An Oceanside Wedding // Alex + Neil

A quick hello to everyone from the isolation of my home. I hope all are doing well and staying safe during this completely bizarre time that is COVID-19. I’m staying at home, with my wife and dog - practicing physical distancing. I’m looking forward to when this all passes and life can return to normal. In order for that to happen, please adhere to your local Government and health authority guidelines for flattening the curve, stay at home! We’re all in this together.

So seeing as I have a lot more time on my hands, now is the perfect opportunity to continue posting weddings from the past two years on my blog. Starting today with Alex and Neil’s gorgeous backyard wedding from 2018. The wedding took place in the beautiful community of Mobile, Newfoundland - just outside of St. John’s. An all around awesome wedding and to this day hold’s the distinction of the best meal I’ve ever been served at a reception.

I hope this provides a small distraction from all the doom and gloom online these days.

Take care!

Newfoundland Wedding Vendors

Ceremony / Reception: Pearl Entertainment

Décor / Wedding Planning: Borrowed & Blu

Flowers: Flower Studio

Photographer: JP Mullowney Photography

Videographer: Tin Bird Productions

Ceremony Music: Pachabel Trio

Catering: Damien Marner

Cake / Dessert Table: Petite Sweet

Mixologist: Henry Hussey

Reception Music: 709

Make-up: Color Me Bronze

Hair: Mobile Hair by Allison

After-Wedding Brunch: The Gypsy Tea Room

A note from The Bride & Groom

This is long overdue, but definitely necessary as there were so many amazing vendors who helped make our wedding day absolute perfection! This group was extremely helpful for me during the planning process, as we got married in Mobile, NL, but live in Houston, TX, so all the planning was done remotely.

Newfoundland Wedding Vendor Reviews

Ceremony / Reception: Both the ceremony and the reception were held at my parents’ house in Mobile. The ceremony was held down by the ocean and my brother officiated. The reception was held in a tent that was put up behind the house that we rented from Pearl Entertainment. Roy Locke was great to deal with and was really accommodating throughout the planning process. He went out to Mobile in advance of us booking with him to make sure the 40x60 tent would work with the space available. He also factored in that the wind coming off the ocean could make the tent set-up difficult, so he made sure the tent went up on the Friday (we got married on the Sunday), to avoid any last minute issues. The tent was exactly what we were looking for, and we loved that it gave us the necessary space to hold the reception at my parents’ house.

Décor / Wedding Planning: Borrowed & Blu. We trusted Andrea for all the wedding planning and décor. Planning from out of province is definitely a challenge, so we were really grateful to have her on the ground in NL to give us guidance on vendors and insight into how to bring together an outdoor wedding. She kept us on a timeline in the months leading up to the wedding to make sure everything came together perfectly, and then ensured the day went off without a hitch. It was also amazing to have her on site during the wedding day, as we were able to enjoy the day knowing that she was handling everything in the background. She also did an absolutely beautiful job of turning the tent into an elegant venue. I had a rough idea of what I wanted for décor, and she was able to perfectly bring my vision to life. She also coordinated all the flowers with Flower Studio, which ended up being incredible. The colors on the bouquets were exactly what I wanted, and the flower pieces they did for the ceremony structure were beautiful! We could not have had the wedding we did without her, and are so grateful we trusted her to help with our wedding day.

Photographer: JP Mullowney Photography. Jim was everything we were looking for in a wedding photographer! Not only was he so much fun and easy-going to work with throughout our day, but the pictures that he captured are better than anything I could have ever imagined. About two months before our wedding we decided we wanted to have a last dance at the end of the reception followed by a sparkler send-off, so we extended Jim’s booking through the end of the night. He was so accommodating about the change (even though it meant it was going to be a 12 hour day for him), and he captured some beautiful shots from the both the last dance and sparkler send-off that we will treasure forever. I cannot say more positive things about Jim, and would highly recommend him to anyone! I posted a few of his pictures so you can see his work, and some of the work of our vendors.

Videographer: Tin Bird Productions. We decided to go with a videographer, as we didn’t want the potential regret not having one. We were so excited to work with Lian because we loved all the videos in her portfolio and the way she captured the key parts of the day. She was really easy to work with, and we are obsessed with the trailer she put together for us! The editing she did was amazing, as she was able to incorporate our private vows from our first look into the trailer. Because the day went by so quickly, I can already say that I am extremely grateful that we decided to go with a videographer, and I am so happy we went with Lian to capture those special moments!

