Mystic, CT, USA < change city >

Response from the couple:
Hi Stephanie,

Congratulations on your engagement! I can tell you that the Boatshed is a great raw space, but it took a bit of work to get it looking like a real wedding venue. The Seaport coordinator (Kate Purinton) was very nice, and was flexible on the requests I made-- which weren't that many (I mostly went with the package offered.) But I have to say that I was surprised by how little coordination the Seaport provides. The food was spectacular, and that was all Seaport. But setting up tables, lights, special linens, making sure it looked a little more elegant than a regular cookout-- to get that, I had to hire a planner. I went with True and Wesson, they were completely worth every penny. Where the Seaport left off, they stepped up and made sure everything looked perfect without me having to worry about anything on the day of. Extra lights, colored charger plates, coordinating details with flowers and printed items and all of that... I had all these ideas, but didn't want to worry about who was doing it that day. The Seaport really doesn't do that stuff, they only do basics. So that is a drawback, but with a planner, it is no problem.

The lighting was a mixture of paper lanterns that I found and bought online, and then we hired the Power Posse to install the whole thing, and then take it down right afterwards. The Boatshed doesn't set up any lights at all. They let you do it yourself, but I would recommend hiring someone for sure.

The crushed seashells were actually not a problem for my dress. Because it was outdoors, the hem of my dress in the back did get a bit dirty, but once I had it professionally cleaned afterwards it was perfect again. No tearing or anything because of the seashells. The main thing was-- I wore flat shoes! Heels would have been so wobbly and uncomfortable on the shells. If you have post-ceremony comfy flats to change into, that would be ideal. :)

The bathrooms are actually very close... very convenient to the shed, so no problems at all there.

The weather... well, that is luck of the draw. The good thing is that the shed itself has a roof, and wall flaps that they can pull down if it does start to rain. It's not like a completely outdoor place, where you have to suddenly put up a tent. :) The ceremony there would have been harder if it had rained, for sure... but the planner had a contingency plan for that, too, just in case.

One last thing-- if you do have it in fall, or spring, or even a cool summer day, be sure to rent patio heaters! It was a gorgeous sunny day, but once the sun went down it got chilly. I was fine, with all the adrenaline, and men had jackets, and the younger set were all dancing and keeping warm with a few cocktails. I also had a very light pashmina shawl that worked fine if I did happen to get cool, and I gave shawls to all my bridesmaids for that same reason. But some of the older female guests were very grateful we had heaters around that they could warm up next to!

It sounds like you are really on the ball already, asking all the right questions!! Let me know if I can be any more help. Good luck with everything, and I hope you have the perfect day of your dreams. :)

Jen