Melissa VanHyfte and Joseph Varao

July 11, 2015

Tell us about your day: Joe and I met in 2010 after we both joined opposing social softball teams for young professionals in Boston. Five years to the day later we were married at Greenvale Vineyards in Portsmouth. From the first moment we stepped foot onto the property, we knew we’d found our venue. We were both very actively involved in the planning process and luckily agreed on most everything. We decided to go with a vintage flower garden feel for the day, which was essentially inspired by the initial idea of having our bridesmaids wear custom floral tea-party style dresses. Each bridesmaid chose a different style and pattern to fit her personality, and the groomsmen wore coordinating bow ties. We had many DIY projects including welcome picnic baskets with custom wine bottle labels, custom program fans, custom flower petal boxes, custom coloring books for the children and custom menu card napkin wraps. The groom handmade the wedding arches from birch and wild vine and the officiant podium from vintage wine crates. We also chose and purchased every single piece of vintage fine china (with gold trim and floral detail) and vintage props for our photo booth at antique shops that we frequented over our six month engagement. We had our first look in a field of sunflowers at nearby Sweet Berry Farm, as sunflowers were always special to Joe because he grew them when he was a child. Looking back we absolutely loved everything about our special day!