Wedding | Raven & Paul

Tell us a little about yourselves!

Pauly and I met in New York but found out later we had gone to the same college, Go Ducks! We love to cook (he cooks and cleans and I eat) and love trying new recipes and restaurants. 

We live in Queens and have a perfect cat named Dirtbike. Pauly is a muralist who hand paints large scale advertisements all over the city. I work in advertising too, but my strategy job isn’t nearly as impressive as what he does.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

I was actually born on Caswell Farm years before the owner Catherine decided to turn it into a wedding venue. My parents lived in the little white farm house where I got ready for a year after I was born before moving to Oregon. Caswell is a dear family friend, and so when we were deciding where to get married, for me the obvious decision was to get married here! Pauly’s family has a strong connection to Maine as well, and his family has a cabin in New Harbor. All of those family connections partnered with the amazing vendors that the farm has on site made it a no-brainer to choose the farm.

How many guests did you have?

We had about 108 guests.

What was your budget? 

$50K.

Tell us about your outfits.

I always had a feeling I would wear a vintage dress, and after going to a traditional salon I knew that was definitely the way I was going to find my outfit. 

I got my dress from Happy Isles in Los Angeles, it was a deadstock two piece from Italy in the 90’s. I loved that the fabric wasn’t pure white, it’s sort of silver-y and purple in the light, and it fit almost perfectly when I tried it on so I didn’t need to do too many alterations. 

A few months later I was looking for an after party outfit and I fell in love with a purple floral two-piece Zimmerman set when walking past the store. Originally I thought that I wanted something white, but I loved that both my outfits were two-pieces and purple-ish!

Pauly got his suit from a local shop from his hometown in Long Island. After trying on all sorts of colors, he looked and felt his best in a non-lined navy suit that was going to be fancy enough for the wedding, but also light enough for a warm August wedding.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

Before Pauly and I met, I never really considered marriage, so planning a wedding was something I never really thought about. When it came time to plan, we had no real vision for what the outcome would be, but we knew we wanted to throw an event where we were in our comfort zone. We didn’t want to feel separate from our guests and families and we were able to balance having alone time with being surrounded by our loved ones.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

We wanted to incorporate our family as much as possible into our day. My sister and my best friend (who was born 3 months after me and lived on the farm with her parents and my family) did my hair and makeup, Pauly’s cousin was our officiant, and we had my mom’s best friend (Izzy’s mom) do a speech at the beginning of our ceremony talking about the magic of the farm and its importance to our families.

My parents also got married in Maine, and one of the things my dad said was a big hit was a ping pong table that one of their friends brought for people to play late into the night. It was a really funny addition, so we knew we also wanted to bring a ping pong table! We ended up signing our names on it and leaving it at the farm so future weddings can enjoy it, and it feels fun to know we now left this legacy at the farm. 

Pauly’s dad’s side is Russian, so we also had to incorporate a vodka shot toast into the ceremony as well!

Any tips for couples getting married?

Do not compare your special day to anyone else's! With so much wedding content constantly getting served to you online it can feel like you need to change or add things that you didn’t think about. I kept wondering if we needed to do things differently or add in decorations and I am so glad that we just kept everything simple and perfect to us. 

Also, do not wear shoes that you haven’t broken in no matter how cute you think they are. I wore an adorable kitten heel 3 days before our wedding that gave me the most atrocious blisters, and I wasn’t able to wear the shoes I originally bought for my outfits. Thank God my mom brought a pair that didn’t rub my blisters and they actually fit the vibe of my outfit way better!

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Barn and Table Catering truly made the most delicious food! They really can bring any vision to life, but we chose the package where they cooked vegetables that were grown in the garden onsite. The food truly was one of the highlights of the entire day, same with our amazing strawberry cake and trays of tiramisu! The oyster bar was a huge highlight for our guests too!

Photographer: Cheyanna De Nicola @cheyannadenicolaphoto | Planning: Nicole Hawkes 

@caswellfarmmaine | Ceremony & Reception Location: Caswell Farm & Wedding Barn 

@caswellfarmmaine | Rentals: One Stop Event Rentals | Cake, Catering & Beverages: Barn and Table Catering @barnandtablecatering & The Bar Association @the.bar.association.maine | Entertainment: Sounds Buono @soundsbuono @maliyahmusic | Dress: Happy Isles @happyisles_salon | Afterparty Dress: Zimmerman @zimmerman | Suit: Victor Talbots @victortalbots | Engagement & Wedding Rings: George William Jewelry @georgewilliamjewelry