Martha's Vineyard Wedding Planner

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Beachhead for the Altar Demands a Backup Plan

By HOLLY NADLER

The fantasy: The bride and groom stand against a gently lapping surf. The air is warm and still and fragrant with beach plum blossoms. As the man and woman exchange rings and move in for a kiss, a violinist plays a Bach cantata as a dazzling sun dog appears in the western sky.

The reality: It’s been drizzling all day, but not quite enough to cancel outdoor festivities. The beach is damp, so Grandma Betty and the elderly great-aunts and uncles are confined to the van. The bride’s veil blows off andis carried out to sea at the same time that a formation of seagulls swoops in to bombard the wedding party with unseemly droppings.

“It’s the first question people ask when they call me,” says Vineyard wedding planner Lynn Buckmaster-Irwin: “‘Can we get married on a beach?’ By the time I fill them in on all the details, not a lot of them end up with a beach plan.”

Better Beach Guide

In an unscientific survey, Vineyard wedding professionals were asked to name their favorite beach settings for a wedding. What follows is the result.

Moshup Beach
This pristine shore on the western spit of the Island is off Moshup Trail and runs from Philbin Beach to the famous Clay Cliffs. A 10-minute walk along a cleared path leads from the public parking lot to the sand. The combination of unspoiled beauty with public facilities makes this an ideal site.

East Beach
On Chappaquiddick, this remote beach faces east and is bordered by rolling surf on one side and sandy coves on the other. Extremely wild and difficult to reach; access is across the Dike Bridge or from Wasque Reservation. The area is open to the public, but visitors are subject to the regulations of The Trustees of Reservations, which may include fees.

Lighthouse Beach
Situated on a peninsula on the outer Edgartown harbor across from the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown, the area features romantic winding paths leading down to the stately white lighthouse. The location is at once gorgeous and convenient to town.

Squibnocket Beach
A long dirt road winds down to this exquisite white sandy beach in Chilmark. The spot is extremely fragile and remote with no comfort station. Use of all Chilmark beaches is limited to residents. Property owners and renters with a copy of their lease can obtain permits through the Chilmark town hall.

Lambert's Cove Beach
A sandy trail through the woods from the parking lot dead-ends in a stunning north shore setting amid high sand dunes. The beach is close enough to both Vineyard Haven and the town of West Tisbury to allow a seaside ceremony, followed by a retreat to an inn, restaurant, or private home for the reception. The same rules apply in West Tisbury as for Chilmark — residents only; permits are available through the West Tisbury town hall.

Everyone in the Island wedding business, from planners to caterers to florists, gives the same advice: If plan A is to marry on the beach, fine and dandy, but you need a plan B. The New England weather gods are simply too fickle to trust them to smile on your perfect day.

Ms. Buckmaster-Irwin suggests the engaged couple make a preliminary visit to the Island to check out all possible locations. “There are so many gorgeous beaches and other scenic settings, “she says. Her clients are always amazed at their choices after a jaunt to, say, Lighthouse Beach in Edgartown, Lambert’s Cove Beach, then up-Island to Menemsha, wending past the Captain Flanders House and the Beach Plum Inn. “Once they’ve established their spot, we visit vendors who all ask ‘What’s your venue?’ so we’re prepared.”

The major deterrent to a beach wedding, Ms. Buckmaster-Irwin says, is a sizable guest list. “Once you’re over a hundred people, you’re making it difficult for the senior guests to make their way across the sands.” Her advice is for the couple to choose a more protected locale, but to opt for photos on a beach. “I recommend that, following the ceremony, the bride and groom, with only the photographer in tow, whisk themselves off for quiet time by the sea. It gives them a chance to share some private moments between the excitement of the ceremony and the frantic pace of the reception. And then with the photographer clicking away, they end up with lovely pictures, possibly the best of the entire event.”

Debbie White of Seaside Celebrations has furnished tables and chairs for many beach weddings. “You can’t easily pitch a tent, but you can have a full dinner party setup,” she says. She laughs at tendency of chairs and tables to sink into the sand until the tableau resembles a setting for munchkins. She and her staff compensate by propping up table and chair legs with plywood supports.

Ms. White recalls a surprise wedding on Lighthouse Beach in Aquinnah. “The hundred-or-so guests thought they were coming for a regular beach party, and all of a sudden the bride and groom show up to get married. It was fantastic!”

