A month ago, Heather and I threw a little party for our nearest and dearest. And by Heather and I, I mean Heather and I, our amazing parents, and a team of talented vendors. And by little, I mean large. And by party, I mean wedding. Hooray!

Weddings are like one big exercise in Venn Diagramism (go with it). As we prepared to welcome so many of the people that we love and who love us, we got a huge kick out of the fact that many of them had much more than *us* in common. My favorite example of this small world phenomenon: two dear friends of mine from San Francisco came to our wedding by way of Boston. The night before the wedding, we got a text from them with a photo of two of Heather’s dearest friends – whom they had never met! As it happens, they have mutual friends and they all just happened to be in the same place at the same time. LOVE IT!

Soooo, we wanted to share just a few photos (from the fabulous Ryan T. Conaty) and some of the details that went into creating an evening full of community, conversation, and delicious food!

We wanted our wedding and reception to feel homey and intimate – kinda like a big ol’ dinner party! To achieve this, we opted for circular ceremony seating and a family-style meal at long banquet tables. Since we love to host suppers that last so long that folks retire to the living room, we created a mini lounge where we sat during dinner. We intentionally left several seats open in the lounge – including a cribbage bench – to encourage guests to come visit us. We spent a year and a half searching yard sales, antique stores, and Craigslist to collect the furniture we needed. Some call this crazy, but we call it weekend adventures!

Heather and I really wanted to plan a wedding that reflected our values – one that was intentional, sustainable, local, and had a minimal impact on the environment. Almost all of our vendors came from the Providence or Boston areas and we provided guests with transportation (a very cool vintage bus) between the hotels and venue. Our florist, Polly at Robin Hollow Farm, grows only local, organic and/or sustainable flowers on her farm.  Our caterer, More than a Meal, sourced a pescetarian meal composed of seasonal and local food, soda, beer, and wine. We hired Farmer’s Market Ice Cream, which is a “cow to cone” operation at a dairy farm nearby. By using vintage and recycled pieces, we also reduced the amount of new waste we created. We hired EcoRI, a local non-profit to help with recycling and composting and as a result we produced only 3 bags of trash for 160 guests!

The food was DELICIOUS! We opted for an entirely meatless wedding, to reflect our commitment to sustainable and environmentally responsible food. We started with a fresh salad with strawberries and almonds and some freshly baked bread from Amos House’s own kitchen. Our family style meal included thyme-roasted sweet potatoes, baked stuffed cod, quinoa with roasted chickpeas and squash, and risotto with roasted tomatoes. YUM!

Inspired by our annual cookie party (that’s another post for another day), we asked some friends and family to bake some homemade cookies instead of having a traditional wedding cake. There was a selection of about 14 different types of cookies, each lovingly made (and transported from as far as Baltimore) by our guests. I wish I could have eaten all of them, but there was only so much goodness this girl could handle! We also had six ice cream flavors, all homemade and scooped by their creators, served in adorable vintage punch cups. Double YUM!

At the end of the (very long) day, we were happy ladies – with hearts full of love and bellies full of amazing food. Does it get any better than that?! We think not.