This week, New Hampshire wedding photographer, Melissa Koren Photography shares her wedding with my Kate Parker Wedding!  For our blog series, Real Weddings from Real Vendors, we asked Melissa Koren about her special day with Nichole!  Melissa and Nichole were married on April 26, 2008.  Check out their wedding below and get to know Melissa and Nichole!

Photographs for this wedding by Kelly Griffiths and Closed Circle Photography

Top 3 Priorities:

1) THE FOOD!  We were determined that we would have fabulous wedding food.  We did a lot of research and made a lot of decisions.  We pared down our wants a lot but in the end the Sheraton Harborside did an AMAZING job.  We had a mashed potato bar, pasta station, stir fry & pot stickers and the best of all? minis.  Mini Grilled Cheese w/ Tomato soup shooter, Mini PB&J with Milk shooter, Mini Mac & Cheese ramekins and mini calzones.

We had stations all over the ballroom and the guests had to mingle about and cover a lot of ground to find what everything was, but it was a blast!

We wanted our guests to enjoy the food, not just choke down another stuffed chicken breast.  And it worked.  They still talk about how it was the best wedding food they ever ate.

2) The Date.  April 26th is Nichole’s grandparents anniversary.  It happened to fall on a Saturday in 2008 and that seemed to absolutely be the way to go.  It helped us in picking a venue location too – not available? not an option!  And being fixated with numbers I love that it ends up being 2,4,6,8

3) That it was a wedding that truly reflected us and that everyone had fun in the celebration.  I think we accomplished it really well.

After our lovely ceremony at the church where I’ve worked for nearly the entirety of our relationship, officiated by the pastor, a woman who has known us since the beginning, we skipped down the aisle to the “Charlie Brown Theme” – rocked out on by the organ & cello. The reception was highlighted by the food, great music & care bear cake toppers that couldn’t have fit us better – while walking through Target we saw them in their little package and it was sort of an instantaneous “those need to be on our cake!”  We had Jenness Farm goats milk soap favors in chocolate and lilac, tied in chocolate and lilac ribbon, each with a little favor card with a fun quote about love and relationships on it.  My favorite of which is “Love is like pi – natural, irrational, and very important.”  Our wedding party was a very integral part too.  Initially we were going to just have one person each, but after a few weeks of sitting with that it didn’t feel right and we added in two more.  I can’t imagine having done it with out them.  And also Benjamin – our (then) 7 year old.  He was our ring bearer and it was so awesome to be able to have him as a part of everything!

Any Changes?:

I think I would have changed my dress.  I loved it and I worked really hard to fit into it, but in the end I just didn’t feel ‘comfortable’ in it.  I definitely wanted the color ‘pop’ but ultimately I think I should have forgone it for a more flattering style.

Also we didn’t take as much time as we should have to make the rounds and see everyone.

Overall though we worked really hard to have it be OUR wedding and all our vendors worked so well with us to make sure that happened!

What Wouldn’t you change?:

Anything else.  It was such a celebration of family and friends and love!

Our First Dance:

She; Elvis Costello

Nichole asked if she could pick the first dance and surprise me with it and I said yes.  She tried to change her mind and have me pick a few times during the process but I held fast.  It was such a great moment to look forward to!

Melissa Koren Photography
my Kate Parker Wedding Directoy: Melissa Koren
my Kate Parker Wedding State and Budget: NH <25k

New Hampshire wedding photographer, Melissa Koren Photography, is a member of my Kate Parker Wedding your online wedding resource guide geared towards directing couples to quality vendors based on their price range and state.