The Rev. Judith Campbell of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard has officiated at countless shore ceremonies, and she says she has loved them all, though her biggest concern is wind. “You get a lot of veils billowing into the bride’s face.” Reverend Campbell also endorses smaller guest lists for beach weddings, and she recommends bare feet, comfy clothes, and a flexible attitude.

She recalls a particular ceremony on a cold and clammy fall day. The bride wore a thin, strapless gown and she couldn’t stop shivering. Reverend Campbell gathered all the guests around her to form a wind barrier. “The bride felt embraced — was embraced — by the wedding party. It was very moving,” she says.

One of her fondest memories is of a ceremony on the beach in West Chop. “The bride walked down the beach to greet the groom, her veil flowing prettily behind her. Everything went off perfectly, then the couple strolled hand in hand down the beach to the country club for the reception. It was a stirring sight.”

Photographer Betsy Corsiglia is always inspired by weddings anywhere along the shore. “I recommend the pictures be taken late in the afternoon,” she says. “That’s when the light is the prettiest. In the middle of the day the sun is too high overhead and too harsh.” She has taken some of her best bridal shots on beaches, piers, jetties — anywhere where sea and sky come together.

Vineyard caterers are accustomed to rolling out a sumptuous spread, with or without a roof suspended overhead. For beach weddings, the menu tends towards the informal. Alex Schilcher of Jaime Hamlin and Sons Catering says that for beach dinners, seafood grilled on site is a favorite, but the staff also circulates some of their signature appetizers such as mushroom profiteroles and yellowfin tuna tartare.

Then there is the matter of music and flowers. Rich Bausman of Beetlebung Steel Band enthuses over all the seaside gigs he has played. “We’re prepared to go anywhere,” he says, “We have lithium batteries to support our amplifiers and a portable drum set with each drum fitting into a bigger drum. We’ve traveled to the most remote beaches like Wasque on Chappaquiddick, just hauling our stuff in by four-wheel drive or by boat. I’d rather play outdoors than anywhere else. It’s great for this community; it’s what we all love about being here.”

Mr. Bausman remembers a spectacular wedding where the groom, guests and everyone in his band except himself assembled on Lighthouse Beach. Across the harbor the bride stood in the prow of a small boat, with Rick behind her drumming a samba beat. As they sailed closer to the wedding party, Rick’s band members took up a call and response with Rick’s drums. The boat reached the shore, the bride and groom joined hands, and the musicians accompanied the couple to a makeshift altar.

Florist Louise Sweet loves beachside weddings. “We cart wild asters down the beach path in wheelbarrows, or we’ll have potted plants, bunches of rosa rugosa in galvanized buckets, collections of shells, or sometimes just a bouquet for the bride and a boutonniere for the groom,” she says. Ms. Sweet remembers flower garlands twisted around the beach stairs at Windy Gates and arbors planted in the sand and decked with blossoms.

“We have also distributed buckets of flip-flops. There are so many contingencies that come up, but Vineyarders are good at doing what needs to be done. Put any of us on the beach and it brings out the best in us.”

The reality: It’s been drizzling all day, but not quite enough to cancel outdoor festivities. The beach is damp, so Grandma Betty and the elderly great-aunts and uncles are confined to the van. The bride’s veil blows off and is carried out to sea at the same time that a formation of seagulls swoops in to bombard the wedding party with unseemly droppings.

“It’s the first question people ask when they call me,” says Vineyard wedding planner Lynn Buckmaster-Irwin: “‘Can we get married on a beach?’ By the time I fill them in on all the details, not a lot of them end up with a beach plan.”

Everyone in the Island wedding business, from planners to caterers to florists, gives the same advice: If plan A is to marry on the beach, fine and dandy, but you need a plan B. The New England weather gods are simply too fickle to trust them to smile on your perfect day.

Ms. Buckmaster-Irwin suggests the engaged couple make a preliminary visit to the Island to check out all possible locations. “There are so many gorgeous beaches and other scenic settings, “she says. Her clients are always amazed at their choices after a jaunt to, say, Lighthouse Beach in Edgartown, Lambert’s Cove Beach, then up-Island to Menemsha, wending past the Captain Flanders House and the Beach Plum Inn. “Once they’ve established their spot, we visit vendors who all ask ‘What’s your venue?’ so we’re prepared.”

