A Romantic Whimsical Lighthouse Wedding with Nautical Deets!

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Elizabeth and David had their lighthouse wedding in Connecticut, where Elizabeth grew up. Their celebration was whimsical and beachy. It included a few nautical wedding elements, as well as travel themed details as an ode to their adventures together. The couple held their lighthouse wedding ceremony on the beach in New Haven, Connecticut, followed by a wonderfully whimsical wedding reception in a nearby antique carousel! In addition, they worked with local flowers and because they foster dogs, instead of wedding favors made a donation to our rescue organization Animal Care Centers of NYC. We LOVE these two!!

Their wedding was adorned with summery hues of peach, blush and blue. "We had an amazing florist who put together beautiful bright blooms to add lots of color to our day." And of course the carousel added lots of color to their wedding reception, too! Photographer Daphne and Dean captured the day's emotions and details - including Elizabeth's stunning Anna Campbell gown!

"We wanted a laid back beach wedding and Lighthouse Point Park was the perfect place for it with the lighthouse and carousel next to the beach," shares Elizabeth. David's Uncle was their officiant, family performed the music and the couple's parents and grandparents shared in their sand ceremony. The couple's cousins were their flower girls and ring bearers. "I made flower crowns and ribbon wands for the flower girls, and the ring bearers carried little crab pillows," shares Elizabeth.

Instead of handing out programs at their lighthouse wedding the pair put together a program board and placed it at the end of the aisle. Because they simply adore ice cream, they worked with a local ice cream shop, Walnut Beach Creamery, to design their own flavors - one of which was "wedding cake" ice cream. Seriously, how much fun is this awesome couple?

Love Story: David and I met during our freshman year of college where we played in the orchestra together. We have been best friends ever since. We were together almost 10 years before our big day. David proposed to me while we were on vacation in Switzerland. He woke me up early one morning and announced "we are going on an adventure!" He knelt down on one knee and proposed right before we took flight - on a magical hot air balloon ride over the Swiss Alps and Lake Zurich!

I wanted local natural flowers and fun, bright colors for our lighthouse wedding. I found Muddy Feet Flower Farm through the Slow Flowers website. Oh my, Kristen from Muddy Feet Flowers is amazing! Kristen grows the most gorgeous flowers and put together our beautiful bouquets using flowers that were in bloom on our wedding day. The big fluffy dahlias were my favorite, but really I loved everything about the flowers. I knew I wanted a beautiful vintage-inspired and whimsical dress. I found a photo of an Anna Campbell "Carolina" dress from the Gossamer collection and fell in love. Anna Campbell is an Australian designer so I thought wearing one of her dresses would be a fun way to remember our time in Sydney on our wedding day. After lots of searching, I found my dress at Everthine Bridal boutique in Connecticut! I felt amazing in my dress. I just love the beading and the way it blew in the breeze. My dress had a beautiful beaded back so I wanted a simple hairstyle with a few flowers so the focus was on my dress. I was so pleased that my hair stayed in place through the surprise downpour during our ceremony!

The bridesmaids wore dresses from Vow to be Chic, a bridesmaid dress rental website. We picked Monique Lhuillier as the designer and blush as the color, and the girls picked their styles. David wore a Ted Baker three-piece suit in the same beachy blue as the groomsmen, with a white Thomas Pink bowtie. The groomsmen wore Ted Baker suit pants in a beachy blue shade and Paul Stuart suspenders. The groomsmen's shirts had fun plaid blue cuffs when they rolled up their sleeves.

The ceremony of our lighthouse wedding was on the beach looking out over the water with the lighthouse in the background. Shoes, of course, were optional.

We stood under a birch and flower arch, and the ceremony was framed by flowers from my mom's garden on shepherd hooks. It was a bright sunny day until a giant rain cloud rolled in right in the middle of our ceremony. It poured! Catering by Christine hastily handed out umbrellas and tucked away the shoes, and we all made a run for the pavilion. Everyone took it in stride, and we were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow after the storm. I walked down the aisle to First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes on acoustic guitar. My aunt and uncle played "The Wedding Song" by Peter, Paul and Mary, which is a family tradition, and my cousins performed an original song written by my cousin Amanda. We included our parents and grandparents in our sand ceremony and also wrote our own vows.

A longtime friend of mine read "As Long as Your Eyes are Blue" by Australian poet Banjo Patterson, and two friends who travelled all the way from Australia read "A Lovely Love Story" by Edward Monkton.

After our lighthouse wedding ceremony we had an indoor-outdoor cocktail hour with an acoustic quartet and passed hors d'oeuvres while we took our wedding photos and enjoyed an incredible sunset. Our photographers, Daphne and Dean, were incredible and perfectly captured our day. They put us at ease from the moment we met them, and the photos are stunning.

Reception tables were centered with a large glass lantern with rustic gold edges surrounded by bright flower arrangements and votive candles. We received wine glasses and champagne flutes from our siblings as engagement gifts, so we used these at our sweetheart table.

We love animals, and we foster dogs, so instead of wedding favors we made a donation to our rescue organization Animal Care Centers of NYC . Click To Tweet

Check out Animal Care Centers of NYC here

We placed hand-made menu cards at each seat with details of the meal choices. All of the food was delicious.

The carousel ran all night, and kids and adults alike enjoyed riding it when their feet needed a break from the dance floor. We had hand-made carousel themed photo props and served late-night cotton candy.

We had a live band and danced to favorites, and the Hava Nagila to celebrate David's Jewish Heritage. We wanted to prepare a surprise for everyone at our wedding, including close family that knew most of the details. David and I both play violin so we surprised our guests by playing Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show with the band during the reception. It was totally worth the nerves to see the big smiles on the faces of our friends and family!