Ceremony Music: Pachabel Trio. We hired this string trio to play for our ceremony and cocktail hour. The offered a huge selection of songs to choose from (ranging from classical to modern), which gave us the flexibility to have a mix of both types of music within our day. We started the ceremony with Canon in D, and ended with Marry You by Bruno Mars. They were really easy to work with and were a really nice addition.

Catering: Damien Marner was the brilliance behind the food at our wedding. We have to give a huge shout-out to Andrea for connecting us with him, as we would have never discovered him ourselves. One of our visions for the wedding was to have food stations for our guests (we loved the idea of having a ton of options to choose from). Damien was so flexible in working with us, and with his incredible talent he brought our vision of upscale food stations to life. We honestly do not think our wedding would have been the same without him. He arrived at my parents’ house with a team of chefs the morning of the wedding, and prepared all the appetizers (for the cocktail hour) and food for the reception on site throughout the day. I am so grateful to him for everything he delivered for the wedding as the food stations were memorable and all the guests raved about how amazing everything tasted.

Cake / Dessert Table: Along the same lines as the catering, we knew we wanted to have options on the dessert table. We booked Petite Sweet for the cake and desserts, and were so happy with the decision! Maria not only made the most delicious wedding cake for us (that she decorated beautifully), but all the other desserts alongside it looked and tasted amazing. Since the wedding, we have already used her again for other events!

Mixologist: Henry Hussey was another amazing addition to our wedding day. Because we were having the event at my parents’ house, we were able to serve all our own alcohol. We wanted to have a good selection for everyone, so we picked 6 different liquors that we were going to serve (on top of the beer and wine). Henry gave us suggestions on which liquors would be best, and during the wedding he was able to make any drink the guests requested. He also came up with two signature cocktails for the wedding, which were served during the cocktail hour. We really appreciated having someone with Henry’s skill making drinks throughout the night, and all the guests were happy!

Reception Music: 709. Our other must-have for the wedding was a live band, and based on reviews from other brides we ended up booking 709. This was hands down one of the best decisions we made! They kept all the guests on the dance floor the entire night and had an amazing energy the whole time. They even did an encore at the end of the night when the guests didn’t want them to leave the stage. I have a special place in my heart for this band, as they gave me my favorite moment from our day. For our last dance we had picked the song ‘I’m Yours’ by Jason Mraz. So when all our guests went outside to get ready for our sparkler send-off, my husband and I had one final moment where it was just the two of us on the dance floor, and 709 was singing just for us. It was the most amazing way to end our day together, and having them sing that song to us was incredible. I am so grateful for everything they did on our wedding day!

**To all the brides out there, if you can incorporate a last dance into your day, I cannot recommend it enough! It was amazing to have one final moment with my husband at the end of the reception (and you can get some beautiful pictures from it as well).

Make-up: Color Me Bronze. I entrusted Sayer based on the recommendations of other brides, and I absolutely loved the makeup she did for me on my wedding day. She gave me the exact look that I was going for based on a picture I showed her, and as someone who does not wear a lot of makeup on a regular basis, she did a great job of making me look natural. She also did 5 other girls, and they all loved the way their makeup turned out. Would highly recommend her if you are looking for a mobile make-up artist.

Hair: Mobile Hair by Allison. This is the only vendor that we had a minor hiccup with leading up to the wedding day. I booked Allison about a year in advance based on recommendations from other brides and the work she posted on her accounts. I was really excited to have her for my wedding as all her reviews were so positive and all the pictures she posted looked amazing. Less than 2 weeks before the wedding date I received an email from Andrea letting me know that Allison had something personal come up, and was going to send another stylist in her place. I was definitely caught off guard as I had booked Allison specifically based on her work. I was also frustrated that she didn’t email me directly to tell me about this change, but instead went through Andrea. Thankfully Jessica (the stylist that was sent in her place) did an amazing job on all of our hair and I was really happy with how everything turned out! But when this change happened right before our wedding, it added a little more stress to an already stressful week.

After-Wedding Brunch: We held a brunch for all our guests the morning after our wedding at The Gypsy Tea Room. The service was fantastic and the food was amazing. They accommodated all our requests as we wanted to make sure we had a lot of breakfast options. Because it was Labor Day, they opened the restaurant specifically for our event, which was really nice because we had the place to ourselves. It is one of my favorite restaurants in St. John’s, and I loved that they were able to host such a nice event for us to finish off our wedding weekend.

Overall, it was the most perfect day thanks to all these amazing vendors. I am forever grateful to each and every one of them!