The major deterrent to a beach wedding, Ms. Buckmaster-Irwin says, is a sizable guest list. “Once you’re over a hundred people, you’re making it difficult for the senior guests to make their way across the sands.” Her advice is for the couple to choose a more protected locale, but to opt for photos on a beach. “I recommend that, following the ceremony, the bride and groom, with only the photographer in tow, whisk themselves off for quiet time by the sea. It gives them a chance to share some private moments between the excitement of the ceremony and the frantic pace of the reception. And then with the photographer clicking away, they end up with lovely pictures, possibly the best of the entire event.”

Debbie White of Seaside Celebrations has furnished tables and chairs for many beach weddings. “You can’t easily pitch a tent, but you can have a full dinner party setup,” she says. She laughs at tendency of chairs and tables to sink into the sand until the tableau resembles a setting for munchkins. She and her staff compensate by propping up table and chair legs with plywood supports.

Ms. White recalls a surprise wedding on Lighthouse Beach in Aquinnah. “The hundred-or-so guests thought they were coming for a regular beach party, and all of a sudden the bride and groom show up to get married. It was fantastic!”

The Rev. Judith Campbell of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard has officiated at countless shore ceremonies, and she says she has loved them all, though her biggest concern is wind. “You get a lot of veils billowing into the bride’s face.” Reverend Campbell also endorses smaller guest lists for beach weddings, and she recommends bare feet, comfy clothes, and a flexible attitude.

She recalls a particular ceremony on a cold and clammy fall day. The bride wore a thin, strapless gown and she couldn’t stop shivering. Reverend Campbell gathered all the guests around her to form a wind barrier. “The bride felt embraced — was embraced — by the wedding party. It was very moving,” she says.

One of her fondest memories is of a ceremony on the beach in West Chop. “The bride walked down the beach to greet the groom, her veil flowing prettily behind her. Everything went off perfectly, then the couple strolled hand in hand down the beach to the country club for the reception. It was a stirring sight.”

Photographer Betsy Corsiglia is always inspired by weddings anywhere along the shore. “I recommend the pictures be taken late in the afternoon,” she says. “That’s when the light is the prettiest. In the middle of the day the sun is too high overhead and too harsh.” She has taken some of her best bridal shots on beaches, piers, jetties — anywhere where sea and sky come together.

Vineyard caterers are accustomed to rolling out a sumptuous spread, with or without a roof suspended overhead. For beach weddings, the menu tends towards the informal. Alex Schilcher of Jaime Hamlin and Sons Catering says that for beach dinners, seafood grilled on site is a favorite, but the staff also circulates some of their signature appetizers such as mushroom profiteroles and yellowfin tuna tartare.

Then there is the matter of music and flowers. Rich Bausman of Beetlebung Steel Band enthuses over all the seaside gigs he has played. “We’re prepared to go anywhere,” he says, “We have lithium batteries to support our amplifiers and a portable drum set with each drum fitting into a bigger drum. We’ve traveled to the most remote beaches like Wasque on Chappaquiddick, just hauling our stuff in by four-wheel drive or by boat. I’d rather play outdoors than anywhere else. It’s great for this community; it’s what we all love about being here.”

Mr. Bausman remembers a spectacular wedding where the groom, guests and everyone in his band except himself assembled on Lighthouse Beach. Across the harbor the bride stood in the prow of a small boat, with Rick behind her drumming a samba beat. As they sailed closer to the wedding party, Rick’s band members took up a call and response with Rick’s drums. The boat reached the shore, the bride and groom joined hands, and the musicians accompanied the couple to a makeshift altar.

Florist Louise Sweet loves beachside weddings. “We cart wild asters down the beach path in wheelbarrows, or we’ll have potted plants, bunches of rosa rugosa in galvanized buckets, collections of shells, or sometimes just a bouquet for the bride and a boutonniere for the groom,” she says. Ms. Sweet remembers flower garlands twisted around the beach stairs at Windy Gates and arbors planted in the sand and decked with blossoms.

“We have also distributed buckets of flip-flops. There are so many contingencies that come up, but Vineyarders are good at doing what needs to be done. Put any of us on the beach and it brings out the best in us.”