A Jedediah Hawkins Inn Summer Wedding for Martyna and Jesse

Jesse stood under an arch at the end of an aisle of white chairs, and he had not seen her yet. That was the shape of Martyna and Jesse’s Jedediah Hawkins Inn summer wedding: July, outdoors, on the lawn in front of the barn.

They did not do a first look. They wrote letters to each other instead, and read them separately while getting ready.

Jamesport, for the Weekend

The Jedediah Hawkins Inn is in Jamesport, out on the North Fork.

Martyna and Jesse had it for the weekend rather than for the day, which is worth knowing about the place. Their wedding then stayed put once it began. Ceremony on the lawn, cocktail hour and portraits in the same spot, reception in the barn a few steps away, and nobody needing to drive anywhere in between.

The Morning

Martyna and Jesse got ready apart. Elite Bridal Beauty did hair and makeup, and at some point that morning each of them read what the other had written.

It is not the same as being in a room together. What it gave them was a few minutes of each other before the day properly started.

The Ceremony

Flowers from Glitzed Events ran the length of the aisle and over the arch at the far end of it, and Jesse waited underneath.

Because they had skipped the first look, the aisle was the first time he saw Martyna in her dress.

The moment only exists because they waited for it. His reaction is my favorite photograph from the whole ceremony.

Twenty Minutes During Cocktail Hour

No first look, and a ceremony on the property. That pairing is rarer than it sounds, and it leaves exactly one window.

Everything the two of them needed had to happen after the vows, with the reception waiting on the other side of cocktail hour. A couple marrying off site gets the drive back to work with. A couple doing a first look has the whole morning. Martyna and Jesse had neither.

So they gave the two of them about twenty minutes of their own cocktail hour. The family groups took additional time on top of that, in the same part of the evening.

The standard advice runs the other way. Keep anybody you still need to photograph out of cocktail hour entirely, because once they are in it you will not get them back. That rule exists for a good reason, and the reason is retrieval rather than photography.

We went against it deliberately, and it held, because of a decision made on the property rather than on a timeline.

We set up immediately next to the cocktail hour.

Nobody went anywhere. A family group stepped aside, stood for a couple of minutes, and stepped back into the party. Martyna and Jesse did the same thing. No walking across a property, nobody sent to find anybody, and no guest standing somewhere else waiting to be photographed.

The expensive part of a portrait session is rarely the photographs. Most of the time it is the walking.

Twenty minutes covered the two of them. The families were extra, and how much extra depends entirely on how many groups you have asked for. What you can control is the distance, and the distance is usually what costs you.

Out Again at Twilight

Later in the evening we took them back outside.

There was no golden hour that night. Some evenings the sky does the work for you, and that one did not.

Twilight still gave us the grounds and a couple who had been married for hours rather than minutes. The second part shows more than people expect it to.

The Reception

Inside the barn, under lights strung from the timber ceiling. The room had energy in it from early on.

Simone Band New York came out from the city and played, and people filled the floor quickly. Nobody treated dancing as optional. Levain Bakery sent cookies.

Martyna had one thing she wanted from the evening. She went to every table and had a photograph taken with the people sitting at it. Every table in the room.

That took a while, and she did not appear to mind. It is the same instinct as the letters and the same instinct behind standing beside the cocktail hour rather than walking away from it. She wanted the people who came to be seen.

What Couples Can Take From Their Day

One thing, and it costs nothing.

If you photograph during cocktail hour, set up next to it. Proximity is the variable, not the clock. Twenty minutes beside the party and twenty minutes across the grounds are different prices for the same photographs, and only one of them is paid by your guests. Ask your photographer where they intend to work and how far that is from where everybody will be standing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you have the Jedediah Hawkins Inn for a whole weekend?

Martyna and Jesse had it for the weekend rather than for the day, which is worth asking about if your guests are travelling out to the North Fork anyway. What is available will depend on your date and on the rooms, so take that question to the Inn directly.

Can you take wedding portraits during cocktail hour?

You can, and whether it works depends mostly on distance. About twenty minutes of Martyna and Jesse’s went on the two of them, with the family groups taking additional time on top. It cost their guests almost nothing because we set up right beside the cocktail hour, so families stepped out for a moment and went straight back. The same twenty minutes spent walking somewhere scenic would have taken most of the hour. Agree the location before the day rather than on it.

Is summer a good time for a wedding at the Jedediah Hawkins Inn?

A Jedediah Hawkins Inn summer wedding gets you the grounds at full height, which is most of the reason to be out there at all. The things to plan around are heat and sun position. For an outdoor summer ceremony it is worth talking through the start time, the direction the ceremony faces and where the shade is with your photographer. Summer is also peak season on the North Fork, so build in more travel time than a map suggests.

What can you do instead of a first look?

Write to each other and read the letters separately. Martyna and Jesse did exactly that. It gives you a way to reach each other before the day gets going, and it keeps the first sight of each other for the aisle. A first look does several things at once, so this is an alternative rather than a swap.

About the Photographer

Stephen Mayo is the founder and lead photographer of Heritage House, a boutique wedding photography studio. We serve Long Island, New York City, Westchester, New Jersey, and the East End. Stephen is a member of Fearless Photographers, and his work has appeared in Sophisticated Weddings and hamptonBRIDE.

We plan a wedding backward from what the couple wants to be doing at seven in the evening. Some couples finish every portrait before the ceremony. Martyna and Jesse did the opposite and it suited them, because what they cared about was how much of the evening their guests got.

Planning a Jedediah Hawkins Inn Summer Wedding?

We have photographed weddings at the Inn in different seasons, with ceremonies on the property and ceremonies somewhere else entirely, with first looks and without them. We build the photography around whichever of those you choose rather than the other way round.

So tell us what your wedding looks like. We will work out the rest.

Schedule a call with Heritage House.

Vendors

Photographer: Heritage House Photography

Venue: Jedediah Hawkins Inn

Hair and Makeup: Elite Bridal Beauty

Florist: Glitzed Events

Band: Simone Band New York

Bakery: Levain Bakery

Photo Booth: All Island Photo Booth