Hotel - White Elephant
We stayed in the White Elephant for a few nights after our wedding. It was beautiful, the grounds are immaculate, and the service is out of this world. Andre was able to check in and get ready at the hotel prior to our ceremony. I got ready at the house and then dressed at the venue.
Venue: Whaling Museum - Nantucket Historical Association
Funny enough, my Mother and I visited Nantucket for Stroll back in 2018 and went to the museum to check out the festival of trees. I remember us walking up to the roof to check out the beautiful view of the Nantucket harbor and thinking "Wow, this would be great for a wedding!" Something i I thought we would keep in the back of our minds. Needless to say, we booked the venue within 48 hours of getting engaged. The location is in the middle of town, which was perfect for our guests. Easy to get to, plenty of room. It was perfect! They even had a special space aside for me to get ready in, since my first dress could not fit in the car. We lucked out with perfect, and I mean not a cloud in the sky, not too hot, not too cold weather for our day. Our ceremony took place on the rooftop, cocktail hour in the candle factory, and reception in the museum.
Hair and Makeup - Drew Bryson aka Hair by Blair
Beyond grateful to have our family friend, Drew, travel to Nantucket with us and create the most fabulous wig for our wedding. I spent the morning of my wedding hiding out with my maid of honor and then Drew joined us for the remainder of the day while making us look and feel like goddesses. Drew is not only incredibly talented but also extremely professional. I had a vision for my wig and he nailed both the color and the style. It's my favorite wig to date!
Florals: Flowers on Chesnut
My mother handled everything floral-related with the fabulous staff of Flowers on Chesnut. I was blown away by the gorgeous arrangements. Highly recommend them.
Photography: Kaylee Creighton and Georgie Morley
Kaylee is a great friend of mine and a local of Indiana. I knew the second we got engaged that I wanted her to shoot our wedding. Georgie is a local to Nantucket and was our second shooter. They both have similar styles - bright, airy, pinks - of shooting and we loved working with them. They captured every moment.
Food - Island Kitchen and Cake Nantucket
Another one I cannot take credit for. My maid of honor recommended Island Kitchen. The chef has worked at numerous Michelin Star restaurants and let me tell you... it shows. The food was phenomenal. All of our guests were raving about the meals - even the vegetarian meal! The hors d'oeuvres were mind-blowing and Andre and I were certainly grateful that a plate was saved for us while we took photos. The best part? The profiteroles. Profiteroles are puff pastries with ice cream in the middle and hot fudge on top. Our cake was by Cake Nantucket. Somehow, we didn't even get to eat cake at our own wedding but got to enjoy it a few days later and it was still delicious.
Wedding DJ - Billy Voss
Billy Voss is the best Nantucket wedding DJ, hands down. At first, we went the route of trying to have a friend dj our wedding. Everything went well until... he just ghosted us. That was a bummer. So a few months out from the wedding, we started to get nervous. Everyone we talked to, on island, told us "Call Billy!" "Oh, you want Billy, trust us." "Billy is your dude." I sent in a million requests on wedding websites for other DJs.. trying to weigh the costs of bringing someone from off island and providing them with housing, etc. But after the first phone call with Billy, we knew we were in good hands. He's played at the whaling museum dozens of times. He knew the lighting system. And - bonus - he even played the acoustic version of Tina Turner's "Simply The Best" on the guitar as I walked down the aisle. Yup, big fan of Schitts Creek. He kept the dance floor hopping ALL night long and everyone had a ball. If you are planning a Nantucket wedding, call Billy asap. You won't regret it.
Our bar was set up in the candle factory. Dre and I took a moment to change into some more comfortable clothes to continue to dance the night away with all of our friends.
Bars After Nantucket Wedding - Rose and Crown
After the wedding, I'd say 85% of our wedding went across the street to Rose and Crown. It was PERFECT! The drinks were flowing, the dj was cool, and we had so much fun. Honestly, when we walked in I was so taken aback at how many of our friends wanted to keep the party going!
Nantucket Wedding Tips
Here are a few tips from my experience that will hopefully help assist you in planning your dream day. If you have any questions at all, feel free to leave a comment!
- Having our wedding in what was considered "pre-season" was helpful for our friends and family to find affordable accommodations. High summer kicks off from July - September in Nantucket. Rates increase by a lot. Our friends and family were able to find everything from house rentals to bed and breakfasts without any hassle.
- This has been said before, but budget on what is important to you. For me, besides the venue, the photographer was most important. Was it more expensive to bring over our own photographer from Indy rather than hire someone local? Yes. But I love Kaylee's work. She is an angel, and we are so lucky to have her.
- I am beyond grateful that we arrived a week before and stayed a week after. We are still waiting to take our honeymoon when COVID restrictions ease up (Hi, Asia!!), but wow, we enjoyed the downtime after our wedding and got to enjoy Nantucket.
- One of the best parts of our destination wedding is that everyone fell in love with Nantucket. I'm so glad, after spending many summers on the island growing up, that my friends finally got a taste of ACK. We are already planning an anniversary trip with friends next year. Can't wait!
- If you are seating people at the same table who have never met, give them their contact information ahead of time so if they are traveling they can make plans to explore together! It was so wild watching my Indy friend groups become friends with my Cali friends. Loved it!
- Mail invitations EXTRA early. COVID has wreaked havoc on our postal system. Some of my guests still haven't received their invitation, and they weren't sent back, so I hope wherever my beautiful invitations are living in purgatory... I hope it's somewhere nice.
- If you are hosting a Nantucket wedding, make sure your friends are all aware of ferry vs flight to get to Nantucket. There aren't any bridges. You must take the boat or fly. Luckily, our wedding was pretty small so I was able to reach out to nearly everyone who attended.
I hope you all enjoyed my wedding blog! Again, if you have any questions, feel free to comment below. Cheers!
Add your comment