Blog— Weddings — Rhode Island — 2023 —
South Kingstown Town Beach Wedding Photos
Nicole & Quinley
South Kingstown Town Beach, South Kingstown, Rhode Island (Ceremony)
September 9th, 2023
There was a moment in the middle of Nicole and Quinley's formal photo session following their September wedding ceremony at South Kingstown Town Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island where everyone had to stop what they were doing and look to the sky as a small airplane was about to fly by us with a sign congratulating the new couple.
Now, I had no idea this was going to happen and if anyone at the wedding had told me prior to it happening, I absolutely forgot about it in the moment. But, in what would prove to be a theme on the day, Nicole and Quinley were able to get right in position the second I asked them to and kissed at the exact right moment I needed them to in order to get the sign behind them and “nail” the shot.
Not that I had any doubt, of course. For this bride and groom, perfect timing is a hallmark of their relationship together.
Nicole and Quinley said “I do” in the most South County way possible back in September and their casual, laid back beach wedding and tent reception was all about the ocean vibes and good times and I was HERE for it.
I was initially a bit concerned about the way my coverage of Nicole and Quinley's wedding day was set to start as I had a very small window of time to capture photos of the groom getting ready before heading over to the bride and South County isn't the best area to plan a busy day around when it comes to getting from Point A to Point B.
Luckily, all of my worries were gone in an instant when I walked into Quinley's groom prep area and not only was he ready to roll but all of his guys were eager to make things as fun and relaxed as possible.
I especially loved when the groomsmen let me know Quin had recently gifted them custom knives and we were able to capture a shot of them altogether. That casual vibe made groom prep super easy and within moments I was in, out and onto the next part of the day.
Things were pretty similar with Nicole and her girls, as well. I arrived to the bride's suite in Matunuck to find a group of girls all made up and ready to go. Luckily, Nicole waited for me to arrive to put her dress on and I was able to capture that before we made our way out to her ceremony at South Kingstown Town Beach.
When I first sat down with Nicole and asked her to describe her wedding vision, she made it clear that she and Quinley loved two things: The beach and the boat. And that was certainly reflected in their choice for a ceremony location as the pair kept things low key and set up an arbor and chairs in a small section of SK Town Beach and invited friends and family to show up.
I loved this so much.
I love when couples stay true to who they are on their wedding day and Nicole and Quinley's entire "beach life" vibe was evident in every part of their special day but especially this portion of it.
As for the ceremony itself, well, Nicole and Quin kept that simple as well. The pair were married through a friend who got ordained for the occasion, had just one reading for their ceremony and made custom vows to one another that spoke of how special they each knew their relationship to be.
Even though the sun was BLINDING during this part of the day, it would have been hard to ask for a better day for this bride and groom or to ask for a ceremony that felt more personal or special.
Following their ceremony, Nicole and Quinley made their way to the beach itself for their formal photos and wedding party photos.
Let me let you in on a little secret: I low key hate shooting photos on the beach.
Yes, I know. I'm a wedding photographer who lives in Rhode Island. That's practically sacrilegious. But it's true. The beach, while pretty, is typically the biggest pain in the butt for wedding photos. Not only is it typically windy as hell, but there are usually tons of people everywhere, it's almost always bright and sunny and the light reflecting off the sand tends to make my couples squint really hard.
Thankfully, that wasn't the case for Nicole and Quinley's day as the weather was perfect, the lighting was perfect and these shots were beautiful.
I especially loved Nicole and Quinley's bride and groom portraits. Despite having never worked with these two before, they both felt like seasoned pros and were super accommodating to any posing tips or ideas I had. The best part was, because the day was so casual, we had plenty of time built in to work together without feeling the stress of needing to get anywhere in particular for cocktail hour or guests.
I could have worked with Nicole and Quin for hours but we didn't need that long. In fact, after just 25 minutes or so, we were good to go and ready to head to their reception to see what fun the night had in store.
If I had any doubts about how relaxed and casual the rest of Nicole and Quinley's night would be, those doubts were gone when I arrived at Quinley's parents' home to see the large tent area they had set up and the total DIY, chill theme inside.
I loved the little touches Quin and Nicole put on their day, from the bottle openers they had on each table to the unique "seating chart" idea they came up with and even the simplest but somehow fitting cake the pair chose.
Perhaps the most relaxed part of their day, however, was in meal selection as the pair decided to truly make their wedding a South County affair by hosting a clambake in lieu of a traditional sit down evening.
Nicole and Quinley told me prior to their wedding day that they were expecting a big party vibe from their friends and family members and I definitely got that vibe from the start of their reception.
The pair opened things up with a fun set of introductions from their wedding party and their first dance — set to “Blessings” by Florida Georgia Line — was about as traditional as their day got ... even with a rogue doggie going off script and deciding to crash it momentarily.
Following their first dance, Nicole and Quinley kept the rest of their reception pretty low key. The pair had a handful of toasts but none of them were overly sensitive or emotional. They were just funny speeches with touching tributes to the bride and groom and the perfect way to set the tone for what kind of night you're hoping to have.
After dinner, Nicole and Quinley knocked out a couple of other traditional reception moments, starting with a cake cutting so casual the pair didn't even care that someone had already snuck in and grabbed a piece of the cake before they had a chance to cut it.
The formalities concluded with two sweet parent dances as Nicole and her father kept their dance together light and fun and Quinley and his mom had a more traditional dance where the emotions were all over their faces as they moved from side to side.
Within moments of Quin and his mother concluding their dance together, I could see the night had shifted once again as the bride and groom's friends and family wasted no time in hitting the dance floor to rock out and have a great time.
I wasn't at Nicole and Quinley's reception for long past the point of the dance floor opening but I also didn't need to be as this group got right into it and were clearly having an amazing time celebrating the newlyweds the minute they got the green light to begin doing so.
As my time with Nicole and Quinley came to an end, I headed to my car eager to get home and see how everything came out. I haven't had a lot of days this wedding season that were as picture perfect as Nicole and Quinley's, particularly when it comes to weather, but if there was one wedding day that practically begged for cooperation from Mother Nature, this was it.
It's hard to have a beach-themed wedding without being able to go to the beach but Nicole and Quinley never had to worry about that, thankfully. It's also much harder to pull off a beach-themed wedding that feels as authentic and fun as Nicole and Quinley's but they nailed that too.
In all, this wedding was everything this bride and groom could have asked for and more and I'm just glad I was there to document it for them to share for a lifetime. So congratulations Nicole and Quinley and best of luck on this new and exciting chapter of your lives together as husband and wife.
-Paul J. Spetrini
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The Vendor List:
Photographer: Paul J. Spetrini, Paul J. Spetrini Photography; Bride's Hair: Stephanie Marie, Hair Craft Studios; Bride's Make-up: Make Me Up by Christina Kaian; Bride's Dress: Spark Bridal; Groom's Suit: Express; Florist: Florals by Donna; Ceremony Venue: South Kingstown Town Beach, South Kingstown, Rhode Island; DJ: JPO Productions; Cake: Stop and Shop; Mini Desserts: Wrights Dairy Farm; Caterer: McGrath Clambakes.