An Intimate and Adventurous Elopement in Midcoast Maine for Bride and Groom, Mel & Jack
PHOTOGRAPHY: @LEXIFOSTERPHOTOGRAPHY; Officiant and day of coordination: @marianneseventyr; Florals: ELDBERYFLORAL.COM; Hair: @aphroditesalon; Make Up: @skinbyskyler_; Cake: @cakeandcompanyme; Charcuterie: @iriseatsmaine
Our bride Mel, a wonderful, full of life energy with loads of experience in the wedding industry chose to marry Jack, an avid runner (seriously avid, he ran the Moab 240, yes thats 240 miles!!!) aboard the Miss Lindsay. After a summer of rain, we were delighted when October 1st came and it was a beautiful 70+ degrees for these two… and us! For those that don’t know, when we schedule elopements we like to have a 2-3 day window where we can choose the best of the 3 days so that we most likely end up with the most desirable weather. We had a very exciting and adventurous afternoon planned with these two, including an after ceremony jump into the cool October Maine ocean!
Part of what I love about doing wedding florals for Just Banded is that I get to be so creative. Typically the pressure that exists with onsite venue work for a large scale event doesn’t exist in this kind of space. And without that comes a little more freedom to go off the cuff and try new things. Of course the natural elements are always something to consider, like rain, wind and heat, but the best part is that I am aboard for the adventure too, so if anything were to go awry I am there to course correct! For Mel & Jack we created a 3 tiered floral landscape on the back of the boat. Being an October 1st day, its that magical time of year when the seasons shift from one to the next and there is always magic to be found when foraging for florals. I love creating environments for people that reflect the season we are currently in. So here I did just that, foliages and florals that were browning and dried, like the hydrangea, spiraea alba (our native meadowsweet), and Queen Anne’s Lace to name a few. You can see a little bit more of my floral work at Eldebery Floral.
We were so lucky to have an incredible team of local talent working hard to make this day the success that it was. Let’s start with the wedding cake. Stacie, owner and chef of the boutique cake studio, founded Cake and Company in 2010 and has since been serving the mountain tops and rocky coast of Maine. She specializes in decadently delicious cakes with elegant, handcrafted designs which you can see here in this sea-inspired beauty. The glittery, wave-like sugars were frozen to get this shape and the sand dollar was such a nice touch.
The other two local vendors that helped make this adventure elopement the amazing day that is was, was Aphrodite Salon, a boutique hair salon just a few miles down the road from us. Colleen Calder, of Aphrodite, is a Maine-based master updo artist specializing in on-site boutique bridal hair services. She has a penchant for lived-in looks that are timeless, airy and romantic.
Mel’s make-up artist, Skyler, runs her business Skin by Skyler, as a Midcoast Maine based esthetician who is passionate about helping people feel beautiful in their own skin. She certainly achieved that for Mel!
Our team celebrating with Mel & Jack after the ceremony
By the time we boarded the boat and had time to get to know one another a bit, we spent some time looking for the perfect spot to celebrate their love and share their vows. We often go to Seguin Island for vow ceremonies, but as the wind was picking up we opted for a less bumpy ride and decided to anchor in Sagadahoc Bay, a calm and majestic spot nestled among the rocky coast of Georgetown, just across from Fort Popham.
There is something so magical about the adventurous and intimate ceremonies aboard our lobster boat. No matter what the weather is doing, being on that boat with the ocean waves rolling underneath and Maine’s rocky coast bobbing up and down in every direction, you can’t help but absorb everything about that fleeting moment that will be remembered forever. The wedding ceremonies that we have hosted have an aliveness to them that I don’t often feel in other settings. We also love a good petal toss!
With the help of Marianne’s husband, Joey, another local lobsterman and carpenter, we were able to get Lexi out on his skiff to take some photos of Mel & Jack from afar. And I’m so glad we did!
After the ceremony, and an enormous bottle of champagne to celebrate, it was time for Mel and Jack to get their Grundens on and indulge in adventure.
We spent a little time boating around to get to the traps that we were going to haul. It was a gorgeous afternoon, we honestly couldn’t have asked for anything better. Captain Ethan is very good at explaining the process of hauling and how to determine if the lobsters in it are keepers or not, females vs males, and whether or not they are breeders. We often even come across the very pregnant females that are carrying thousands of eggs under their tails. It’s always a fun thing to look at and I am always mystified as to how one being can carry so many babies! We spent some time hauling the strings and baiting the traps, making sure we had enough lobsters for the evening lobster bake on Popham Beach.
There was only one last thing to do before getting off the boat… Mel and Jack were getting ready for a post “I do” jump into the water! The ultimate way to celebrate and memorialize the elopement.
Mel’s wedding dress was quite heavy and since she didn’t want it weighing her down in the water we made an on the spot decision to cut the bottom off! We also made sure that they jumped with the life ring, just out of an abundance of caution as the tide was going out and the water in October in Maine is…. not very warm!
We had such a beautiful time with Mel and Jack and were so thrilled that they chose us to celebrate their love with. The beach lobster bake was the most magical way to celebrate these two after their adventure elopement. A full moon rose over the ocean (we didn’t even plan that!) as we enjoyed a relaxed beach campfire and filled our bellies with fresh Maine lobster. Not to mention the sparklers that added that magical sweetness to the end of the evening!
VENDOR TEAM
LOBSTER BOAT ELOPEMENTS: @just_banded; PHOTOGRAPHY: @LEXIFOSTERPHOTOGRAPHY; Officiant and day of coordination: @marianneseventyr; Florals: ELDBERYFLORAL.COM; Hair: @aphroditesalon; Make Up: @skinbyskyler_; Cake: @cakeandcompanyme; Charcuterie: @iriseatsmaine