This Connecticut castle wedding is full of chic details! Amy and Sean were married this past June at Saint Clements Castle in Portland, CT. The castle’s elegant architecture and prominent landscape made a perfect venue for Amy and Sean’s wedding. Their wedding photos and intimate story offer a look into their magical day and all of its breathtaking elements. Their photographer Alison, from Alison Lassiter Photography, captured all of the beautiful photos you’re about to see. Find out what the bride has to say after the click…

Connecticut Castle Wedding

The bride Amy tells us, “Sean and I are wanderers, and thankfully, about five years ago, our paths crossed and we found each other. We are best friends and live to discover new places and things together. When we first met, our travels began with a pretty intense summer lineup of concerts – from local shows, to New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Miami – wherever we had friends with concert venues nearby, we were coming to catch a show and crash on their couch. As our relationship grew, so did our adventures; we spent a New Year’s Eve in Barcelona, Spain, Sean’s 30th birthday in England to see a Manchester United match (I think buying him those tickets for his birthday sealed our engagement several months later!), a week touring Ireland with a bunch of friends, spent some time in the Netherlands, Key West, Washington DC, and countless road trips. Creating memories around the world with your soul mate is a truly wonderful and indescribable experience. We knew we wanted our wedding to be a reflection of us; something to celebrate the traditions of who we are and pay tribute to the wonderful family and friends who have always surrounded us with unconditional love.”

“We always knew we wanted a bagpiper at our ceremony, and when we visited St. Clements Castle for the first time, we were convinced there was no other venue for us. We could get married outside overlooking the Connecticut River and the grounds and ballroom were just gorgeous. And it was a castle. Who doesn’t dream about getting married in a castle?”

“One of my favorite pieces from our wedding was our guestbook. My dad is always making something so I thought it would be awesome for him to handcraft an unconventional guestbook for us. He came up with a plan for the most amazing storage bench. We propped it open and encouraged everyone to fill the lid with color and love. Seeing it covered in messages of love from the most important people in our lives is amazing. Such a wonderful reminder, now in our living room, of such a beautiful day. It is something we will cherish forever. And much more useful and meaningful than a book filled with signatures.”

“After finishing said wine, I thought it could be cute to re-purpose wine bottles and use those in the centerpieces too! So I had my bridal party save wine bottles for me and I started wrapping them in blue and ivory yarn. Incredibly adorable and very green of us… and awfully time consuming – something I didn’t realize until I had wrapped five or six bottles (but at that point I was in love with them and committed). Thankfully, we had a lot of helpers on all of our projects; they are absolutely amazing. I finished off the wine bottles with some ribbon and fabric flowers with leaves cut from the Sutherland plaid.”

“One of the first things we did post-engagement was order hand-woven, Sutherland (our last name) tartan from Scotland. In Scottish heritage, each last name has their own unique plaid – the Sutherland tartan we chose was a mixture of browns, blue, and ivory, which obviously became our color scheme. We had ties for the groomsmen made out of this fabric – and used every piece of scrap we possibly could: we wrapped the bridal bouquets and boutonnieres, my maid and matron of honor had sashes for their dresses made, and I incorporated into the table centerpieces.”

“I am a huge craft nerd, so I immediately began obsessing over a million ways we could pour our heart and soul into our wedding day through craft projects. I wanted the décor to showcase a fancy simplicity – something with a romantic and nostalgic feel. I didn’t have a set plan of exactly what I wanted, but I did know what style and look we were going for, so I kind of just went with it. One idea led to another, and before you knew it, our house was filled with craft supplies and ongoing projects.

“My first craft idea was to make the place cards as little, vintage-looking travel tags. I bought a bunch of natural card stock (on clearance!) from the craft store and cut the tags out. My plan was to have a different blue-themed pattern for each table (I bought a bunch of blue wallpaper samples from Home Depot for this – so many prints to choose from and cheaper than the fancy scrapbooking paper) – so one table was blue paisley, one was blue stripes, blue floral, etc. – all complementing the Sutherland tartan. I was in love with the concept of everything being mismatched, yet coordinated. Each table number was made from a fancy gold frame (which we collected all summer at tag sales and thrift shops), with the wallpaper pattern chosen for that table as the background and a hand-cut, sparkly gold number. I went a little overboard with the luggage tag place cards and ended up also associating each table to a place we visited together – with a different snapshot we took in that location on the back of the tag with the table number. So one table was Barcelona, another Dublin, Amsterdam, etc. I incorporated a little peace sign bead onto the string of each and adorned them with little pearls. Then Sean found these vintage-looking suitcases at Marshall’s, and thought they would look nice with the luggage tags I had been making. So I decided to line them in blue-patterned fabric and display the place cards in them. Seeing we love traveling together, we thought this “love is a journey” theme fit us perfectly.”

