Cape Magic

Personal touches—and some unscripted surprises —charmed this Cape Cod wedding.

Photo by Dan Cutrona

The september morning of the wedding was overcast, with wispy fog rolling in on an easterly wind from Cape Cod Bay. The temperature hovered in the low 60s—not cold, but a little chilly for the bare shoulders of the bride and her bridesmaids.
After an exuberant rehearsal dinner the night before, when a rainstorm gave way to a pair of rainbows that faded into a glorious sunset over The Beach Club on Craigville Beach, the wedding party woke up to a gray morning. The parents of the bride and groom, several family members, and close friends headed for the reception site in a beautiful West Barnstable meadow overlooking Cape Cod Bay.

The sight of an expansive tent erected by Sperry Tent—floating like the sails of a clipper ship on the meadow’s rise—lifted the spirits of aunts, uncles, and friends who gathered to help set up. The bride’s father placed an elegant wooden rowboat—a high school graduation gift he restored for his daughter—on the edge of the tent to hold wedding gifts. A crew of the bride and groom’s aunts worked at a feverish pitch to decorate long farm-style tables with driftwood and rocks gathered from Cape Cod beaches, brightened with evergreens and mason jars filled with flowers from family gardens.

Remaining upbeat, the set-up crew warmed up a little with cups of coffee from West Barnstable’s Old Village Store around the corner. When the groom’s mother made a quick stop there for refills, the owner gave her a positive weather forecast. “Don’t worry,” he said after learning she was part of the bridal party for the big tent on Route 6A.“The wind is going to switch around to the southwest after lunch, the sun will come out—it’s going to be a beautiful day!”

Sipping hot coffee under the tent, the crew began to notice a slightly brightening sky. The groom’s mother and the bride’s parents—all year rounders—stayed cheerful, knowing the weather can turn in a heartbeat on Cape Cod.