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Marthas Vineyard Island Weddings and Celebrations

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IN UPCOMING ISSUES:

Elisha Smith, after eighty-plus years of farming on the Vineyard, talks turkey, chickens, cows, and more. Island apples, perfect right off the tree, and in entrees and desserts. A look at the first conservation land holdings on Martha’s Vineyard. Cynthia Riggs investigates her great-great-grandfather’s ship, the Niantic. Commuting on and off the rock to work. Which came first? Backyard chicken coops or fresh Island eggs. Metalwork by Whit Hanschka.

CURRENT ISSUE

Thoughts from an Island minister

Many couples planning on getting married want to have a unique and personal wedding ceremony but haven’t a clue where to begin. Read more...

It’s casual Vineyard elegance in one bite: a cupcake topped with candied beach glass. The bride who served those also sent guests home with sachets of candied beach glass, says Ezra Sherman, of the new Vineyard Haven specialty bakery Sweet E’s Cupcakes. Read more...

Personalized favors

We canvassed Island vendors looking for favors that can be personalized with your names printed on them and found five options. Bonus: Some part of each can be saved and reused – for example, fill the jam jar with sea glass or tuck the soap wrapper in a lingerie drawer. Read more...

Renting tents, tables, and more

Once you have chosen your reception venue – especially if it’s outdoors – you will need to pair up with a rental company to help you transform that grassy hillside, seaside cove, or stark interior into a party-friendly setting. Here’s a guide to help you choose the company that’s right for you. Read more...

Venues map

Each year we look at a handful of wedding venues in the print magazine. Here is a comprehensive look at the beaches, inns and hotels, historic sites, restaurants, and other venues we have featured — along with a map to show you where they are. Read more...

2009 ISSUE

A guide to Island spas

Whether it’s your nails the day before or hair and makeup on the day of, finding a place to take care of your beauty needs is key to easing the pressure and helping you relax on your wedding day. Here’s the lowdown on some of what the Island has to offer. Read more...

A bachelor party fish tale

Before our wedding a couple of years ago, my husband did not want the emblematic last hurrah for his bachelor party - featuring unlimited libations and limited clothing on a dancer springing out of a giant cake. So one of his groomsmen chartered a fishing vessel out of Menemsha for an afternoon. Read more...

The perfect brunch

Vineyard weddings are rarely just a one-day affair, and providing for everyone’s well-being often includes the day before and the morning after the main event - you can be responsible for where people might go, what they might do, and, of course, what they’ll eat. Read more...

2008 ISSUE

Registering on-Island

Many shops on-Island cater to the wedding-minded and, before you can whistle “Oh, Promise Me,” a couple can be signed up to receive the gifts that will specifically enhance their modest Island home or Connecticut McMansion. Read more...

Picking flowers

It takes an artist with imagination and training to envision what colors and textures can be put together. Floral designers on the Vineyard are true artists, separate from garden-variety amateurs. Read more...

Taking photos on the beach

Kristen Leigh Conklin of Joe Mikos Photographers has photographed brides and grooms in churches and in fields, on Martha’s Vineyard and off. But her favorite place to get a memorable shot of the happy couple is on the sand. Read more...

A traditional New England clambake

As Matt Runyon and Laura Martin’s outdoor wedding ceremony was concluding on a Chilmark bluff overlooking Menemsha Pond, caterer Doug Korell was nearby building a fire to cook clams, mussels, corn, and seventy-five lobsters for the couple’s Vineyard-style wedding clambake. Read more...

Why be traditional with a cake?

Naked like in the Garden of Eden. It was the perfect baked metaphor of Adam and Eve, bride and groom, though the proprietor of Cakes by Liz was skeptical of constructing an unclad wedding cake. It was traditional in shape and custom – tiered into a pyramid tower – but it was the couple’s request that the cake be left unfrosted. Read more...