Wedding Spotlight: A Real APM Couple ~ Matt and Leah

Bride: Leah Reed

Groom: Matthew Simard

Engagement Date: July 4, 2008

Wedding Date: May 27, 2012

How did you meet your future wife or Husband? We may have not been married long, but we have been together for ten years! We met each other on the school bus seen as we were practically neighbors growing up. I guess you could say we are high school sweethearts!

What was your initial impression of APM? The first point of contact I had with APM was through the website looking through the portfolios of the team. All of their work was stellar and unmatched by anyone else I had seen thus far. Their photography was fun, candid and photo-journalistic in style. Additionally, there were so many sample portfolios to view that I was able to see that APM can produce amazing photographs in any setting, outdoor and indoor, day or night. Just by the level of professionalism that shines through in their photography I knew that I had found the perfect photographer.

How did he/she propose? In 2008 I went down to Quantico, Virginia to see Matt’s Officer Candidate School graduation. He had spent two summers in a row in Virginia completing his training to become an officer in the Marine Corps and their graduation was the culmination of their training. It also happened to be 4th of July weekend so we decided to drive up to D.C. and spend the holiday there. Just before the fireworks display over the tidal basin (these are incredible fireworks that are a must-see!) Matt and I walked through the FDR memorial. It is a series of waterfalls and at the final waterfall he did the traditional get-down-on-one-knee and proposed. At first I thought that the moment was just the two of us, however, I soon realized that we most certainly had an audience! It was 4th of July in Washington D.C. after all!

­­­­­­­­­­Indoor or Outdoor Wedding? Our ceremony was outside at Fort Foster Park in Kittery Maine. The park is a place we had always visited together and was a natural fit for our wedding. The park has a large stone pavilion overlooking the ocean and we opted to have the ceremony on the lawn (with the option to have it under the pavilion in case of rain!) Our reception was inside the grand ballroom of York Harbor Inn in York, Maine. York Harbor Inn has that rustic New England vibe and although the military has moved us many places we are true New Englanders at heart and knew that the Inn was also the perfect fit for our reception.

What made you choose APM? When looking for a photographer we knew that we wanted to work with someone who not only would capture our special day, but also someone who approached the event with enthusiasm and an understanding of us as a couple. From the moment I walked through the door I was met with such a fun and friendly team. All of their work speaks for itself and having such a personable photography team to add to that was an invaluable bonus

How large is your Bridal Party? (How Many BM, GM, FG and/or RB) We opted to keep our bridal party small. We had 5 people in our bridal party. My two best friends from high school were my MOH and bridesmaid and my brother was a GM. Matt’s brother was his best man and his best friend from high school was also a GM.

How many guests at your wedding? We had about 110 guests at our wedding with nearly everyone traveling from out of state. It was so incredible to have everyone close to us able to make the journey to Maine!

What are/where the colors and/or themes for your Wedding Day? When choosing colors we had the influence of the military. I wanted to incorporate the Marine Corps dress blues, which are navy with white pants for the summer months. So I chose a three-color palette of navy, white and yellow. Being an early summer wedding, the yellow added an extra pop of color. We didn’t want an over-the-top theme, just a lot of subtle implications that it was a beachside wedding. Where we are both New Englanders we love the nautical feel that Maine has and wanted to incorporate that into our colors and décor.

What was your inspiration behind your wedding? Can be anything from a color palette to a location, from a memory to a dress/bouquet/shoes…anything! What motivated you and most influenced your decisions? There were two absolutes when we started planning our wedding. One was that it would be in Maine and the second was that it would be a military wedding. With those two aspects known I think that the rest of the planning fell into place. Maine has such a reputation for being rustic and nautical and because of that I immediately knew what kind of ambiance I wanted to create for our guests as well as us. Our inspiration for our wedding came from past and present. We both grew up in New England and it is still the place we call home. We wanted to incorporate a lot of New England touches in our wedding. An Adirondack char for our guest book and a lobster trap as our cardholder were a few of the fun decor items we included. Including the present (our current life in the military) was evident in our ceremony.