“I am partial to anything old and vintage because I feel like these items contain so much character. Both my engagement and wedding rings are circa 1920, authentic antique pieces. I had started collecting vintage, blue printed tea cups and saucers from tag sales and thrift shops, not really knowing exactly what I would do with them at first. I ended up planting succulents in them, added some moss to cover the dirt, and worked them into our table centerpieces. My mom also found a ton of vintage mason jars at a tag sale for like $4. Literally, seventy-five blue and clear (also very dirty – they had to go through the dishwasher a couple times!) mason jars. During one of our many snow days this winter, I opened a bottle of wine, turned on a Say Yes to the Dress marathon, and decorated the mason jars with ribbon, lace, raffia, and peace sign beads to use as vases on the tables.”

“Our house was literally overflowing with wedding craft madness by the time our day arrived. Seeing it all packed up and ready to go was a bittersweet moment for me. So much love and time went into these rooms filled with nuptial chaos and soon they would be empty; all of this, only a memory. I stopped and took it all in. I thought about how much work it really was, how overwhelming it was at times, and how thankful I felt for everyone who was so willing to help with whatever they could. On the day of our wedding, I snuck down to the ballroom before anyone arrived. Seeing everything set up, sparkling in the morning sunlight was breathtaking. As I was walking back to the bridal suite, I ran into my dad, brother, and nephew. And then immediately after, I got swept away by Alison, our photographer, for my first look with Sean. And there I was. Standing next to a tree, staring out across the water, waiting for him to arrive. By then my heart was soaring and I felt like I was living in a dream. And I was. Today was the day I had dreamed about for most of my life; it was here. It was a day of pure magic; we were surrounded by our favorite people, celebrating true love and our new life as one.”

“We decided to give away all of the mason jar and wine bottle centerpieces as favors, as well as a CD – a collection of songs from concerts we’d been to together. Sean’s mom made fabric CD cases out of different blue-patterned fabrics. We displayed them in a vintage suitcase, lined with fabric and a hand-made, sparkly “THANK YOU” banner hung across the top. Music is a big part of who we are, so it was definitely a focal point for us. In addition to the CD favors, most of the music played at our wedding was from concerts we’d been to together: the bridal party walked down the aisle to Sigur Ros, our first dance was Coldplay, “Green Eyes” (our first concert together), our entrance to the reception was “Tweezer (Reprise)” by Phish. We also incorporated some nostalgic hits: my father/daughter dance was “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns n Roses (a childhood favorite of mine) and Sean and his mom danced to “All My Life” by the Beatles. We chose excerpts from Bob Dylan’s “The Wedding Song” to be read during our ceremony. “The End” by the Beatles was the song that played as everyone was leaving the venue.”

“I am so glad people told me “take in the moments of that day” ahead of time. “The day will fly by,” they said. And they were right. So really, stop for a second to take it all in. It will be over before you know it, but memories last a lifetime.”

Vendors and Resources:

Venue: St. Clements Castle
Photographer: Alison Lassiter Photography
Makeup: The Beauty Suite
Hair: Heather Kramarz and The Beauty Suite
Cake/Dessert: For the Love of Chocolate, by Giulia’s Creations
Florist: Whitney Flowers
Officiant: Reverend Adam Sultaire
Bagpipes: Pat Whelan, Powerstation Events
DJ/Band: David Rossi, Powerstation Events
Wedding Dress: San Patrick
Veil/Hair accessory: Kathy Faber Designs
Jewelry: Leigh Jay Nacht
Shoes: Enzo Angiolini
Bridesmaids’ dresses: Alfred Angelo
Groom’s & Groomsmen’s suits: Jos. A. Bank
Groomsmen’s Ties: Handmade by Emy (Fabric: D.C. Dalgliesh Ltd.)
Stationery: Vistaprint
Transportation: Gateway Limousine
DIY Resources: AC Moore, Home Depot, Goodwill

If you loved Amy and Sean’s wedding photography, then contact Alison Lassiter Photography. You can also see Alison’s Connecticut wedding photographer business listing in the Emmaline Bride local wedding vendor guide.

All images courtesy of Alison Lassiter Photography. All Rights Reserved.