“Now he knew that there were thousands and thousands of forms of joy in the world, but that all were essentially one and the same, namely, the joy of being able to love.”― Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

Weddings are never short on love, and of course Aly and Sam's was no exception. They had a fabulous, unique and fun wedding at the Red Barn at Hampshire College in Amherst. Yes, they are huge book lovers - specifically, that magical book (and movie), The Neverendending Story. Starting with their invitations, spreading into the decor, even into their vows and ceremony (beautifully personalized by the amazing celebrant Heather Richard of Great Falls Ceremonies). We even snuck it into their engagement photos a bit! (Will have to post those at some point!!)

So much of their wedding was unique to them as a couple - starting with the fact that they met and fell in love at Hampshire - so what better place to tie the knot? Here's are Aly's thoughts on incorporating their personalities into the wedding:

One thing that was really important to me was having an entirely vegan wedding. I have been a vegan for over 10 years, and Sam is a vegetarian and supported the vegan wedding idea. We wanted our wedding to be romantic but also relaxed, whimsical, and playful. We decided on a Neverending Story theme - it is a book and movie we both love, and we wanted to capture some of the aesthetic and magic from the book/movie in our wedding decor and details. We also made sure to mention the theme to all of our potential vendors, thinking their reaction/enthusiasm toward the theme would be one good way to gauge if their personalities and work would mesh with our preferences. I feel like we really lucked out in finding great vendors! Our officiant wrote us a ceremony that captured the magic of the Neverending Story world while also adorably telling our own "neverending story." It was important to us not to have a boring or awkward ceremony, and we were struggling with whether or not to do vows, because we think they're sweet, but were uncomfortable with speaking such personal things to an audience. Our officiant came up with the idea of us whispering our vows to each other during the ceremony, tying that concept to a detail from the Neverending Story movie! It seemed to go over well - people were smiling when it happened during the ceremony, and later at the reception family and friends kept asking us to what we whispered to each other. It was fun having that little secret.

Wedding Ceremony and Reception: Red Barn at Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts

I absolutely love Aly's dress! And sunflowers, my favorite.

Wedding ceremony under the chuppah, and under this magnificent tree in the middle of the field.

Those whispered vows... so sweet!

Break the glass! (And a peak at Aly's Converse shoes :))

And I couldn't leave out all of the fun Neverending Story details... Even on the cake!

A father's toast to his daughter and son-in-law.

From Aly: The reception was amazing. It was great to have so many friends and family together in one place, with food and music and details we had chosen ourselves and spent so much time planning. It was exciting seeing everything come together, and dancing with all our friends!

Lots of fun dancing photos at the Red Barn!

I always like to ask my couples what advice they would give to those in the planning process, here's what Aly had to say: Stand your ground with some things you really want to be part of your wedding, but also to be open to suggestions about things that you aren't so dead-set on, and let others help! We'd also encourage interactive elements for your guests - we had glowsticks and bookmarks with questions guests could answer on our tables and people seemed to really enjoy both of those things - plus we had lots of fun reading all the responses after the wedding was over!

And of course I always love getting feedback (especially this kind) - thanks Aly & Sam, I had a wonderful time being a part of your wedding at Hampshire Red Barn! We liked that you were able to get such great pictures without being at all intrusive. We had so much fun looking through the photos and seeing beautiful formal shots mixed in with sweet (and some goofy) candids that made us smile. You were also easy to communicate with during the planning process and always answered our questions in a reassuring way. We were so happy with the photos! We were excited that you made us look so good since we definitely felt like awkward models!

Florist: Atkins Farm

Cake: Bean Counter Bakery

DJ: Audible Chemistry

Video: Revel Video

Caterer: Red Barn

Officiant: Heather Richard - Great Falls Ceremonies

Invitations: If it's Paper (Raleigh, NC)

Original Art for Invitation: David Hyde Costello

Dress: David's Bridal

Hair/Makeup: Hair by Harlow

Suit: Jos. A Bank

“He tried to remember Moon Child's eyes, but was no longer able to. He was sure of only one thing: that her glance had passed through his eyes and down into his heart. He could still feel the burning trail it had left behind. That glance, he felt, was embedded in his heart, and there it glittered like a mysterious jewel. And in a strange and wonderful way it hurt. Even if Bastian had wanted to, he couldn't have defended himself against this thing that had happened to him. However, he didn't want to. Oh no, not for anything in the world would he have parted with that jewel. All he wanted was to go on reading, to see Moon Child again, to be with her. It never occurred to him that he was getting into the most unusual and perhaps the most dangerous of adventures. But even if he had known this, he wouldn't have dreamed of shutting the book.” ― Michael Ende, The Neverending Story