I apologize in advance: this is going to be a bit of a beast of a post.  Thing is, Annie and Ryan’s reception was ridiculously beautiful, and fun, and it was held at quite possibly my favorite venue of all time: Saltwater Farm Vineyard in Stonington, CT.  It was more than worth the long drive – plus, I am not sure I have ever laughed quite so hard during a wedding … good times.  🙂 The decor was simple and natural (and very pretty) – thank you Ashley Conti, assistant extraordinaire, for the third shot below:

Love all the wood – it was the perfect backdrop for the mossy decor.

Fun during cocktail hour:

There was a loose animal theme to the reception. The tables had animal names, including ‘Bees, Bees, Bees!’ (Annie + Ryan have dressed as bees for Halloween we are told, as well as chased by a swarm in Aruba) and ‘The Beaver State’ (aka Oregon, Ryan’s home state). My favorite was the head table: ‘Squid Vs. Whale’ – this was also Ryan’s contribution to the adorable array of animal cake toppers on the table of yummy cakes. Ha!

Some first dance magic – to ‘All I Want is You’ (made famous by the movie Juno) – love!

Then toasts:

And then it was time for some sun-soaked portraits. We all got eaten alive by bugs, but I kept promising Annie and Ryan that it would be worth it. Now that the fifty or so bites all over my neck and legs have stopped itching, I think I can safely say it was:

Getting a cute and non-silly portrait of these two is not the easiest job in the world (Ryan prefers playing vampire to smiling) but I must say I quite like it when it all comes together:

Love the one of Ryan doing the awesome awkward jump above – and love their fun sneaker shoes for the reception (Annie wore her Tom’s shoes all day in fact):

Then it was in and out all night, taking photos of relaxed guests enjoying the moonlight and energetic guests getting down on the dance floor … (oh!  And a quick shout-out here to Doug of Power Posse Productions for keeping the dance floor pumping!)