Boating Down the Aisle

From the desk of: Phoebe Allen

From day one Melissa and Dragos wanted a reception style wedding… A reception where their guests could mingle, eat and dance, and not be stuck to a table… a giant charcuterie table was also high on their list but we’ll get there.

We began chats with Melissa and Dragos back in May 2020, when the world was surely unstable and the future was quite unknown, but it was up to us to keep a positive outlook and to keep the ball rolling as best we could.

Our first task at hand was to find the perfect venue. They wanted something out of the ordinary, a location that their guests may not have been to, and would find dreamy. We landed on the ICA Boston. With 2020 came a couple of date changes due to Covid, and we landed on Saturday of Labor Day 2021. As we have said before… creating the dream vendor team for each couple and client is truly what we do best. We sit with our clients, get to know them and their families and then offer up vendors we think may pair well with their style, tastes and budgets and then we go from there. After drafting our vendor dream team (see all tags at the bottom of the page) it was time to create the perfect floorplan. This is really the basis of all our plans. Before we can secure rentals and start designing we need a good base floorplan that 1. allows for enough seating but more importantly is 2. allows for good flow! We went back and forth and had a couple revisions but ultimately landed on the below. You can see how much detail goes into these! And later would be filled with beauty from florist O Luxe Design, along with rentals from Taylor Creative and Party Rentals.

As items started to get checked off our lists and the days came closer to Sept 4, 2021 we truly could not wait for this special day. When the day arrived, Dragos and his groomsmen started the day at Tweed Barbers and then casually got dressed at their home in the South End. While taking a little stroll throughout the neighborhood, Photographers, Alice and Chris, captured one of my favorite photos from the day below…

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Melissa and her bridal party were getting ready at The Newbury with hair and makeup from Amanda Jean and Stilisti. We brought the bridal party lunch from Revival Cafe, and spent the morning organizing her personal items and designing the flatlay board with her invitations from Gus and Ruby.

The first look was next, along with all the family and bridal party photos. When I tell you we had the most perfect weather, it truly was a 10/10 day. It was just stunning, and the portraits came out beautiful. That morning in the gardens Melissa and Dragos were absolutely glowing.

As the photos ended, and we gathered everyones belongings, the shuttles started to depart the gardens and head to the ICA for the ceremony! Guests were welcomed to the waterfront and asked to be seated on the steps of the ICA. The ceremony started and groom and groomsmen, the parents and bridal party headed down the aisle….

Now, this ceremony was a little unlike the rest in that we coordinated the bride and her father actually coming into the ceremony on their family boat. We hired a captain to help dock the boat and we managed to keep the whole arrival a surprise for all of the guests. When it was the brides turn to come down the aisle, the guests stood up, a little confused, they looked at me… since I had been sending the rest of the bridal part down the aisle. But when I peaked out and did not have the bride there was a moment of a “what is going on” look on the guests faces. They soon were surprised by a boating horn! When they all turned to look towards the water, they were wowed to see Melissa and her dad were gliding in on boat! It was pretty epic to say the least and it was the FIRST time it had happened at the ICA.

From the ceremony guests enjoyed a cocktail hour under twinkle lights along with the giant charcuterie display that bride had wanted from the beginning.

From there, guests were led inside to dancing and food stations for the rest of the night. The Catered Affair did an amazing job with keeping guests fed with mouth watering food throughout the night and Groove Authority kept them on the dance floor till the bitter end.

It was a beautiful celebration and we wouldn’t change a thing!

All vendors below