Burnt Orange and Candlelight: Ellie & Sam’s Fall Wedding at the Boothbay Playhouse | Boothbay, Maine
Ellie and Sam were married on an October afternoon at the Boothbay Playhouse, where the barn does half the decorating: candles climbing the old wood walls, stained glass in the windows, and a lawn ringed with fall color for the ceremony. Burnt orange, dusty blue, and cream ran through everything, and the night ended the way the best ones do, with glow sticks on the dance floor.
The day started easy in the Playhouse's bridal rooms: a gown hanging against old brick, a mimosa, and her mom doing up the back of the dress while Ellie grinned over her shoulder. Burnt orange and dusty blue showed up in the bouquet, the shoes, and the rings waiting on the table. Sam and his groomsmen took over their own corner of the barn, then headed outside, where they found a yellow wooden boat on the property and could not resist peeking out of its windows.
Ellie and Sam saved their first look for the aisle, but she had a quiet moment with her dad before the ceremony started. A little time alone, a few words, and a lot of smiling.
The ceremony was out on the lawn, with weathered double doors dressed in dried flowers opening onto the aisle and a white pergola waiting at the other end. Sam walked in with his mom. Ellie came down the aisle with her dad, past guests on white benches with the trees just starting to turn behind them. Then the kiss under the pergola, and the whole lawn cheering.
After the ceremony we slipped into the woods at the edge of the property with the wedding party, where the late sun came through the trees and lit up every leaf. Dusty blue dresses, navy suits, bouquets in burnt orange and cream, and two flower girls who stole their share of the photos.
Then it was just Ellie and Sam. The light got lower and warmer, and they did what they do best: laughed, leaned into each other, and let the sun do the rest. A dip, a nose boop, and a walk across the field with the sun right behind them.
Inside, the barn was ready for them. Long farm tables set with floral plates, tall tapers, and little arrangements in burnt orange and peach. A sweetheart table with its Mr. and Mrs. sign. And walls of candles climbing the old barn boards beside the stained glass, which is hard to beat for a fall evening.
The party started with a grand entrance to a room full of cheering, then went straight into their first dance in front of the stained glass. Ellie danced with her dad, Sam danced with his mom, and the best man and the maid of honor each took a turn at the mic. They cut their cake together and shared a kiss over it, with a table of cupcakes waiting for everyone else.
Once the glow sticks came out, there was no stopping anyone. Ellie and Sam slipped in a slow dance of their own, older couples took easy turns around the floor, and then it was the wedding party, the parents, the kids, and the friends packed in under the DJ lights, with a quick cheers at the fireplace somewhere in the middle of it.
A lawn full of fall color, a candlelit barn, and a dance floor that never emptied. Congratulations, Ellie and Sam.
Planning a barn wedding in Maine?
The Boothbay Playhouse gives you a lawn for the ceremony, woods for golden hour portraits, and a candlelit barn that does the decorating for you. If you are planning a wedding in Maine, we would love to hear about it.