  

What made your event UNIQUE? We had a military ceremony with an officer’s sword arch at the end. I think this was one of the most unique aspects of our wedding! Once the bride and groom walk through the sword arch, the last person standing at the end says to the bride “welcome to the Corps”. When you marry a military man, you are also marrying the Corps, so having the swords arch was an important part of our day.

    

                       

How would you rate our overall quality (customer service, experiences, photographers, etc.)? There are not enough words to describe my satisfaction with APM. They really went above and beyond when it comes to customer service. As a military fiancé (now spouse) I knew that planning a wedding was going to be difficult. There was always the possibility that military training or a deployment could postpone the wedding and I was in search of vendors who would be understanding of this possibility. Not only was APM understanding, they were able to hold my deposit and reschedule my wedding date two years after my initial booking because my fiancé had to go to California for training followed by a deployment. Just before he left for his deployment Dave was able to book our engagement photo session at the last minute… we didn’t think we would be able to have engagement photos at all because of his military scheduling conflicts. This type of client dedication was above and beyond anyone else I had worked with and appreciated beyond words.

             

Vendors:

• Ceremony Venue: Fort Foster Park, Kittery, Maine
• Reception Venue: York Harbor Inn, York, Maine
• Florist: Bloom’s Flower Shoppe, Wells, Maine
• Food/Catering: York Harbor Inn, York Maine
• Cake: Maryann Kane Cake Designs, Elliot, Maine
• Dress Designer: Monique Luo style # CH515
• Bridesmaid Dress Designer: Unsure… my bridesmaids chose their own gowns with the one stipulation that they had to be navy blue!
• Bridal Boutique: David’s Bridal
• Tux/Suits: Men’s Wearhouse
• Jewelry/Veil/Hair Piece: Custom designed jewelry from Charles Rage Jeweler in Salem NH
• Music/Band/DJ: Simbrotica DJ (Owners Steve and Chris Simard are the father and uncle of Matthew)
• Event Planner: Wedding Belle, Dover, NH (Day of Coordinator)
• Beauty/Makeup: Myself
• Hair: My hairdresser (and also my Godmother!) Vicky Hopkins
• Paper Products: Invitations from Birchcraft Studios, Rockland MA (ordered though Hallmark, one of their distributors) Ceremony Programs from Wiregrass Weddings 
• Favors: Saltwater Taffy from The Goldenrod, York Beach, Maine

Wedding Spotlight: A Real APM Couple ~ Brian and Valerie

Bride:  Valerie Ayer

Groom: Brian-William Sloan

Engagement Date: 1/25/2010

Wedding Date: 9/4/10 (Private ceremony before his deployment to Afghanistan)

&

3/31/2012 (Big ceremony with APM)

How did you meet your future wife or Husband? We met at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Portsmouth, NH. I had gone to dinner with my family for my birthday and he was our waiter. My sister and I noticed that he seemed interested because he kept coming over to our table just to chat with me about what I was going to school for and how I decided to major in Music. I worked up enough courage to give him my phone number, shoved the piece of paper in his hand while walking out of the restaurant with Dad in tow.

How did he/she propose? One night when I got home late from work Brian asked me if I wanted to go for a walk with him just to talk about how I was handling his younger brother temporarily moving in with us. As we were walking around our apartment complex we arrived in the middle of a four-way intersection where he spun me twice. I didn’t think anything of it at the time because he and I are goofy and do corny things a lot, but when he finished spinning me that second time he was down on one knee and started to say that we had come to a crossroad in our lives and he would be honored and the happiest man if I would walk down the path with him at his side. I was so excited I cut him off and had to ask him to finish what he was going to say.

What was your initial impression of APM? When we first saw or heard of APM we were extremely impressed. We liked their representative Katie as she was extremely knowledgeable, friendly and personable. Their wedding albums were just amazing.

