📸: Sabrina Scolari Photography // @sabrina_scolari_photography
Join us in swooning over this dreamy fall Newport wedding.
The Meet Cute
We both grew up about thirty minutes away from each other in Rhode Island in Cumberland and Warwick. However, we never crossed paths until we both moved to the Federal Hill neighborhood in Providence after graduating college. On a random summer night in 2017, my friends invited me to join them at a party in Providence. Unbeknownst to me, the party was at Mark’s house in my same neighborhood, hosted by he and his roommates. At the party we introduced ourselves and began talking. Mark asked for my phone number later that night, and we had our first date later that same week. Mark officially asked me to be his girlfriend a few weeks later, at the Coast Guard House restaurant in Narragansett.
The Proposal
On an unusually warm November day in 2020, Mark had both of our families meet on the Cliff Walk in Newport to watch the surprise proposal he planned. Under the guise that we were out celebrating my birthday a week early, Mark led me to the proposal spot in front of one of the mansions. Leading up to the proposal spot on the Cliff Walk, Mark was asking me random trivia questions in the style of Jeopardy, my favorite show, and then the final question was at the proposal spot! He got down on one knee, and posed the engagement question as a Jeopardy question. I first answered “yes,” but then had to backtrack and rephrase it to “what is yes.” Our families celebrated the engagement on the Cliff Walk, complete with Champagne, a professional photographer and Mark’s custom-designed face masks reading “What Is Yes.”
The Venue
Despite navigating a global pandemic throughout the majority of our planning process, our planning really went well. We both really wanted to be relaxed about planning despite the uncertainty of the pandemic. We really had the exact same vision of what we wanted for our wedding from the beginning: We both knew that we would have loved to get married in Newport, but never thought it would be realistic with our budget. Regatta Place really worked with us and our budget and made our dreams a reality! We visualized ourselves getting married outside or under a tent and near the ocean from the start, and Regatta Place was a perfect venue for that vision.
The Fun Elements
We knew we wanted to have a lot of unique elements to our wedding to make it memorable for our large number of guests. Our dog, Benny, joined us at the altar which was so fun and sweet. We also had photos of Benny with a number next to him as our table numbers! Our guestbook poster was a Celtics jersey, but with our last name (Loiselle), and the number 22, for the year 2022. We had our guests “autograph” our jersey.
The Hiccups
The only big source of stress leading up to the wedding was the weather. It was scheduled to rain all day and we (mostly me) were really upset about how our photos would turn out with the rain, our planned outdoor cocktail hour, etc. Lucky for us, the rain held off until after dinner, so we were still able to have our cocktail hour outdoors. Hotel Viking was also amazing and let us take our family portraits in their hotel. We were so grateful for everyone that was so accommodating and helped make our day amazing!
The Highlights
Our first look was done at Belcourt of Newport. Belcourt doesn’t normally host weddings or related photoshoots, but they were kind enough to make an exception for us due to the on-and-off rain (the last bride for which they made an exception? None other than Jennifer Lawrence!). During our ceremony at Regatta, we included our dog, Benny, up with us at the altar. We are big Boston Celtics fans and wanted to recreate the T-shirt tosses that they do during games, so we did a T-shirt toss with shirts that said “Best Day Ever” with our wedding date. On the way out, we had a glow stick exit to “What Dreams Are Made Of” by Hilary Duff from the Lizzie McGuire movie. Truly the best day of our lives!
The Details
Venue and Caterer: Regatta Place in Newport, RI | Cake and Desserts: Konditor Meister | Bride’s Hair: Timeless Beauty LLC | Bride’s Makeup: Herself | Bridal Gown: Private Label by Allure from Spark Bridal | Bridesmaids’ Hair and Makeup: Artistry by Allyson Ayala | Groom’s Tux: The Black Tux | Florist: Paula Thomson Events | DJ: Jordan Paiva of Music of Our Lives | Cocktail Hour Entertainment: Adam Fox | Videographer: Christina Hickey Videography | Dog Coordinator: Doggy Day Weddings