A warm, touching and intimate vow renewal

I have such a cute and heartwarming wedding for you today to end the working week with. It’s actually a vow renewal or a re wedding as Montana the bride prefers to call it! It was sent into me by Vic Pellicier who is based in New England and I just love it! The wedding is so simple but that just emphasis the love between this amazing couple, the use of light is just beautiful and the soft warm tones are just magical!

Vic tells me:
Montana called this a Re-Wedding, not a vow renewal. Their first wedding was very traditional, and apparently littered with drama and was something they didn’t want to remember. So they had a do over, with 6 people including me. She actually sent me this note afterwards:

‘Champagne pink and rolled-up sleeves. Peacocks on the wall held watch over our last-minute preparations. She took off her shoes and walked barefoot in the grass behind the inn, hands in his hands, and then it was time to head over: a sunny day for a do-over.

The pond at the Yiddish Book Center, where we’d come to hear the peepers the year we met; Norwottuck in the distance, behind Atkins Farm, and Prescott 89, where we stayed up only to discover that we shared more than just a wall. We came back to do it again, for ourselves, a rewedding.

A hum, and all we could hear were the vows we wrote for each other. A ring of daisies and a stone to give our secret promises weight. The wind blew the gold paper of our Ketubah as we signed our names in permanent ink, and then we walked to the woods, kicking pebbles along a musical floor. And when it was all over, we drove away, Husband and Wife.’

Montana and Steve Grinnell were married on June 16th (my wedding anniversary) at The National Yiddish Book Center at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. The had no guests! ‘We had our amazing photographer, Vic Pellicier, a co-worker who is also a wedding planner, and our justice of the peace, Dennis Helmus. We really wanted it to be about our reaffirmation to each other and our relationship.’

How would you describe your wedding?
It was perfect, peaceful, and meaningful. It was everything that a renewal of vows should be for a couple.

How they met
We’ve been together for 6 years, and married for 3 years. We met through a mutual friend, and really got to know each other when we ended up living in the same on-campus house in our 3rd year of college.

The proposal?
As part of the renewal, we re-did everything. One of the reasons we wanted to do the renewal was that our wedding and proposal had been full of drama. Steve bought me a beautiful antique ring with an amethyst gemstone from Brilliant Earth’s estate rings. One night while we were hanging out in our apartment, he went to the bedroom, came back out, and got down on one knee in front of the couch and asked if I would marry him again.

The Venue
Steve and I met at Hampshire in 2005 when we ended up living in the same house on campus. In the spring, at night, we would go to the small pond next to the Yiddish Book Center and listen to the peepers (small frogs.)

The dress
My dress was a beautiful Pink Champagne Manhattan with a sweetheart neckline by Dolly Couture (dollycouture.com). The headband is the Big Rose Headband also from Dolly Couture. My shoes were by rsvp and were purchased on Zappos. My necklace and antique ring were both from Brilliant Earth (brilliantearth.com) which focuses on ethically sourced gemstones and recycled metals. That is something that is very important to me in my jewellery.

The suit
Steve’s outfit was all from The Gap. He wanted to feel comfortable, but be a little dressed up for the occasion. He looked great!

Theme
We just wanted to focus on each other and being in a place that held a lot of great memories for us.

Food
After our small ceremony and photos, we went into town and ate at this fabulous French restaurant that we had always wanted to go to while in college. It’s called Chez Albert in Amherst, MA and it was fantastic!

Flowers
The only flower I had was a single, pink Gerbera daisy to go with my dress.

Decoration
We were next to a pond that was in a garden with an apple orchard, and the Holyoke Mountain Range behind us. Nature did all the work for us!

Personal touches
Even though Steve and I are not religious we loved the idea of the ketubah, which is the Jewish wedding contract. I loved the idea of making a personalized contract with each that we could display as a reminder of the promises we had made each other. I bought some copper paper, and using a calligraphy marker wrote out what we wanted in the ketubah. Using silver ink I used a scroll stamp as a border around our vows, and an ornate silver tree at the top. It’s framed and hanging in our bedroom.

Special moments
Our vows were definitely the highlight. In our wedding we chose not to write our own vows, but for our renewal we wanted to express what this ceremony meant to us. We wanted to reaffirm our commitments, promises, and hopes to each other. It was wonderful.

Planning advice
Having planned two very different events, the biggest thing we learned was not to forget the purpose of a wedding or renewal ceremony. Yes you want to share your love and commitment with your nearest and dearest, but remember you two are marrying each other! Make sure you are focused on what that means not only to you individually, but as a pair. Focus on the wonderful life that you are planning on creating together because the party is only for one day, but those vows you make to each other are meant to last forever.

Biggest surprise
It was surprising how much the ceremony ended up meaning to both of us. It really did feel like we had re-done our entire marriage. It was a peaceful feeling.

Supplier Shout Outs

• Dress & Headpiece: Dolly Couture www.dollycouture.com
• Groom’s outfit: The Gap www.gap.com
• Shoes: rsvp purchased on www.Zappos.com
• Antique ring & Leaf necklace: Brilliant Earth www.brilliantearth.com
• Officiant: Justice of the Peace, Dennis Helmus
• Ceremony Location: National Yiddish Book Center at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA
• AMAZING Photographer (!!!!): Vic Pellicier (http://www.vicpellicier.com/index2.php) from Indian Orchard, MA

For more information on Vic Pellicier go to
www.vicpellicier.com
www.vicpellicier.com/Wordpress
[email protected]
413.363.2425
www.facebook.com/pellicierphoto
www.twitter.com/pellicierapd

I’m a photographer based out of New England, my couples are generally pretty creative individuals what want to have a great and inclusive wedding for their family, guests and of course themselves. Style wise my approach is almost as a guest at a wedding, I’m generally shooting to tell a story, and to make sure when people view the work they can actually relive the event or feel like they were present.