridal Robes: Here’s to Love c/o
Letterpress Invitation Suites: Minted c/o
Envelope Lines: DIYed those babies!
Wedding bands: Long’s Jewelers [ask for Judd!][/one-half]