Boston River Elopement & Reception at Warehouse XI. Somerville, MA | Lauren & Matt

Lauren and Matt made their wedding exactly what they want. By focusing on the things that were important to them, they planned an intentional and special couple of days.

Day One was dedicated to family. The Norris Reservation (about an hour outside of Boston) has this magical little boat house along the river that has become a special place for Lauren and Matt. To honor their families, it was important to have their ceremony here. Lauren told Junebug weddings:

While weddings are of course a day of utter bliss, love and celebration, both Matt and I have dealt with some significant loss in our lives. While we knew we would be surrounded by the love of our friends and families, there are people in our lives that could only be with us in spirit. It was extremely important that we have a ceremony in an intimate space where we could remember and feel the love of the family members that are no longer with us.

The ceremony was perfect. Intimate, special and full of present hearts. As the sunset, everyone had champagne and huggged and spent time remembering. Every moment was special and while it’s hard to really articulate it, this day felt like magic. Lauren wore an INCREDIBLE vintage gown from Gossamer and actually had a second, equally stunning dress from them the next day!

Lauren and Matt are both super creative and surrounded by the like. Danielle of Good Look’n is a close friend and helped with florals and styling of both of their spaces. Matt created all of the candles that were given as favors and Lauren’s mom hand painted the invitations. More art by both were hung around the reception! Warehouse XI is a gorgeous, modern blank canvas and Danielle enlisted some help of carpenter friends to build a bar and walls to break up the space in a really incredible way.

Lauren and Matt kicked off the reception the next day at Warehouse XI with a grand entrance and their first dance. While they skipped many of the “wedding traditions” this really helped connect the two events and kick started the party. The night was relaxed and pretty much a huge party! There were donuts from Union Square Donuts and North East of the Border pulled up right side the door to feed guests all night. Matt and Lauren were able to mingle and dance with guests all night without any pressure of a timeline or events to attent to. They enjoyed tacos and got to spend actual time with the people they love. I can’t imagine anything better.

I really love the way Lauren and Matt created their celebration. They had a meaningful and emotional ceremony with those closest to them and still were able to party their faces off with everyone else at the reception. Weddings can be whatever you want them to be! If you focus your wedding day on what is most important to you, you’re going to have the best freaking day. In these 2020 times of Covid, a lot of couples are having to postpone their weddings and rethink their plans. Having to change the plans you’ve been dreaming about for years due to something completely out of your control SUCKS but these two are a great example of rethinking tradition can lead to TWO amazing days!