A Breathtaking Waterside Same Sex Jewish Wedding at a Private Residence, Kittery, Maine, USA - Smashing the Glass

Today we have a real treat for you because we have not one, but TWO wonderful brides whose boho-beautiful style you’re totally going to want to steal.

Samantha and Elise had their tented waterside Jewish destination wedding at a private family residence and it was absolutely rub-your-eyes-and-look-again beautiful. The natural scenery provided a spectacular backdrop for the couple’s moving, family-oriented Jewish ceremony – oh, and just how cute are those flower girls?? There’s an awesome story about them which we won’t ruin, but read on, because it will just melt your heart.

Let’s talk about the brides’ breathtaking dresses, from Willowby by Watters and Lillian West respectively – they could not have looked more perfect together, with a relaxed but oh-so-chic feel and lush lace embellishments. Serious bridal style goals!

We’re also head over heels for the foliage-covered birch wood chuppah overlooking the water – what a perfect place to say ‘I do’. Oh, and the rustic-look but clean and contemporary reception dà©cor? Sublime.

The stunning spread of photographs was provided by Alex and Bett, who captured all the love, joy and big-day details with aplomb. We seriously can’t stop staring!

We’ll hand you over to Samantha and Elise for the full story of their perfect day. Get ready to fall in love with these two!

How we met

Samantha and Elise, the brides: We met online, on OkCupid, before the days of dating apps.

A tented affair

We wanted a destination wedding. We live in Oakland, CA. We got married in Kittery, ME, at Samantha’s family’s private residence. The house is on the water at the end of a dead-end road surrounded by beautiful trees, foliage and grass. It was a tented affair.

Elise had never been to New England, but Samantha spent summers on the east coast with her mother being from Boston. Samantha took Elise to visit the house the fall before the wedding and Elise fell in love with the area. With some of Elise’s family being from Scotland, it was a nice halfway destination for both families. We wanted it to be a vacation for everyone.

A natural, coastal theme

Our theme was natural, coastal, elegant. Our colors were champagne and greens with highlights of plum. We did use a wedding planner, Heidi Brissette with She Luxe Weddings. She is amazing. I highly, highly recommend her.

Custom-designed invitations

We custom designed our invitation using Anticipate Invitations. We wanted people to feel the vibe of the wedding right when they opened the invitation.

Two divine dresses

Samantha’s dress was designed by Willowby by Watters, “Doyle” and purchased at The Wedding Party, in Berkeley CA.

Elise’s dress was designed by Lillian West and purchased at Paris Connection, in San Francisco, CA.

‘Something borrowed’ jewelry

Elise wore a veil and a hair comb with succulents on it. She also wore her mother’s bracelet and earrings.

Samantha wore her mother’s diamond necklace that was made from her grandmother’s diamond ring.

Jimmy Choos

Samantha wore Jimmy Choo kitty peep toe pumps.

Bridesmaids in champagne

We each had two bridesmaids. Elise had her two younger sisters and Samantha has her two best girl friends since she was in preschool. We told them all to pick their own dresses in the champagne color scheme. It turned out great.

A beautiful birch wood chuppah

We chose a birch chuppah with lots of greenery, created by our florist.

A moving ceremony

We each had a cousin read poem we chose and Elise’s dad said a Jewish prayer.

Two of our nieces walked down the aisle carrying little flags that said, “here come the brides.”

One of our nieces, Isla, who’s four, couldn’t understand why the officiant was calling Sam by the wrong name, Samantha, instead of, Auntie Sam. She thought it was hilarious.

All You Need Is Love

For our processional, we chose the Skye Boat Song. It’s Scottish, like Elise’s heritage, beautiful and we thought it was funny that it’s also the theme song to Outlander.
For our recessional, we chose The Beatles, All You Need Is Love.

Phenomenal floristry

It was all about succulents and air plants! Our florist was Lynn from F as in Flowers.

Our fabulous photographers…

Out photographers were Alex and Betty. We wanted two, since there were two brides. Samantha is a video producer, so photography and video were very important to her. Alex and Betty have a great docu style vibe, that we really loved.

…and videographer

Lauren Martin was our videographer. She’s up and coming and did a fantastic job.

Sweet as pie

Instead of cake, we had an assortment of pies!

A four-piece jazz band

We had a four-piece band for the pre-ceremony and cocktail hour. They only played ’40s jazz music, which Samantha loves.

We had a DJ Mike for the dinner and dancing. Both were from C-Zone entertainment.

Food fit for foodies

The food was really important to us. We had a lobster bake rehearsal dinner with night before at Foster’s in York. For the wedding, we used Dandelion Catering. They were so amazing. We had several tastings and there was no doubt who we were going to choose.

A personalized song

One of Sam’s good friend from childhood, Lauren Blackman, happens to be an actress on Broadway, currently starting in Anastasia. Her bridesmaid and best friend Kirsten Guenther, is a musical theater writer. Kirsten wrote a personalized song for Sam and Elise and Lauren sang it during dinner.