When we first visited Portsmouth, NH, we fell head over heels in love with the town.  So, when Lili and Dan contacted us for vintage wedding photography coverage for their ceremony at the Old South Church in Portsmouth, and reception at the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion, we were beyond excited to work with them!  We decided to start the day with some alternative bride and groom portraits at the members-only Portsmouth Athenæum, which we discovered is an institution, or club, that promotes learning.  While there used to hundreds of these membership libraries across America, the Athenæum in Portsmouth is one of less than twenty left in the country!  After their ceremony at the Old South Church downtown, we  went to the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion State Park for their outdoor tent reception on the water.

Lili had some fantastic Anthropologie-esque DIY ideas to give the reception a super festive feel… she used an antique typewriter as the guest book, strung up colorful fabric bunting around the tables, and used vintage colored glass bottles for the centerpieces.  She also decorated the space with smaller pumpkins to go with the colorful fall leaves outside.   Melanie with Blissful Beginnings Wedding & Event Design made the day go super smoothly, and she was super fun to work with!  I think one of our favorite parts about the reception was when Dan’s mom decided to share a story that had the guests rolling with laughter.  She told the story of one Halloween, when Dan was about 6 or 7 years-old, he came back from trick-or-treating and we told him after a few pieces of candy, it was time for bed.  He went to bed, and when he woke up in the morning he came to us [his parents] and asked us if we had eaten his candy.  We told him no we hadn’t, but well, of course, we had.  He then said, “Well, I had 167 pieces of candy last night when I went to bed, and now there are only 152”.  Dan is now an accountant, so this story seemed very fitting to sum up part of Dan’s personality today.  ;)

Lili and Dan were so full of joy and excitement on their wedding day, they had our own cheeks aching from smiling behind the camera for the day… congrats to this happy couple, we were honored to document your big day!

**Update – Lili and Dan’s full gallery of photos is up in our CLIENT PAGE!