Anthony & Tim's Autumn Wedding at Montague Retreat Center in Montague, MA

It’s no big secret that we love working in central and western Massachusetts and if we’re honest it doesn’t happen enough. The weather is seemingly always calm, the environment is always stunning, and the weddings there seem so relaxed. When Anthony and Tim reached out to us to tell us about their plans at the Montague Retreat Center, a venue we worked at a couple of seasons ago and adored, we knew pretty quickly it was something we didn’t want to miss. These two are incredibly sweet, exceedingly kind people that we connected with immediately after our first call and on subsequent chats leading up to the wedding our excitement for the day just kept building. They kicked off their wedding weekend by inviting their families to come stay with them at MRC to get comfortable, relax into their surroundings (it is a retreat center after all), and spend time together before the wedding day. Montague was looking particularly handsome in its fall colors and the air was crisp and cool as Saturday came around and Anthony and Tim and their families got ready together in the various cabins and main building on site. Once fully dressed we all hit the road about a half hour south to Amherst where their ceremony would be held at Grace Church before returning back to MRC for the rest of the day. The ceremony was ethereal thanks to an octet choir, piano, and trumpet accompaniment which combined soared into the high ceilings and filled the cavernous space with sound. As things in Amherst concluded, Anthony and Tim excitedly rushed to their car (which Yvonne, their planner, had secretly adorned with tassels during the ceremony) in order to beat their guests back to the hilltop where they would share their first dance and the first half of cocktail hour.

100% of this day was planned with their guests’ experiences at the forefront of Anthony and Tim’s minds. They wanted to share the beautiful foliage with their people, they wanted them to see the sun set over the mountains, they wanted them to all dine together by candlelight, they wanted to dance the night away under a disco ball with them. After the formality of the ceremony the goings on back at Montague Retreat Center felt like an explosion of love, beauty, and perhaps most importantly unbridled fun and excitement. Their first dance on the hillside surrounded (literally) by their friends and families and the great outdoors in its finest formalwear was so powerful and so pretty and really set the tone for the rest of the night. Everyone was crying happy tears after toasts from sisters, chattering excitedly across romantically lit tables during dinner, and prepping for the ensuing dance party in the main barn. When DJ Dayglow (shoutout fellow Providence vendor!) announced the transition upstairs for dancing and the lights turned low the energy did indeed shift a bit. Disco cowboy hats and vibrantly colored fans were distributed across the floor and we heard everything from Demi Lovato to Dolly Parton house remixes while folks collectively let loose and danced til they couldn’t. Anthony and Tim were there front and center, making their rounds to dance a little here and there with anyone and everyone, and finding one another again and again.

Venue: Montague Retreat Center / Grace Church Amherst
Planning: Unique Melody Events
Catering: Wheelhouse
Florals: Coco Bustin-Garduño
Menswear: Enzo Custom
Makeup/Hair: Made by Mack
Tunes: DJ Dayglow
Rentals: Northampton Rental Center