Rustic Modern Wedding at the Overbrook House on Cape Cod
When Monica and Barry first contacted us about photographing their wedding at the rustic Cape Cod venue, the Overbrook House, they mentioned that there would be a lot of colorful handmade touches included in their day. We had no idea just how serious they were. I’m sure I will leave some out, but here are a few of the most unique DIY ideas from their wedding that really shouldn’t be missed…
Monica hand cross-stitched a quirky and brightly colored “Monica and Barry” design, and then used it on their invitations and their custom Chuppah fabric cloth (and later got more use out of the cloth by hanging it up in the barn for their reception!). Barry made all of the modern woodcut signs and table numbers for the wedding, and we were amazing at how far a simple theme could transform an otherwise rustic and campy wedding into something chic and modern. These two saved money by buying flowers locally, and putting the bouquets and boutonnieres together on their own; with Monica even creating her own whimsical flower crown! Monica bartered fixing a friend’s car window for the design of the hand drawn coloring placemats with impeccable versions of the bride and groom on them… and crayons on the tables helped bring out the creativity in guests!
These two had a musical ceremony in the field that began with Barry playing the guitar and singing the Trampled by Turtles song, Alone, with Monica chiming in on the xylophone. It was the perfect entrance for these two, and guests (along with these photographers!) were swept up in the magic of it all. After saying their “I do’s”, folks enjoyed an heirloom tomato bar and drinks at the cocktail hour, and then sat down to a traditional Cape Cod clambake with steamed lobsters for dinner in the tent.
After seeing this wedding and all of the fantastic ideas that made it so unique, it’s not surprise that these two met while at MIT in graduate school, and work in extremely creative fields when they aren’t designing the coolest wedding ever. ;) We were truly honored to document this inspiration of a wedding, and send our very best wishes to these two newlyweds! Other favorite details from this wedding that we simply can’t not mention–the handmade and modern red Chuppah looked like an architectural design winner in Dwell, Monica’s vintage dress from the 1970’s with the longest scalloped train we’ve ever seen was breathtaking, and her teal Seychelles wedding shoes that matched Barry’s teal-accented ASOS had us snapping way too many pictures of their feet. Bright colors were a huge theme of this wedding as well, with the groomsmen wearing yellow, orange, teal and green belts that matched their brightly colored shoes respectively. The bridesmaids wore shades of gray dresses, and mixed it up with different and colorful shoes as well. For their escort card table, Monica and Barry created a chalkboard style map of the United States, and little colorful flags were used to show both where guests were from, and where they would be sitting! These two also are major foodies, and in an effort to remember their guests messages to them on a regular basis, they used a cookbook (How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman) that they often use as a guestbook! Barry also designed the cardboard lobster puzzle favors for guests, using tiny pop-out numbered parts to put together a full lobster!
Although these two designed and made a lot of the details in this wedding on their own, here are a few credits for the things they couldn’t DIY: