A Beautiful Wedding Day

A rustic and creative wedding table made from wooden barrels with a wooden top is handy for so many things at an event.

Date of wedding: July 24, 2021

Wedding location: Birch Hill Farm, Gilford NH

Primary wedding color was navy with blush accents

When family is important to a couple, bringing the ideas of the families to fruition and taking advantage of the phenomenal views are priorities. Making the wedding planning much easier for this wedding was Creations by Collis, a skilled wedding planner. Says Mikaela, “My parents insisted we hire a wedding planner because they wanted the process to be fun and relaxing and not stressful. Our wedding planner was great - we kept in touch regularly throughout the process of planning via email, Zoom and phone calls. The continued on page 38

Unforgettable venue... for an unforgettable day

Steven Schultz Photography

Sam Nappi Photography One-of-a-kind wedding venue with apple trees, open fields & mountain vistas.

Prepare for the day in the 1800s farmhouse, followed by your ceremony in the garden, with Mt. Kearsarge as your backdrop. Celebrate with family and friends in the orchard while the sun sets behind the mountains. Intimate tented wedding accented by apple blossoms, or a grand fall affair surrounded by red apples & foliage. Currier Hill Farm

(603) 545-1621 hello@currierhillfarmnh.com Loudon, New Hampshire www.facebook.com/currierhillfarmnh Currier Hill Farm on Instagram

Contact us to discuss your wedding catering

Flexible menu options for casual to elegant weddings We cater in a variety of settings from lakeside homes to tented receptions to rustic barns Breakfast/Brunch, Dinner Buffets, Wedding Cakes, Cocktail Hour Hors D’Oeuvres and more

141 Water Street Laconia, New Hampshire (603) 524-4144 www.waterstreetcafenh.com

cont. from page 37 planner and her staff did all the setup, decorating and break down for the day-of, which was a huge help. She also coordinated all of the vendors, the arrival times and the timeline for the day-of. We wanted to be able to enjoy the time with our friends and family and having the wedding planner coordinating everything for the day-of allowed us to do that.”

With about a year to plan the wedding, the couple were looking for a relaxed, beautiful venue in the Lakes Region and Birch Hill Farm was perfect. They wanted a place where they could “gather all our friends and family outdoors. I really loved the idea of the do-it-yourself type of venue because I had a very specific image in my mind of what I wanted the day to look like,” says Mikaela. “We toured Birch Hill with my parents and my sister and everyone just fell in love with the beautiful setting so we knew it was the perfect place to host our wedding.”

The wedding had about 150 guests, and the weather was, recalls Mikaela, “Absolutely beautiful. We felt so lucky - we thought it would be hot since it was July but the temperature was 75 and it was sunny with some scattered clouds throughout the afternoon.

“We had six bridesmaids and groomsmen; I had a maid of honor and a man of honor (my two siblings) and then four bridesmaids and John had a best man and then five other groomsmen. The wedding professionals were chosen mostly by word of mouth and recommendations from either our wedding planner or the owner of our venue. Most of the vendors we met with or spoke with prior to hiring to ask questions and just get a feel for their style. We chose vendors who really made us feel comfortable and shared our vision.”

The wedding menu consisted of appetizers - a stationary crudites table, a cheese and cracker table and a raw bar with shrimp cocktail and oysters. There also were four passed hors d’oeuves, which were mozzarella and tomato skewers, chicken with a peanut sauce, crab cakes and melon and prosciutto. Dinner was sliced tenderloin and chicken piccata with roasted red potatoes and asparagus.

The three-layer cake had two flavors: lemon cake with lemon frosting and a white cake with a fresh strawberry frosting.

Mikaela says she “would definitely recommend doing first look photos before the wedding ceremony. We got so many of the pictures done early and then were able to really enjoy the cocktail hour with our guests. I would also recommend planning not only ‘who’ you want in pictures but ‘where’ at your venue you want to take them. I would definitely recommend having a wedding planner because planning a wedding is hard and there are SO many things you don’t even think of until you have an expert ask you about them. We did not have a videographer and I regret it only because I wish I had gotten the speeches on video. If you don’t have a videographer then I recommend assigning someone to video the speeches because it goes by so quickly, and you really want to be able to listen again because you miss a lot in the excitement of the day.”

The couple had a mini-moon to Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod and are going to Cancun for their real honeymoon; the trip has been postponed due to COVID.

The Wedding Professionals

Florist and flower choices: Says Mikaela, “We used Lakes Region Floral Studio and Susan was THE BEST! The flowers were gorgeous; I knew I wanted blue hydrangeas with other white and blush tones as an accent. Susan added a variety of white and blush flowers, including peonies, spray rose, lisianthus and greenery – she absolutely nailed it!”