Private Residence :: Stratford, CT ::

What do you get when you combine an AMAZING Bride and Groom, their insanely good-looking and fun bridal party, the beach, AND the greatest wedding band ever, Derek and the Funbags? A Perfect Storm.

Kaitlin and Marcus were one of the most fun, easy-going, I-just-want-to-party-at-my-wedding couples I have ever known. They had a tented wedding at the Bluffs in Stratford in front of Marcus's dad's [absolutely breathtaking] property in Stratford, CT.

Kaitlin and I must have talked everyday for a week leading up to her wedding. The weather started off looking great and little by little, the percentage for rain continued to increase. Whatever, I've seen it before and, let's be honest, most weathermen have a difficult time predicting yesterday's weather. We had a plan B but weren't too worried.

The day started off at 6:30 a.m. with Megan, my fabulous and super-clutch assistant, setting up the tablescapes and décor in the tent; Kaitlin used the navy and white striped table runners from the Amy Champagne stock of wedding stuff, as well as the gorg white distressed lanterns, tiki torches, adirondack chairs, white picture frames, and globe lights. Megan and I set up the tent, called in orders for items that we needed and basically hustled from 6:30 am until 11:00 am when we had to pull a Clark Kent by changing out of our setup garb and into our wedding coordinator look in random public bathrooms en route to the hotel and ceremony.

The bridesmaids could have worn a paper bag for clothing and nine-day old hair and still look amazing but nevertheless they had a couple hair stylists doing hair and Krista Dicocco of Ryan John Salon (who has coincidentally been doing my hair for the better part of a decade) did the bride's hair. Makeup by Emily Rosnick  looked flawless and withstood the test of heat, time and rain as these girls looked perfect even as they loaded onto the shuttle at the end of the night.

The ceremony took place at St. Thomas church in Fairfield, CT. The church is beautiful by itself however it looked awesome decorated with the baby's breath arraignments in tall galvanized buckets by Flowers by Danielle. The ceremony was wonderful and classic in tradition. After Kaitlin + Marcus exchanged vows they left the ceremony with a team of firefighters playing the bag pipes at the entrance of the church(Marcus is a firefighter btw). It was awesome.

      After the ceremony guests headed to the cocktail hour that was planned to be on the gorgeous wraparound porch and in the street between the house and the bluffs however with the crazy winds we were forced to move the cocktail hour under the tent on the dance floor. From the looks of it, the guests were enjoying the delicious appetizers and drinks, very well done by Michelle Torres and her team from Harborview Market of Black Rock, CT, especially under the circumstances and were not affected by the pending tornado watch.      

During dinner/speeches was when the actual storm was threatening the wedding. Abbey Tent + Rental was the rental company for the event, and I cannot say enough about their responsiveness to all of the last-minute changes to the scope of the original rental agreement. George and his team answered every single one of my calls, delivered everything I needed in no time and when we received word that a tornado dropped in NYC, Giants Stadium was evacuated and the Oyster Fest in Norwalk was cancelled, he sent not one, but THREE employees to watch over the event to tend to any issues, restake the tent etc until the storm passed. When a storm of this magnitude was scheduled to drop in the middle of the reception they have to put safety first and possibility of having to evacuate the tent was definitely looming. Evacuating the tent was definitely NOT in any of the plans, but in about 2 minutes I had a Plan, F, G, H since A-E were already exhausted haha. Rob from Abbey Tent was just about to make the call and we ended up waiting, and praying actually, and you know what? It was windy, and it was rainy but that was it.

What Rain?

I may have dropped off a couple of extra drinks to Kaitlin and Marcus and at the end of the day, DJ James + Derek and the Funbags saved the reception. Because while we were up in the air with the threat of evacuation we had the band take the stage and the guests through all the concerns about dirty feet, messy hair, and wet clothes to the wind (literally, I guess haha) and danced the night away.

It was a party to say the least, Kaitlin and Marcus had a blast at their wedding and so did their guests and that's what they wanted and that's what they got. It was definitely a fun wedding and I am so happy that I was a part of it.

Until next time,

AC::

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