A city chic wedding never looked so good! Captured by Boston wedding photographer CATHERINE BAND, Rachel and Robert held their wedding at THE NEWBURY HOTEL in Boston which offered them a timeless, elegant space to celebrate in.
WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR WEDDING STYLE? My best friend from college has her own stationery company, GRACE OAKLEY STUDIOS and she posts inspiration pictures on her Instagram on a regular basis. She posted a lot of wild garden and French countryside pictures that I loved. I compiled my favourite ones into a mood board and then let my wedding planner MAVINHOUSE EVENTS use that as the basis for the design.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS LOCATION? I am from Boston and my husband is from Chicago, so we had a lot of guests flying in who had also never been to Boston. We wanted to have a place that was easy to get to and also felt like quintessential Boston. My parents had just stayed at the Newbury and suggested we take a look there. We went on a tour and I loved the modern old Hollywood vibes and also the employees I met that day. The whole process felt very seamless with them.
HOW DID YOU MEET? We met at a Halloween party in 2017. I was dressed as Princess Leia because it was the only size small left at Halloween Spirit that day (I am not a Star Wars fan) and Bob was dressed as Bob the Builder.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: I love being outdoors and on the water, so Bob pulled together a private sunset cruise with our friends and proposed to me in Monroe Harbor in downtown Chicago. Since we had only just looked at rings, I was completely surprised because I thought we were going to get engaged months later. He also organised a zoom call with all my college friends and our families right after, so we could celebrate together despite being far apart. It is one of the happiest days of my life.
TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR WEDDING DRESS/ATTIRE: I had searched a lot on Instagram and Pinterest to find designers that I liked. I knew I wanted more of a sleek modern look and I kept coming back to Sarah Seven. My mom and my best friend Grace flew to Chicago and I set up a whole day to try on dresses starting with Sarah Seven. I had the best sales women at Sarah Seven named Kaia; she was sweet and fun with amazing style. She listed to all the feedback about what I liked and didn't like and the ultimately pulled together the dress and the cape to complete the look. When I turned around to see myself in the mirror, I immediately knew it was my dress.
DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS: I wanted the flowers to feel whimsical and wild like we were in a garden to contradict the straight lines and polished feeling of the Newbury. The Newbury is also a lot of blues and greens in the interior so I chose orange as the pop of colour in the arrangements, again providing that contrast.
FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: My college friends and I have this tradition called the Women's circle and it's meant to bring good luck for the day. We meet about an hour before we start hair and make up, and everyone presents something to the bride to support her that day. It can be anything from a love poem, a proverb, flowers, writing down hopes for the day, saging the room, etc. The Women's circle always brings a lot of laughs and a lot of happy tears. I left feeling so loved and supported, ready to take on the day.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OUT TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING? Get a wedding planner!
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? Our first look. I was so nervous until he turned around. Seeing him immediately calmed me down.
ANY OTHER DETAILS THAT HELP TELL THE STORY OF YOUR DAY? For the reception, we had a band until 10:30pm and then we had a DJ in another room to close out the night. This was great because people who wanted to leave on the earlier side could easily go home and people who wanted to stay late to party.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR HONEYMOON: We did a two week trip to Italy starting in the Amalfi Coast, then hit Florence and ended at a resort in Tuscany. It was such an amazing trip riding the high from the wedding.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE OR DO DIFFERENTLY? I know everyone says this, but I truly did not understand how quickly it all goes by. The whole weekend felt like it happened in two hours when it was over. I wish I taken a beat to be in the moment more. That being said, I am very grateful that I had such an amazing photographer, Catherine Band, who captured all of the big and small moments, so we can relive them long after our wedding day.
Thank you so much to Boston wedding photographer CATHERINE BAND for sharing this beautiful wedding with us. Catherine uses film photography as much as possible during wedding days when she has natural light available. "I love how my film photographs look like paintings. Wedding photography can be an art, and film forces me to slow down and be artistic." If you're looking for a Boston wedding photographer you can see more of Catherine's work in our VENDOR GUIDE and also in this Late Summer wedding at Belle Mer in Newport, Rhode Island.
