Castle Hill Inn Wedding, Newport, RI :: Featured on Carats & Cake

I recently had an email from Carats & Cake asking if they could feature Sara & Jason's fabulous Castle Hill Inn Wedding in Newport, RI on their site. I send over some images and boom! It went live this morning and you should take a peak at the post here:
Castle Hill Inn Wedding Pictures on Carats & Cake  

Wedding pictures at Castle Hill Inn

As I type this blog posts there's still significant snow on the ground and I would like nothing better to be back in Rhode Island on a sunny day to photograph Sara & Jason's wedding all over again! Sadly my time travel machine is in the shop for repairs so let's just look back at a few of my favorite pictures from the day. Gus & Ruby Stationery always so fabulous! 


Sara and Jason exchanged letters before the wedding and Jason surprised Sara with the gift of a piano! Kidding. 


Sara reached in to pull out piece after piece of sheet music of songs that were particularly meaningful to them as a couple. A beautiful gift in itself. But Jason is all about the grand gesture. Underneath the sheet music was a note card, and in the note card a picture of the piano that Jason had purchased and had delivered to their home to be there when they got back from their honeymoon. Jason had seen how much Sara loved playing the piano at her grandparent's house and wanted her to have her own.

Unaware of the havoc he had caused with Sara's mascara, Jason and flower dog of honor Uncle June rode the trolley over to Castle Hill for the emotional first look

Seriously? Who looks this good just fixing their hair?

One of my favorite first looks of 2014, remember not only do you get to join your friends and family for cocktail hour but you get to take ALL of your formal pictures early in the day when hair and make up is perfect AND you can talk and hug and kiss (you barely get to smile at each other when you have your wedding officiant standing 6 inches from you both! Jason's reaction seeing Sara walk out of the bridal suite, followed by Sara laughing and crying along with lots of hugging and kissing. If you're on the fence about doing a first look - remember you can't do this at the altar just before you get married! 

Did you know Uncle June has his own facebook page as a public person of interest?

If you get married at Castle Hill Inn you can hop in a golf card for pictures by the lighthouse. Of course, to get this angle you have to have a sure-footed photographer who is willing to scramble through some large thorny bushes:

We headed back to the garden for some relaxed family pictures. Long time blog readers will know about my love of all grandparents, Sara and Jason are also incredibly close to their grandparents so I love the next two pictures:

Ceremony programs doubled as hand fans to keep guests cool. Sara has family from Syria so some of the programs were thoughtfully printed in Arabic:


Uncle June makes his grand entrance: 

Occasionally couples considering a first look worry that it might take away from the ceremony. Here's my thought - any emotion that happens during your ceremony is due to the fact you're walking toward each other, standing up in front of your closest friends and family and saying pretty huge vows to each other. It isn't diminished in any way if you've seen each other earlier in the day! 

Castle Hill Inn - possibly the most beautiful wedding venue in Newport, Rhode Island! I'll be back later this year for Jen and Chris's wedding! 


Married!

Right now this picture is in the running for "best recessional picture" ever!

Is there anything better than hors d'oeuvres and champagne on the lawn overlooking the ocean? Why yes, joining your guests to enjoy said champagne vs. spending your first hour as newlyweds posing for formal pictures! 

I adored the tent set up. A big shout out to Les Fleurs, one of my favorite florists and also Mikado Wedding Planning, Lian was a fabulous calm and organized presence: 

The new Mr & Mrs. Stephany!  

Guests enjoyed the most fabulous dinner by candlelight as the sun set over the ocean.

Speaking of sunset, we couldn't miss this: 

As I was taking this silhouette picture I had this niggling feeling that something was missing. Superstar Audrey made a mad dash for a couple of glasses of champagne. 

Sara and Jason made their way back in for their first dance:
Emotional father daughter dance:

Luckily Jason was there to distract her and cheer her up with his mad moves as the dancefloor was officially declared open:

Sweet Tooth & the Sugarbabies (just named #1 wedding band by Improper Bostonian!) were PHENOMENAL! 

After energetic dancing it can be nice to take a few minutes to cool off outside (not to mention you get bonus nighttime pictures!)

Well, that was more than just a handful of favorites, you can see:
Sara & Jason's engagement pictures here
Sara & Jason's full Castle Hill Inn Wedding Blog Post here

And maybe you want to while away a few more minutes on this Friday afternoon with Sara & Jason's wedding film trailer courtesy of the always AMAZING Long Haul Films:

Sara and Jason's Emotional Castle Hill Wedding | Long Haul Films from Long Haul Films on Vimeo.


No comments