Caroline & Anthony | Star of the Sea + Union Bluff Hotel | York, Maine
Caroline and Anthony started with the church and finished with the ocean. Friday belonged to Star of the Sea, where the timber beams and stained glass held a Catholic ceremony, a champagne tower outside the green shingle walls, and a quiet moment on a staircase before anyone left. Saturday moved everything to the Union Bluff, where the lawn sits right above the beach and the ceremony faces the open Atlantic. Two days, two ceremonies, one long weekend on the York coast with hydrangeas in every frame.
Star of the Sea
Star of the Sea is the kind of church that does most of the work for you. The timber-frame ceiling rises to a point above the nave, the stained glass goes warm gold in the afternoon, and the aisle runs long and narrow between dark oak pews. Caroline walked in on her father's arm, and the light followed her the whole way down.
Saturday at Union Bluff
Saturday morning started at the hotel, with the ocean visible from every window in the bridal suite. Caroline and her girls got ready in matching navy while Anthony and the guys suited up down the hall. The gown went on a custom Mrs. Pirolli hanger, the perfume was called Just a Kiss, and the details were quiet and intentional before the day picked up speed.
The guys went out first for formals on the lawn while Caroline finished getting ready upstairs, and then the bridesmaids took their turn on the bluff with the beach stretched out behind them. No first look between the couple. Anthony would see Caroline for the first time when she came down the aisle, and that was the plan all along.
The lawn at Union Bluff sits right above the beach, and on a clear August afternoon the whole coastline opens up behind the ceremony. Anthony waited at the front while Caroline walked the aisle with both parents beside her. They shared personal vows with the Atlantic behind them and the beach full of people below who had no idea they were the backdrop to someone else's best day.
With the ceremony behind them and cocktail hour underway, they slipped away for portraits on the bluff and along the shoreline. The light was high and clean, the hydrangeas were everywhere, and the Union Bluff made its case as one of the best backdrops on the southern Maine coast.
The reception moved inside at Union Bluff, where the ballroom was set in white and navy with hydrangea urns on every table and the ocean still visible through the windows. The bridesmaids came in dancing, the groomsmen followed, and then Caroline and Anthony came through the door to a room on its feet and went straight to the dance floor for their first dance to Be By You. The best man spoke and both of Caroline's sisters gave maid of honor speeches — the second with the first standing beside her for support. Parent dances followed dinner, and they cut the cake before the floor opened up for good.
The dance floor opened and it did not close. The lights came down, the music came up, and by the end of the night Caroline and Anthony were both up on shoulders above the crowd. Everyone who had sat politely through two ceremonies across two days made up for it in one long Saturday night.
A church on a Friday and the ocean on a Saturday, with a champagne tower, a staircase, and a veil that touched the floor between them. Hydrangeas in navy and light blue ran through every arrangement, every bouquet, and every view that had the water behind it. Congratulations, Caroline and Anthony.
Planning a wedding on the York coast?
From the churches in town to the bluff above the beach, we know how this stretch of coastline photographs at every hour of the day. If your weekend involves the ocean and you want someone who has shot it before, we would love to hear about it.