Taylor + Ryan’s Dexter’s Inn Sunapee New Hampshire Summer Destination Wedding
The first time Ryan had flown was to visit Taylor in New Hampshire. Like their love story, their wedding was equally as charming.
Sunapee, New Hampshire, where Taylor and Ryan’s destination wedding was held, is so quaint. It is a tiny town with ski slopes in the winter, and abundant lakes for summer. It is summer camp 24/7. The pair met while at USC, in South Carolina but had their wedding up north where Taylor snow skied in Sunapee in her youth. Several friends and family members traveled from all over to spend the weekend celebrating with the couple.
The the day started off sunny, but then a pop up thunderstorm changed plans. The ceremony was to take place on a mountain with an arbor Taylor’s grand father built. With the storm, wedding planner Morgan with Twisted Vine and events, pivoted, and moved the ceremony to the tent. Fortunately, after the storm passed, we were able to take even more images outside on that special hill.
Taylor and Ryan, it was a true pleasure to get to know and work with you two. Thanks for having us!
Bride + Groom Q+A
Overview of the day?
We chose our venue because we wanted to spend the weekend with our closest family and friends. Since many were traveling we wanted to make the trip worth it and also give them a taste of what a New England summer is like. We spent the fourth of July on Lake Sunapee relaxing on pontoon boats and ended the day with a barbecue on the patio. On Friday morning the boys went golfing at the Country Club of NH and the others hiked Mount Sunapee. In the evening we had our rehearsal dinner and welcome party with out of town guests. It was an awesome few days before the wedding because we got to reconnect with so many of our friends and family that are all over the US.
We wanted our wedding to fit the theme of “simple but elegant”. Although it was more of a country setting, I didn’t want the wedding to feel rustic or country. I really wanted it to have a lounge space and an inviting dance floor. Morgan was awesome to work with and helped us capture all of those things to make our wedding exactly what we envisioned.
We chose the date just by chance but realized having the fourth of July on Thursday made travel a little easier for those from out of town. I think the only wrench thrown into our day was the rain. My Grampy spent SO much time working on the arbor that we planned to get married under that I wanted to try and make an outdoor ceremony work if possible. The rain did not cooperate for that to happen but I think the ceremony under the tent was still just as beautiful and we got to capture lots of outdoor pictures before and after! I think our ceremony was perfectly us. Ryan and I spent time finding the readings that we wanted, writing our own vows and thinking about what we wanted our ceremony to feel like. I’m so happy with how it turned out and I can’t wait to watch the video to replay it again.
Our reception was exactly what we hoped for, good food, the best friends and family and lots of dancing. We also wanted to incorporate our dog, Cooper, into the reception. We were able to do this with our signature drink, The Cooper. I think the drink was a hit and people loved the stickers with Cooper on them. I’m so glad we added that detail.
Wedding dress?
I found my gown in Charlotte, NC at a place called The Lily Rose. It’s a small bridal shop that had a ton of options. By the time I had been to this store it felt like I had tried on 100 dresses. When I tried on my dress, I really liked it but didn’t have any tears. I thought it was beautiful and it fit the theme well. About a week before the wedding I think it all hit me. I was really excited to get to wear it. It was a dream dress and it had the perfect amount of “princess” to it without being too over the top. I wore sneakers so I would be comfortable all night and I totally was. I want to wear that dress again and again!
Favorite moment(s)?
My favorite moments would be a few different ones. I loved doing the first look, I think it calmed both of us down and it was so nice to just be alone together for that. I also loved our ceremony, I didn’t feel like anyone else was there except us and our officiant. It was special how connected I felt to Ryan during that entire time. My other favorite moment would be dancing with Ryan to Stanky Leg, haha. It was the first song we danced to 7 years ago and it was fun to go back to that memory and recreate it again as a married couple.
Funniest moment(s)?
The funniest moment would be when we opened our love letter box during the ceremony and there were plastic grocery bags surrounding the wine and letters. When we brought the box up from North Carolina we stuffed it with grocery bags so the wine wouldn’t slide back and forth the entire car ride. I figured someone would remove them when they looked in the box but nope! To both our surprise the wine was sitting in the box with grocery bags included. I don’t think anyone else could tell what they were but we both are still laughing about it.
First Dance Songs?
Our first dance song was a cover medley of two Shania Twain songs, From This Moment and You’re Still the One. We really liked the story the two songs told together and thought it suited us well. We took dance lessons just for the fun of it and decided to use some of them during our first dance.
Vendor Team: Morgan with Twisted Vine Events twistedvineevents.com, Venue Dexter’s Inn in Sunapee New Hampshire, DJ + Lighting DJ Guilbo, Florals Ford Flower Co. Dance Floor Special Events of New England, Decor Scene Setters, Catering Celebrations Catering, Hair + Makeup Brides and Beauty by Justine