Just when I think I've visited all of the best wedding venues in New England, I'm introduced to another hidden gem. In this case, Glen Manor House which is where Heidi & Eric were married last month!
Glen Manor House is a French-style chateau in Portsmouth, RI. The manor house can aaccommodate up to 200 guests from May - October with both indoor and outdoor dining rooms. The historic house is simply beautiful and a photographer's dream with stone terraces, archways, formal gardens and even a dock overlooking the tidal strait of the Sakonnet River. Anyway, I'm jumping ahead of myself, let's rewind to the beginning of the day:
Heidi was helped into her beautiful lace gown by her sister Laura and MOH Tia,
Heidi had handwritten notes for each of her bridesmaids along with a pair of beautiful earrings:
Heidi knew she'd feel the loss of her mother even more than usual on her wedding day, she made sure to display pictures of her mom and of her parent's wedding day throughout the manor.
Meanwhile, Audrey was there to photograph Eric and the groomsmen getting ready.
Heidi's dad arrived to see his daughter in her wedding dress, letters were exchanged and let's just say it was a good job there was a box of tissues on hand. Once the tears were mopped up, I rode with the girls to Glen Manor House while they drank champagne and sang songs from the Little Mermaid at the top of their lungs.
Could Glen Manor House be anymore fairytale like? [It helps if you say that line in your best Chandler Bing voice]
Heidi and Eric wanted to take unhurried pictures in the beautiful grounds before the ceremony and maximize their time with their friends and family at cocktail hour so they chose to do a first look. Eric had the BIGGEST smile on his face watching Heidi walk through the gardens towards him.
I could have photographed these two all day!
If you're planning a wedding at Glen Manor and plan to have your ceremony on site, I believe you get to choose whether you look out over the water or towards the gardens, Heidi and Eric chose the garden direction which you'll see shortly and it was a smart move as they weren't in direct sunlight (no one wants to be hot and squinty!).
We were joined by the wedding party and families, loved the soft gray of the Jenny Yoo bridesmaid dresses and the muted soft floral pallet by Fig & Squill.
A close up of the flowers? Why not! And look closely at what Heidi is holding in the bottom right picture, I'll explain shortly...
Time to get married!!! The ceremony was wonderfully officiated by Eric, a close friend of the couple. Laughter and tears and giggles and emotional readings galore.
Guests enjoyed cocktail hour on the terrace with champagne and all manner of deliciousness from Russel Morin Catering. Regular blog readers might recognize Jessica & Scott from the top right picture below, can you believe it's been 4 years since I photographed their wedding at the Boston Public Library!??!
Looking at the picture below, you're probably wondering two things:
1) What is this wonderful installation of keys?
Heidi made it! Handwritten escort cards attached to vintage keys took the place of traditional escort cards.
2) Were Tom & Gisele really guests at Heidi & Eric's wedding?
Sadly no, well I say sadly but really it wasn't sad for Heidi. It seems that Eric is such a big Patriots fan that when there's a game on, Heidi says she feels like she's just "Heidiwho?"
Glen Manor house is definitely one of the best wedding venues in RI. Guests were invited into the ballroom for a glass of champagne and Heidi & Eric danced for the first time as husband and wife. The toasts also took place in the ballroom with everyone gathered around before guests walked through to the library and dining room for dinner.
What a setting for dinner! Now would be a good time to mention Katie Wilkinson who manages Glen Manor House and makes sure everything runs smoothly on the wedding day!
Here's a little behind-the-scenes story for you and just one of the many reasons that Audrey is a saint! While guests ate dinner, Audrey and I scoped out locations for nighttime pictures. I planned to photograph Heidi & Eric down on the dock and asked Audrey to stay closer to the house to get a wide shot using the trees to frame the newlyweds. I told Audrey that I'd ask Eric to spin Heidi like they were dancing and that would be the sign that she should come down to the dock with the lights.
So we're out there and I've got my photographs and I need Audrey to come light Heidi and Eric but she's still up on the grassy slope. I start to get mildly irritated thinking "What is she doing? She must have got the shot by now?" I start wildly gesturing that she should come and join me on the dock and as she makes her way down I'm all "Did you get it? Was there a problem?" and Audrey tells me she was waiting for the twirl. Right. Just following my instructions that I then forgot. Yup, Audrey is a saint and this is her picture:.
After dinner, guests made their way back to the ballroom for the parent dances:
The dancefloor was opened and let's just say Heidi & Eric's friends definitely know how to dance!
Heidi & Eric - how much fun was that? It was so amazing to photograph Eric's proposal at Nubble Light and such an honor to be the one to document your actual wedding day. Thank you for being so fun to work with! It was the perfect day and I hope you like this handful of favorites!
And with that I'll bid you a fond adieu, next up on the blog will be an itty bitty beautiful baby named Mia and then Katlyn & Ryan's South End engagement session followed by Lindsey & Conor's barn wedding at Kara & Brett's Taj Boston wedding so stay tuned...
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