Wedding Festivities!

Alright so now that we're nearly an entire month away from when the wedding occurred, it's high time I actually mentioned the wedding itself!  If you're just joining the party, you can read about the fun bridesmaid swag I got from the bride and check out pictures from the ladies all getting their hair and makeup done.

After we concluded our morning at Salon Bellisimo and ate a quick lunch, we made the trek from Newburyport (on the north shore of Mass) to our hotel in Fitchburg (about an hour north-west of Boston). At the hotel (a very forgiving Holiday Inn), we dropped off our overnight belongings in our rooms and grabbed our bridesmaid dresses and wedding essentials. Then all six bridesmaids and the bride-to-be piled into a vehicle [shoutout to Kara for being a good sport and sitting in the trunk of the vehicle covered in shoes and random wedding stuff] to head to Harrington Farm to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding ceremony was taking place on the property of Harrington Farm in Princeton, MA, with the reception being held inside the Farm's old renovated barn.  The property is off the beaten path (you need to take lots of small roads to get there), but once you arrive the scenery and mood are perfect for a wedding. There was a lovely meadow directly across the small street from the barnhouse, which later made for a fantastic photo shoot (more on that to come!). With clear views of the surrounding trees, it must also be a perfect place for a fall New England wedding. You've got to check out photos of all the grounds here:  Photo Gallery | Harrington Farm

Once we arrived at the farm, the ladies and gents all scampered upstairs to separate rooms in the old barnhouse, where we got into our wedding attire.

The bridesmaids got our dresses on, adorned ourselves with all of our brand new jewelry, made some final makeup touches, and then helped Jenna get herself situated.

.  jenna's momma helping with final touches!  .

Here she is looking absolutely freaking perfect before we headed down to the ceremony:

.  looking damn gewd  .
.  and check out those beautiful flowers!  .

When the guests had arrived and been seated it was finally time to begin the ceremony.

The bridal party had a long, sloping lawn to cross before arriving at the arbor area, so it was of utmost importance that none of us fall or lose our shit. Here are the trusty groomsmen who led us all flawlessly down the hill:

.  thanks guys!  .
.  aren't they dapper?!  .

Our friend Nigel (who was also one of the groomsmen, far left above) was officiating the wedding. This was a special choice for the bride and groom because Nigel was the mutual friend who introduced Jenna and Dan in the first place. The service was a great mixture of humor and sincerity from Nigel - he did such a great job!!

.  zee look of love  .

After the ceremony the guests all retreated to cocktail hour under a large tent that had been set up on the lawn of Harrington Farm. The bridal party started drinking and getting pictures taken by the photographer. This part was a blast - I can't wait to see the photographer's pics!

.  just married!!  .
.  AREN'T THEY BEAUTIFUL???  .

.  one of the best (amateur) photos from the meadow photo shoot  .

.  content bridesmaids following the ceremony, champagne-ing and waiting our turn for photos  .
.  sarah, kara, me, abigail  .

Here's a look at the reception area inside the barn, before the ceremony:

Each bridesmaid/groomsmen couple danced into the reception to James Brown's Get Up, and I have to say that for several members of the bridal party, there was a little bit of nerves surrounding this part of the entire ordeal! I mean, check out how long that aisle is that we had to dance down! (Above pic) Fortunately, once excitement kicked in none of us really had to think about it too much and OUR BODIES TOOK OVER. #OontzOontzOontz. There IS video of these dance entrances, but I'll have to share that with you some other time when it eventually sees the light of day (read: When it shows up on YouTube somehow).

The reception was SUCH a great time -  full of good music, impressive dance moves, beautiful moments between Jenna and Dan...

.  awwwww  .

... unbelievably delicious Italian food, one thousand hugs, lots of fun pictures....

.  nigel, geoff, me, derek  . 

.  kathryn and kara  .
.  makin' moves  .

... and our friends' legendary dance-floor takeover for a good old fashioned "Shout!"

.  a little bit softer now...  .

.  a little bit louder now...  .

.  A LITTLE BIT LOUDER NOW  .

HEY-EY-EY-EY!

Fun fact: "Shout!" has been a staple song amongst my beautiful group of friends for so many years now. It started out as something we'd play at house parties in college (ZOOOOMASSSSSS), and it has seamlessly become a part of all of our post-college "adult" festivities as well. You've never seen a group of 20-somethings so excited about this song coming on over a set of speakers. Ever.

This picture is definitely missing lots of important people... like the bride and groom, for example.

I'm proud to report that my high heels lasted on my feet the entire ceremony and reception. I did my best to "wear them in" a bit while I was home in Vancouver, to make sure they would be as comfy as possible when the wedding came. I guess it worked!

(In case you are wondering, my shoes were the Dyeables brand in the style Aliyah. We all chose our own styles from the Dyeables selection and then had them batch-dyed a champagne color.)

After the reception, we piled into buses and shuttled back to our hotel in Fitchburg - that ultra forgiving Holiday Inn that I was mentioning earlier.

Here, we promptly took over the hotel - including their lobby and outdoor patio - and made all the other hotel guests wish they were invited to our raucous party.  #JKTheyProbablyHatedUs. #Winks. When we were eventually kicked out of the hotel patio at 3AM, it was a fitting end to a perfect celebration.

I wish I could go back and do it all again right now! Jenna and Dan (and each of their fun families) certainly know how to throw a party. Everyone had an amazing time at this wedding - a love-fest for the books!

Special thank you to Lauren and Kathryn for letting me use their photos for this blog post ;)


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