Elegant backyard summer wedding in Hingham, Massachusetts

We're always fans of an at home wedding and when your parents' backyard looks like this, it would be criminal not to take advantage of it. Captured beautifully by Boston wedding photographer CATHERINE BAND, It's all your laid-back yet elegant backyard wedding dreams come true!

HOW DID YOU MEET? We met at work! Turns out we actually only lived one street apart in South Boston. We started out as friends and Max eventually asked me on a date – grabbing a drink at a local bar down the street from where we both lived. One drink turned into three and we never looked back! 

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: Max proposed while we were in Woodstock, Vermont celebrating his 27^th birthday. I had planned the whole weekend for him – turns out I was planning my own engagement! We grabbed lunch and took a walk to check out the fall foliage and the famous covered bridge in town. As we were walking over the bridge, I happened to catch a glance of a photographer looking in our direction. Next thing I know Max is down on one knee! This was during a time when covid restrictions were still pretty prevalent, so we had a really special weekend celebrating just the two of us before we returned and had dinner with both of our families. 

TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR WEDDING DRESS: I found my dress at L’Elite bridal in Boston. I knew I wanted a classic, elegant dress that had an airy vibe to it – perfect for our backyard wedding. I found my dream Monique Lhuillier dress after only trying on 8 dresses!

DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS: My bouquet was a lush and dimensional collection of roses and spray roses. I told my florist I wanted something rustic, romantic, and elegant – whites and greens with a pop of colour. What she put together was better than anything I could have imagined!

FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: There are so many to chose from. Our seating display was an element we pulled together last minute – literally week of wedding. My mom and I went to Homegoods and found this cool rustic ladder shelf. Our florist suggested we put the seating assignments on small vases with roses that matched our table arrangements. The display came together so well and was such a stunning addition to the tent entrance way. 

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OUT TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING? Have fun! There are so many elements of wedding planning that can become stressful. While there are a lot of decisions to make and small details to think through, at the end of the day having all your favourite people together to celebrate with you makes it all worth it.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT: During cocktail hour Max and I were able to sneak away to my parents roofdeck to look over the wedding. It was such a special moment for the two of us looking out at all of our people who were brought together because of us!

WHAT ASPECT OF THE WEDDING WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU BOTH? It was really important to us to have our friends and family feel a part of our day. We had people outside of the wedding party getting ready with us beforehand. We opted for a large, family style head table that ended up having over 30 people seated with us! We also went for big tables so the rest of our guests so they could be seated with lots of family friends.

ANY OTHER DETAILS THAT HELP TELL THE STORY OF YOUR DAY? It was 95 degrees and Max was late to alter 😊. Even that didn’t stop this from being the best day of our lives! Plus both elements have given us some good laughs to look back on.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR HONEYMOON: We went to Maui, Hawaii. It was the longest flight either of us had ever taken – but a destination both of us had dreamed of going to. It was the most amazing two weeks to start our lives as a married couple.

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.