On June 10th, 2017, Jillian and James were married at the Wentworth by the Sea in New Castle, New Hampshire. Their ceremony took place outside at the gazebo and it was the perfect warm, late spring day for the couple to exchange vows. After the ceremony, we did portraits all over the lovely property of the resort. There were so many beautiful locations that included flower gardens, open areas of perfectly-mowed lawn, and even a quaint little arbor. Once we finished the portraits, a lovely reception followed in the Wentworth Ballroom. Jillian and James were announced in and their wedding party surrounded the dance floor as the couple shared their first dance. Next, they received four heartfelt speeches and toasts. After the cake was cut, there was a garter and bouquet toss. The rest of the evening was filled with laughter, dancing and unforgettable memories.

I’m so honored to have been part of Jillian and James’ special day and had a blast working with them. I asked Jillian to share a little more about their love story:

When and where did your engagement take place? Please describe the proposal.

Our engagement happened on Valentine’s Day of 2016. James had the whole day planned out with some funny jokes along the way. All day he had been giving me joke gifts: in the morning he came down with a ring box and got on one knee, when he opened it it was a candy ring. This threw me off so I had no idea we would be getting engaged that day. He took me out for coffee at our favorite shop in Kittery, Lil’s Cafe. After that he asked if I wanted to go to Prescott Park in Portsmouth, NH for a quick walk, I was hesitant since it was the coldest day of the winter that day but we went. He took a gift bag out of the car and we walked over to the bench we had sat on our first date. He had me open the gift and I took out a necklace box and I just assumed this was a valentine’s gift, I opened it up and it was a candy necklace :) I laughed and turned to put it down and when I turned back around he was down on one knee with the actual engagement ring.

What did you envision your wedding being prior to planning?

I always envisioned our wedding in the summer somewhere close to the ocean. I have grown up on the coast of New England my whole life so being near the ocean was important to me. I went through many theme and color ideas but I really just wanted a classic, timeless style wedding.

What was your color palette and your style vision?

Our color palette was Shades of Blue, grey and white. James and I's favorite color is blue so we definitely knew we wanted lots of blue. My style vision was a classic New England coastal wedding, which is why we went with the Wentworth as a venue because it really shows that historic feel of this area. We were both born and raised in New England, on the coast and we truly love this area.

What is your favorite moment of your wedding day?

My favorite moment was when my dad first saw me, and also when I walked down the aisle and saw James. He looked so happy and stunned which is what I was hoping for! We also of course loved the dancing! It was really hard to pick a moment because we thought the whole day was so perfect!!

What song did you do your first dance to?

Our First dance was to Everything by Michael Buble. We chose it because it was an upbeat and fun love song!

Tell us about your flowers, your gown, your favors, your cake, etc.

My gown was a Maggie Sottero, trumpet style gown, champagne color under the lace overlay. It had rhinestones around the sweetheart neckline. For our flowers we wanted to have garden flowers: Peonies, Garden roses, tweedia and lots of greenery. I wanted the style of flowers to be natural and free flowing. The centerpieces had blue and white hydrangeas, white peonies and dark blue delphinium to contrast the white and light blue. Our cake had three different flavors: Lemon strawberry, middle layer was carrot and the top layer was a lemon ginger. The cake was white decorated with blue hydrangeas and white roses. Our favors were made by my Mom Bernadette, who has her own garden pottery business. She made the little boxes and they were filled with mints.

What advice would you give to couples who are currently planning their wedding?

Advice for couples planning their wedding is leave the stress out of it and just enjoy the process. I went into our wedding feeling so relaxed because we hired such great people to handle everything. Don't stress because it's one of the happiest times of your life, so even if things don't always go perfectly always have fun with the process and especially on the day of your wedding!