Annemarie's Wedding

Jimmy and I were married Saturday, November 26, 2011- Thanksgiving weekend. Although many people would steer clear of a holiday weekend when planning their wedding, we decided it would be best since so many of our family and friends had to travel. Since he was a kid, Jimmy spent his summers in Sea Isle City, NJ and I began to do the same thing when we started dating. We have made so many friends and great memories in Sea Isle that we decided that we wanted all of our wedding guests to join us there in creating another amazing memory. 

We traveled down to Sea Isle with our immediate families at the beginning of the week and spent the Thanksgiving holiday there as well. Sea Isle is not your typical shore town with a bunch of hotels, instead the island is made up of houses for rent. We decided to rent houses for our guests to stay at throughout the weekend. One of the rented houses was right on the beach with the most beautiful view of the ocean. This is where my bridesmaids and I got ready for the wedding. We started early in the morning getting our hair and then makeup done by Nina from Cheekadee. The bridesmaids wore long black dresses of their choice. I had decided long ago that I wanted my bridesmaids to be comfortable, so they all picked different style dresses and looked absolutely beautiful the day of the wedding. I wore a strapless gown by Allure Bridal.

Erin and Lisa, from Proud to Plan, showed up shortly after to help coordinate the day. Once we were all dressed, the bridal party and our mothers lined up on the beach to watch Jimmy and I during our reveal meeting. Jenn and Joey, of Jennifer Childress Photography, captured all of our beautiful pictures from the day and one of my favorites is of Jimmy when he first saw me. 

After the reveal, we made our way to the Abbie Holmes Estate where our ceremony and reception were held. Our ceremony was performed by The Wedding Pastor, Andy Mahaney. My little sister read a short poem by Shel Silverstein called "The Romance". A few years ago, I read the poem and thought it was hysterical and gave a copy of it to Jimmy. It was Jimmy's idea to include it in our ceremony. Our ceremony was held outside of the Abbie Holmes Estate under their gazebo. Afterwards, we joined our guests for cocktail hour inside the Estate. 

Our reception started with Jason from Synergetic Sound and Lighting introducing the bridal party. Shortly after, guests enjoyed dinner which was a selection of flounder, pork, and manicotti, served family style. Our cake was made by The Cake Studio of Ocean City, NJ. The entire weekend was more than we ever dreamed. After the reception, we asked all of our guests to join us at the Dead Dog Saloon to continue the party, which we did until the bar closed.

The next morning, we asked our family and friends to join us one last time for breakfast at a small breakfast place called Rick's. I decided that wearing my wedding gown for only one day wasn't enough, so I put my dress back on and went to breakfast!

As a full-time event planner, the coordination of the day was an essential part of the success of our wedding, which is why we relied on Erin and Lisa from Proud to Plan. They paid attention to the details of the day so we could spend our day celebrating and enjoying one another. Our wedding would not have been so perfect if it weren't for all of the vendors we worked with, but a special thank you goes to Erin and Lisa. 

-Annemarie

If you'd like to see our post on Annemarie and Jimmy's wedding with a ton of pictures, you can go here.