Liz and Jacqui were married at Dana Hall in Newton MA. The ceremony was something like I’ve never seen in my ten years shooting weddings. I wanted to make sure to really have it explained well. I sent Liz a list of questions, and I’ve posted some of the responses below.
Ceremony Location: Dana Hall
Rings By : Alex Sepkus
Flowers: Winston’s
Dinner: Roxy’s Grilled Cheese
Dessert: The Cupcakory
How did you come up with your ceremony and the elements involved?
We wanted to have a ceremony that reflected both of us and all our passions. We started with a Jewish ceremony because Jacqui is Jewish and this was important to her. Jacqui practices Reconstructionist Judaism, which is very inclusive – our congregation includes many gay/lesbian couples, including Rabbi Toba Spitzer. She is an outstanding rabbi, and we met with her for three extended periods of time to make sure the ceremony was comfortable for Liz and still contained enough Jewish elements for Jacqui. She recommended the pouch ceremony to us, which was introduced by Rachel Adler. The Jewish elements include circling, the seven blessings, the cups of wine and attendant blessings, and the breaking of the glass. More information about all these elements is included in our program, which we wrote to help everyone, especially non-Jewish guests, understand the components of the ceremony.
They had a blue and purple color scheme and when I asked about it, they said; Liz’s favorite color is blue, and Jacqui’s favorite color is purple. We always knew we wanted our dresses to be in these colors. The white elements, flowers and shells, reflect nature.
Can you talk a bit about the literary aspect of your wedding (the books in the back of the ceremony, the quotes on the chairs)
Liz is a librarian and former English teacher, and Jacqui is a Latin teacher. Both of us speak several languages and LOVE words, poetry, books, language, etc. We wanted to give our guests a gift that reflected these passions, and we have been collecting the quotations for a while with this idea in mind. We plan to make a quilt out of the different fabrics with some additional batik fabrics.
Why did you pick dana hall for the ceremony? Was it your first choice? Was there another choice before it, and if so what was the deciding factor on choosing DH?
We first met in Beveridge Hall at Dana Hall in August 1992. Together we have been teaching at Dana for 42 years! They graciously offered us the space at no charge – that was the deciding factor! At some point, we wanted to get married in P-Town, but we figured that would be too complicated and too expensive, so we brought P-Town to Dana Hall, in the form of Mary Oliver (lesbian and author of books we gave as gifts).
You went to Prince Edward Island for a getaway/honeymoon? My brides love to find new and fun places to go, why did you choose that?
We wanted someplace that we could drive to and where we could enjoy nature, good food, and each other. Liz had previously visited the Inn at Bay Fortune, but Jacqui hadn’t. It was an excellent choice; we highly recommend it. We had a very difficult time leaving.
How did you find the vendors you used for the food trucks?
The owner of Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, James DiSabatino, is a friend of Liz’s daughter, Megan. We also saw him and the truck on the Great Food Truck Race tv show that aired in the summer of 2011. After we sampled his goods and spoke to him, we were sold. He referred us to the Cupcakory which shares a kitchen with him in Jamaica Plain. We chose food trucks because we wanted people to have choices when it came to the food, and we liked the informal aspect. We were also fortunate that the location for the reception was well-suited to hosting food trucks.
I wanted to know what their favorite part of their wedding was.
The surprises – the blessings and pouch contributions – both of which we didn’t know about ahead of time. It was nice to have a surprise. We can’t remember if you were in the room for the bedecken – a Jewish wedding ceremony that take place in private before the public ceremony begins. Our closest family members made a circle around us, and we were facing each other.
The reason for the ceremony is to remind us what brought us to this day and to be mindful of where it will take us. We also both loved the chuppah, lovingly designed and created for us by Jacqui’s sister, Judy.
It was very special to be given away by our daughters, especially at this stage in our lives. Liz particularly loved all the handmade elements reflecting creativity – the chuppah, the quotations on fabrics on the chairs,
the book in which the marriage covenant was recorded.
We also both appreciated all the humor involved. Quite a few of the guests mentioned how effective you were as the wedding photographer. They appreciated your clear guidance in arranging people for posed pictures, and you made us feel very calm.
What if anything would you have changed about the day?
Liz would have loved for her birth mother, Caroline Gladstone, to be present. Jacqui wishes we could have invited more friends and family. We liked the casual nature of the reception, but we wish we had planned ahead for a dance and joint cupcake eating. We expected there would be dancing, but we probably should have worked more purposefully to make that happen. We had Jewish wedding music ready, and we never used it. However, we wanted people to do what they felt comfortable doing, and they did, so maybe it all worked out for the best!
It was a wonderful wedding, with lots of unique elements, and I’m so glad I got to be a part of it.
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