Hillary Weinblatt grew up summers in Edgartown, where her family owns a house, and once she and Jason Chapman started dating, he became a regular visitor too. So their wedding last September had to happen on-Island, where they already shared memories and would continue to visit. What turned Hillary and Jason’s wedding into a storybook event – even by Martha’s Vineyard standards – was their consistent attention to detail.

The couple, who met as study partners during their undergraduate days at Williams College, dated five years before they became engaged in January of 2005. “What do I do now?” Hillary remembers asking herself. “I thought maybe I needed a little help.” She was finishing law school (now she is an associate in Boston) and Jason (recently accepted into an MBA program at MIT) was consulting in the telecommunications industry, so they both had busy careers.

It was important to Hillary to find a wedding planner she could really mesh with. Lynn Buckmaster-Irwin of Weddings on the Vineyard was recommended to Hillary, and when they met, they clicked instantly. “She knows this Island so well, and she has a great sense of humor,” Hillary says. Lynn and Hillary started to talk about what the couple wanted. Not at all a “whatever, dear” fiancé, Jason stayed involved through each step.

Lynn has been helping families plan Island weddings for more than twenty-five years. She was struck by the meticulous attention the couple and their families paid to the way the wedding looked visually – and all the little touches that were involved. From the sunglasses every guest received as a favor and wore at many of the events to the lobster-shaped lollipops used to direct guests to tables at the rehearsal dinner, Hillary and Jason put their signature on the whole weekend.

“This was a bride and her family who had a vision,” Lynn says. “They didn’t change their minds. It was all done in a nice, leisurely, calm way.” In Lynn’s experience, most families tend to panic when they see the clock running out. With more than a year and a half of lead time – she says twelve to fourteen months is the average – that didn’t happen in this case.

The couple started their planning by looking at each church on the Island, settling on Edgartown’s Federated Church. “I always loved the church,” says Hillary. “I used to work at Very Vineyard [down the street], and sometimes I could hear the choir on Sundays.” They took the planning for their ceremony very seriously. Both sets of parents have had long, happy marriages, and Hillary and Jason appreciated the dedication, work, and commitment involved in their parents’ relationships. “The idea that you stand up in front of your friends and family to say, ‘This is the choice I make,’ really matters,” Jason says.

Hillary and Jason concentrated on other aspects of the wedding that mattered most to them: the photography and the band. On visits to the Vineyard they spent time looking at portfolios and listening to bands and chose Amy Vanneman of The Light House Photography and Jerry Bennett and The Sultans of Swing. For Jason, it was also important to make sure their friends, many of whom were still in graduate school and on limited budgets, could afford to come, so they found travel arrangements and accommodations at many price levels.

Hillary’s mother Barbara loves flowers, so she managed that aspect of the preparations for her daughter, through Flowers on the Vineyard. She thought florist Louise Sweet’s suggestion of sunflowers worked perfectly as a Vineyard touch for the Friday night rehearsal dinner and Sunday brunch. Deep red roses sat in simple urns on the church altar, were carried by the bridesmaids, and accented the reception tables. For Hillary’s bouquet, Barbara picked ivory roses to match her daughter’s gown.

Barbara and her husband Mike, a Boston rheumatologist, chose two California wines for the reception, a chardonnay and a merlot. Barbara laughs about how riding their bicycles to the three-hour wine tasting at the Harbor View Hotel in July proved to be a “big” mistake. They had to push their bikes home on foot. As the chosen reception site, the Harbor View also arranged for a four-person food tasting in July to narrow down the choices. “The free-range chicken was the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” Barbara says. The menu reflected other Vineyard favorites, including shrimp cocktail, greens, and sugar snap peas.

Graphic design by Katie Doll added to the overall visual impact of the wedding, helping take the wedding from nice to extraordinary. Every piece of stationery and wedding-related paraphernalia was coordinated, in part thanks to Jason, who has an interest in typography. A packet asking guests to save the date for the entire weekend went out nine months in advance. Inside was a host of instructions on travel, lodging, a list of the festivities, an Island brochure, and a map of Edgartown, along with a larger map of the Island. Jason’s wedding website, with plenty of helpful links, provided the Internet equivalent.

Hillary and Jason relied almost exclusively on Island vendors. “There was no reason to bring in anything from off-Island,” Hillary says. “We found incredibly nice and talented people here. They know so much about the Island, and now we know so many more Islanders.”

