Much Ado About I Do by Tom Keer, originally printed in Cape Cod Life

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A il;p#-*Llh4'S ;:Hia5ffF:{-TiV}*F-l f-{}S lkigi[*]*FL.HE'T WilmrugN il; BYTOMKEERI PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIMREILLY STUDIO K

54 APRIL2OOB


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ABOUT EVERY ACCORDING TO THE STEREOTYPE,A BRIDE OBSESSES detail of her wedding. If you surveyedtheir fiances,however,the men would likely fall into one of three categories:Very Involved.Moderately Involved. Or, Tell-me-

iarnilies, KecrandSirnmernran gathered il'Jl$ldc fri*nds and elub, CaLr*trY [h*ilh*i]uesset Greai \l/e anil llfleet rlcnktng *r,e i, Kee ,Angela a*eJ l-l*rhrr.'lsm 3. ar* ndeSirlmnrman, Plct'Jr3p e r l e int r i n ;qi n dq " o o r

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when-and-where-to-show-uP. In my particularcase,I was totally into it, becausethis Yankeewas engagedto a SouthernBelle.

Having spent lots of time below the Mason-Dixonline, I knew the difference betweenVampus Kitty and the Side Hill Hoofer. I knew that red-eyedgravy was madewith coffee,and I knew that grits were both a breakfastfood and an acronym (GirlsRaised in tbeSoutb).ltgoeswithout sayingthat the plural form of y'all is all y'all. A linguisticauthority on thoseregionalnuances,I figuredplanninga wedding in our town of Vellfleet would be a walk in the park. CAPECOD LIFE 55


sicians from our church choir, organist Brad \Williams and harpist Thom Dutton, and the sacred part of our wedding was covered. \Ze'd even get to ring the bells to announce our marriage. Ever the vigilant writers, Angela and I sharpened our pencils. Ve wrote our own invitations and announcements. Vith

the help of Pastor Ken, we composed our wedding

vows and customized our ceremony in keeping with liturgi-

,Y

,r"r

cal traditions. Ve even wrote and printed programs so our guests could follow along. Ve wanted our reception site to overlook the water, and

"lVe

played to our sfrengths:

YankeeIngenuityani SouthernCharrn.'o the ChequessettYacht and Country Club was the perfect location. An added bonus was that my friends and I could see one of our favorite ffshing and hunting spots through the window. RevenOliver, the director of operations,was

theirEnglish Setter with0cracoke Thebride andgr00m

almosta wedding planner.In additionto coordinatingour reception,she recommendedus to ShannonMahoney of SumptuousCatering and Kim Reilly at Studio K Photog-

My fianc6e,Angela,and I choseApril, in order to time the celebrationof our marriagewith the arrival of spring. Everythingmadesense. . . until we broachedthe ideawith familyand friends. "The "Ah, weather April, that dicey month," somesaid. with no pointsin between." can be beautifulor miserable, "lt'll rain for sure.April showersbring May flowers,"said others. "You

raphy. Our once scoffed-atoff-seasonwedding now worked to our advantage,as our vendors had plenty of free time to spendwith us. SumptuousCateringprepareddeliciousappetizers,includingmaki rolls,grilledbaby lamb chopswith mintedgarlicoil, and scallioncrâ‚Źpeswith roastedduck,followedby an entr6eof grilledlobstertailsand tenderloin. In keeping with our natural surroundingswe chose to

area.Nothing is open live in a summer-destination

off-season."

adorn the church and receptionhall with locally scavenged

items,namelysanddollars,seastars,and seascallopshells.

By the soundsof it, I'd havean easiertime findingsweet

At the suggestionof Sheila at Kelley'sFlowers,we added

wedding tea in New Englandthan planningan early-spring

sweetpeas,delphiniums,asters,and hydrangeasto the wed-

on the Cape.Balderdashl

ding decorand for replantinglateron. Many of theseflow-

that sweetmother of invention,wasa guiding Necessity, forcein our planning.Ve playedto our strengthsand com-

e r sn o w g r o w i n o u r y a r d . tadition callsfor white wedding cakes,but we were con-

bined YankeeIngenuitywith SouthernCharm.

flicted. Our love of chocolate knows no such boundaries,

Angela and I were already membersat Vellfleet's First CongregationalChurch, so asking our friend and pastor

so we turned to Marc at the Cottage Street Bakerywhose

Ken Roscoeto officiate was the first order of business.A

with a classicbutter creamfrosting.Tiadition prevailed,and

fringe benefftwasthat the church itself is asold and asbeau-

we had our cakeand ate it, too.

tiful as any. Add to that a couple of incredibly talentedmu5 6 A P R I L2 O O B

expert sleight of hand disguisedtrue chocolate decadence

Angela is thoroughly high-tech, a distinct advantage www.capecodlife.com


lr ,;ilr !,-:i:T iir.ritiilL,ri j , i i 1 1 : i ; . i i11' , i : , t : L;l,l, r 1 i : i t r l i l t ' . I, i j i j t l l i r i . l ' i : 1 , i rf ; I i r r :' i I i l a l : i

when it comes to music for dinner and dancing. She downloaded tracks that ranged from classic Big Band, Swing, and Classicalto Rock and Pop, and she arranged it all thematically with all phasesof the reception in mind. Vith

no lodging available and lots of out-of-town

guests, we turned to our friend Judi Peters, owner of Vellfleet Real Estate. She found us an enormous cottage overlooking Vellfleet Harbor, perfectly suitable for entertaining and accommodating. Angela and I orchestrated a rehearsaldinner for our guests that combined outdoor activities with foraging for ingredients-freshly dug and shucked oysters and littlenecks, fried clams, scallops wrapped in bacon . . . you get the picture. \When it came time for our wedding day, we favored a natural approach to photography. Kim Reilly has a knack for capturing the essenceof a wedding, and she picks up on even the smallest details. The week before our wedding, Angela had an atypical portrait taken by Kim, fancy hair, wedding dress, and cowboy boots, shot at the local fishing pier. The only hitch in the wedding was when Angela and I took our vows. Even our bird dog, Ocracoke, joined us. She dressedfor the occasion, adding a corsageto her blaze orange hunting collar. As for the weather? The days before and after our wedding were cold, gray, windy, and rainy. The flight for our honeymoon was the last to leave Logan before high winds shut down the airport. But on the day of our wedding we had 65 degrees,blue skies,and sun. The wind, of course, 't blew from the South.

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C A P EC O DL I F E 5 7


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