A Maine camp wedding photobombed by the couple's doggo • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

Ollie is Leigh and Noah's rescue pup. Ollie can be an anxious dog, so the pair thought she would stay in the cabin for their Maine camp wedding festivities. But Ollie wouldn't stand for missing out on the fun. He came out to celebrate, hung out with the groomsmen, went to their first look, followed them for all of their portraits, group portraits, and cocktail hour.

Who could blame Ollie for making an appearance after seeing the gorgeous style, cozy cottages, lakeside views, and twinkle lights. It was a camp wedding none could forget — rustic meets glam meets completely them.

Give us a few offbeat highlights from your wedding. Was there a theme to your wedding? What was the general gist?

The highlight? All of it! We wanted a wedding that was rustic, bohemian, simple and relaxed: what we felt was a true celebration of families coming together.

We met and live in Raleigh, NC with family and friends scattered across the U.S. Noah is from outside Philadelphia and I'm from outside Portland, Maine. My heart is tied to Maine with much of my family living there. After his first visit six months into our relationship, Noah's never missed a semi-annual trip. For the first time, we had the opportunity to introduce our favorite people to one of my-turned-our favorite places.

Planning a wedding from afar required a lot of research and after looking into venues, a camp wedding weekend sounded like the perfect choice for us. With family and friends traveling in, we wanted to give people an opportunity to spend a weekend together and connect. Camp Mataponi on Sebago Lake provided the ideal backdrop for water fun, seafood feasts with local beer and bonfires with s'mores. The majority of our guests stayed in cabins onsite, spending the weekend dining, swimming, kayaking and singing around the campfire.

Tell us about your ceremony. We especially want to READ YOUR VOWS!! Or hell: share your ENTIRE CEREMONY SCRIPT!! Seriously, we are really REALLY into this part. Tell us everything! TELL US EVERYTHING!!!
Our ceremony was on the lawn at Camp Mataponi overlooking Sebago Lake. We had a rough script for vows and flow, but left the majority of the ceremony in the very capable hands of family: Noah's cousin Dr. Marco Vespignani and my uncle David Ray. We knew we wanted our ceremony to focus on family and include people who knew and loved us. We exchanged ideas, calls and emails, but left a great deal of it to them. Their exact words were a beautiful surprise.

We wanted to include a ring warming celebration into our ceremony after participating in one during our friend Hannah Hoffman and Rien Zabor's wedding. We loved the tradition of passing rings to each guest during the ceremony, asking them to bestow a blessing or wish. While the rings may not have made it back in time and we had to expedite things, it turned into one of my favorite moments and some magical photos. Guests who didn't properly warmed the rings, lined up after the ceremony to do the job and surround us with love. It was the best.

What'd you do at your reception? What activities did your guests do? Got any funny stories or ideas to steal?

We embraced local beer and local food big time. Our guests loved eating some classic Maine summer dishes and raved about the beer and wine – a list of our favorites from Maine and travels. Camp Mataponi brought an incredible sunset and people relaxed mingling outside with lake views.

Our sweet, shy pup Ollie joined us for the wedding weekend. We knew she'd be most comfortable near us and with all our best dog sitters in attendance. One special surprise was how much fun she had with our guests and how much of a ham she was in front of the camera during our wedding photos. For our first look, wedding party and family shots, Ollie stole the show. Seeing our day from Ollie's point of view was so fun. We even created a wedding photo album just to celebrate her on the big day. It's our favorite coffee table book!

Music was a super important piece of the wedding to us, from rehearsal playlists to the ceremony and reception band. We knew we wanted a big soul band that got everyone dancing and East Coast Soul (Soulsville ensemble) did that in spades. We have some very opinionated music aficionados and they were beyond impressed. The dance floor was packed from start to end and then, the party moved to the bonfire for s'mores, singalongs and more fun.

What was SINGLE MOST the most important lesson you learned?

One of our regrets was absolutely unexpected. Our guests were having so much fun at camp, they left their phones and cameras in the bunks and we didn't capture as many memories of the weekend. Leslie Swan photography did an incredible job shooting our ceremony and reception and we kick ourselves for not booking her for more of the weekend. We'd love to have some bonfire shots and photo finishes from family races.

Vendors

Photography: Leslie Swan Photography • Planner and florist: Lulu & Co Events • Venue and caterer: Camp Mataponi • Officiant: Marco Vespignani, Noah’s cousin • Live Music: East Coast Soul • Makeup Artist: Theresa Novicky • Hair Stylist: Randi Preis • Dress: Gilded Bridal, Anais Anette, Margot dress • Suit: The Groomsman Suit • Rentals: Savvy Event Rentals and Maine Event Lighting

Gallery

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About the Author: Catherine Clark

@enidjcoleslaw @bijouxandbits @bijouxandbits

Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.