Lynn kept the wedding on budget and always offered a variety of price options within the mid-range that Hillary and her family requested. Guests numbered 150, making it what Lynn describes as a mid-sized wedding. “Weddings are a big financial commitment,” Barbara says. “A wedding planner keeps you from making costly mistakes.”

As a surprise for the couple, Barbara brought a special guest along for the weekend: a five-foot stuffed bear – in honor of Jason’s Alaska roots. The bear first showed up wearing a lobster hat at Friday’s rehearsal dinner. Saturday, he kept Hillary company while she dressed for the wedding ceremony and later attended the reception in a black bowler hat and bow tie.

Hillary loves sunsets, and she also loves to dance, so the couple set the ceremony for 4 p.m. The weather kept everybody worried, since a typically intense Vineyard storm was predicted. Lynn had developed a detailed itinerary for the weekend that located the wedding party’s whereabouts every ten minutes, so in the back of Hillary’s mind, she knew if it did rain, three people would be ready to help keep her dress, with its long train, dry.

But the prediction proved wrong, and the weather turned spectacular. Just before the allotted time on Saturday, sunshine burst through the ceiling of black clouds, as if on cue. When the trolley carrying guests from the Harbor View to the church broke down, everybody on board sang a few verses of “Get Me to the Church on Time.”

Inside the church, Hillary moved serenely down the aisle on her father’s arm. Jason took his place next to the altar with his best man and Williams classmate Nishant Nayyar and three ushers – also Williams classmates. The buttons on their blazers – a gift from Jason – bore the Williams insignia. On the other side, Hillary’s three bridesmaids stood behind the bride and her sister Courtney, who served as maid of honor.

When the call came to present the bride, both of Hillary’s parents stepped forward. Then an exchange of vows transformed Hillary and Jason into newlyweds. A kiss and a spontaneous burst of applause followed. Touched with moments of informality, simple eloquence reigned at this traditional New England wedding.

Rolls Royce Limousine A white 1960s Rolls Royce from Vineyard Limousine brought Hillary and Jason to the reception at the stately Harbor View Hotel, on Edgartown harbor near the lighthouse. The wedding colors – burgundy, green, and cream – were carefully coordinated for the reception, with tablecloths, overlays, napkins, and stationery all chosen to match. Each table carried an icon of the Island that has special meaning for the couple – Aquinnah’s nude beach, the Katama General Store, the Flying Horses Carousel. Instead of place cards, guests received personalized menus.

Nude Beach Icon One of the ways Hillary and her mother paid extra attention to detail also helped continue family traditions. When the Weinblatts married thirty years ago, the tablecloth on which the cake sat belonged to Barbara’s mother. Not only was the tablecloth used for Hillary and Jason’s big day, but Liz Kane of Cakes by Liz copied its design in the icing.

The great French novelist Gustave Flaubert is thought to have originated the famous phrase, “God is in the details.” And that was the hallmark of the Weinblatt wedding, where attention to the details added up to make all the difference.

THE REHEARSAL DINNER

Lobster Lollipops “Claws for Celebration,” a traditional clambake, launched the wedding weekend on Friday night. Jason’s parents, anesthesiologist Holly and general contractor Cliff Chapman from Eagle River, Alaska, arranged for the rehearsal dinner with help from the bride and wedding planner Lynn Buckmaster-Irwin.

Since most of the guests stayed in Edgartown, where parking is a notorious problem, they were provided transportation to the rehearsal dinner at West Tisbury’s Grange Hall, where blue-and-white-checked tablecloths helped set an informal tone. Guests found their tables by picking up their personalized red lobster lollipops pinned to a wall of fishnet. Then they enjoyed clam chowder, corn on the cob, steamed clams, and – of course – lobster.

SUNDAY’S BRUNCH

Mimosas Sunday found the wedding party at Edgartown’s historic Dr. Daniel Fisher House on Main Street for mimosas, muffins, and bagels. Gorgeous weather allowed guests to sit outside in the sunshine.

“For us, it was a little less crazy,” Hillary says. The informal brunch gave the wedding party their last chance to talk with their guests. Before leaving for their honeymoon in Portugal, Hillary and Jason spent time with many friends and classmates they hadn’t seen in five years. For their parents, it had been twenty or thirty years since they had seen some of their relatives.

A search party brought back every available copy of that Sunday’s New York Times – for Hillary and Jason’s wedding announcement, why else?

Brunch