Microwedding with Dogs

There were almost as many dogs as guests at Sarah and Matt’s microwedding on June 20th. This was the silver lining of getting married in the midst of COVID-19. They postponed their larger celebration until 2021 but had an intimate ceremony this June with their parents, siblings and fur-family. A total of seven human guests and five dog guests attended their wedding in Vermont at Lareau Farm Inn in Waitsfield, VT.

Sarah and Matt both grew up in Vermont and knew that’s where they wanted to get married even though they now live in rural Pennsylvania where Sarah works as a college professor of psychology and Matt works as an electrical engineer in renewable energy. Matt spent summers working in landscaping growing up and loves the solar energy and stone walls surrounding the Lareau Farm Inn venue. The couple met on a dating app and their first date was over pizza and beer so Lareau Farm Inn, which is part of American Flatbread Pizza, was in all ways the perfect location.

“Lareau had everything we were looking for. It was stunningly beautiful (we wanted an outdoor ceremony), allowed dogs (a must!), and we wanted pizza and beer at our reception and with American Flatbread, Lareau is like the original pizza spot in VT!” says Sarah.

Sarah wore paper flower hair accessories that her mother had worn at her own wedding in 1989. As a wedding present, Sarah’s mom had earrings made from diamonds that belonged to Sarah’s grandmother who had passed away last year. Both Sarah and Matt wore heirloom rings from their family. Matt’s ring is his late grandfather’s wedding ring and Sarah’s rings were created from Matt’s late grandmother’s engagement ring.

Sarah and Matt had been engaged for a year and half before their wedding when COVID-19 hit and they knew they didn’t want to postpone. Sarah says they were so fortunate that Helen, the innkeeper at Lareau Farm Inn, helped them plan a microwedding for their families who both live in rural areas with limited COVID cases.

“Matt and I felt like the ceremony was perfect. We were surrounded by love and dogs and nature. We had asked my brother, Charlie, to officiate in our original plan, so that remained the same! One thing that we added to our ceremony because of the tiny wedding was “Community Vows,” where our families shared expressions of their love during the ceremony and my sister sang “Where You Lead, I Will Follow” by Carole King. Having fewer people really allowed us to more intentionally celebrate and embrace joining our two families together. We are so hoping we can celebrate our one year anniversary back at Lareau Farm Inn with all of our loved ones in 2021!” says Sarah.

They had their first look under the tall trees by the river and their intimate ceremony was incredibly romantic and overflowing with so much love and beauty. We walked down to the river to take some mountain photos and then Sarah and Matt spent some time cuddling with their dogs before they all walked down the aisle together.

The couple had initially planned a European hiking honeymoon, which they’ll go on in 2021, but they spent the three nights following their June microwedding on Lake Wapanacki in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and stayed in the Boathouse. After the ceremony, Sarah attached “Just Married” signs to their backpacks and we took the cutest photos of them on the trails behind the Inn and even got photo-bombed by a biker.

This was such an amazing wedding, with such a sweet and stunning couple. Thank you so much, Sarah and Matt, it was a true honor to be there! I loved every moment of documenting your day and getting to meet you all!