What made you choose APM? The wedding album, hands down. We had only seen one or two other photographers’ work, which we thought were good, but as soon as we saw what APM could do we were sold. The album as soon as you see it is just beautiful, from the ¼ inch crystal cover to the images on each page. We knew that the only thing that we would really be able to have and keep after our wedding would be the photographs and album so we wanted to make sure that we got the best; APM is the best.

How large is your Bridal Party? (How Many BM, GM, FG and/or RB) There was 1 Bridesmaid (Katie Joy), 1 Groomsman (Sam Chidester), 1 Maid of Honor (My sister Marissa Ayer) and 1 Best Person (Brian’s Aunt Victoria Salinas)

How many guests at your wedding? 80

Indoor or Outdoor Wedding? Indoor

What is your Total budget? Our total budget was $11,000

What are/where the colors and/or themes for your Wedding Day? Our colors were Navy Blue, White and Purple. Our table names were U.S. Navy Ships with sailboat favors. Our overall feel was classic and elegant

How would you rate our overall quality (customer service, experiences, photographers, etc)? No complaints whatsoever with APM. Katie who we originally spoke with at the wedding fair was wonderful; she always returned my phone calls or emails in a timely fashion. We had originally booked APM for a May wedding but after finding out that Brian was getting deployed they were extremely accommodating and allowed us to change our original date to a later one without any problems.

 

What was your inspiration behind your wedding? Can be anything from a color palette to a location, from a memory to a dress/bouquet/shoes…anything! What motivated you and most influenced your decisions? We were going for a classic and elegant feel while adding a touch of Navy into it. We had wanted to incorporate the Navy in a small way, but not as a focal point as I was marrying Brian and not the Navy. We decided that the chapel on the Naval Base and the table names and favors would be a great way to incorporate this aspect into the theme. I had always wanted a classic Cape Cod style wedding with rich navy blue, white and a touch of purple as the colors.

  

What made your event UNIQUE? We were married at a location with lots of history; it being the oldest continuously operating shipyard in the US Navy from its old prison dating back to the early 1900’s. The location is just spectacular and not many are able to experience the beauty of it due to it being a Military Base.

Finish this sentence: “One thing I learned from my wedding planning…” Was to go to a variety of wedding fairs with an idea of what you may want for your wedding. We learned so much from ways to cut costs by not doing “the package deal” but by booking the same vendors separately or printing our own invitations rather than going through another vendor. We also learned that ideas that we thought might be good, weren’t

                        

What was your favorite moment or aspect of the day? Getting to have the wedding that I had wanted since we became engaged. Brian and I had a quick last minute wedding when we found out that he was getting deployed to Afghanistan so I didn’t get to have the wedding that I always envisioned and had already started to plan and pay for. It was really great to have our cake vendor, the dj, our reception hall, the church, the photographer, everyone be able to change our original date to a later one to make this happen.

Vendors:

• Ceremony Venue: Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Thresher Chapel, Kittery Maine
• Reception Venue: The Oaks, Somersworth New Hampshire
• Florist: Portsmouth Flower and Garden, Portsmouth New Hampshire
• Food/Catering: The Oaks, Somersworth New Hampshire
• Cake: Jacques Fine European Pastries, Suncook New Hampshire
• Dress Designer: Alfred Angelo Disney Collection, #201 Ariel
• Bridesmaid Dress Designer: Alfred Angelo #7041
• Bridal Boutique: Alfred Angelo Bridal, Danvers Massachusetts
• Tux/Suits:  Men’s Warehouse, Portsmouth New Hampshire
• Jewelry/Veil/Hair Piece:  David’s Bridal, Danvers Massachusetts
• Music/Band/DJ: Drew from Get Down Tonight Entertainment
• Beauty/Makeup: Victoria Salinas
• Hair: Vanity Hair Studio, Portsmouth New Hampshire
• Paper Products:  Gartner Studios
• Favors:  Kate Aspen, Sailboat tea light holder
• Transportation: Great Bay Limousine, Portsmouth New Hampshire