Love and Lobster Coastal New England Weddings

We continue following the wedding plans of Maine transplant Jen Pepper.

So many girls plan their dream wedding all of their lives. So the moment when that beautiful ring is slipped onto her finger, she already knows exactly where she wants to say “I do.” I wish I was one of those girls. Instead I’m in the unfamiliar, yet unbelievably beautiful state of Maine, that I have only called my home for 6 months. I know there are so many places I haven’t seen in person yet. What if my dream location is out there undiscovered, covered in snow?!

Well thank goodness for the internet! Of course, seeing the venues first hand is an absolute must, but using the power of Google is a great way to see what is out there. A quick search for Maine wedding venues turned up so many results that it was easy to get overwhelmed. I needed a site that had a list of venues that was easy to just click through.

At first I turned to the knot. I heard great things about it being a fun site that has local directories, as well as beautiful photos of real Maine weddings. Maine may not have the largest section of vendors on there but it’s such a pretty site and I found it very easy to navigate.

While eventective is not a very pretty site, their list of event venues I found to be pretty expansive. They don’t always provide direct links to each venue but with a little copy and paste tracking down the ones I was interested in was a piece of cake.

Another great resource I found was Prepare to Wed. A wonderful site with handpicked vendors by the lovely Kate Parker. The site features some really useful search features that helped me browse venues by location and budget. Each vendor has their own personalized page on the site with stunning photography and tidbits of information that helped me pull a few favorites onto my wish list.

I found myself being most excited about potential venues that featured photos of past weddings. So I decided what better place to grab a little more eye candy than the sites of some of my favorite local photographers. The alluring photography of emilie inc., the playful shots by Audra Bayette and the modern images captured by Blush Imagery helped me visualize how I could turn a raw space into something unique and truly personal.

With a list of dream locations, a rough budget and the date in hand, it was time to pick up the phone and make some appointments. I had no idea how long this was going to take, but I knew I was on the path to filling in the “where” on our save the dates.