By Megan Amundson

Reception at Precinct

When you think about your special day, you may imagine a wedding ceremony on the beach. Or in the mountains. Or maybe at a country club. Have you thought about a local wedding? There are plenty of businesses in Somerville more than happy to make your wedding day special, and they shouldn’t be overlooked.

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.

Your life isn’t an 80s sitcom, but sharing your special day with businesses you already know provides security. You know they’re good and they know you’re a repeat customer. They want to make you happy! When my husband and I got married in Somerville at the end of February, we worked with a number of local businesses. And in return, those Somerville businesses did everything they could to make our day special.

Getting Married in Somerville

Our goal was an intimate, low key wedding with a larger reception to celebrate. For the day to be meaningful to us, we hosted our wedding in the ‘Ville with local businesses we like so our family and friends too could experience our Somerville community and all it has to offer.

The Night Before

The festivities began Friday night with a dinner at the Foundry on Elm for 16 of our guests traveling from out of town and our families. We had made a last minute change to the Foundry after frustrating dealings with a restaurant  in Cambridge that caused us to cut our losses and relocate back to Somerville. We couldn’t have made a better decision.

The Foundry squeezed 16 of us in with only three days. As great as the food was, given the circumstances of how we ended up at there, what I remember most was the attentive service. They dedicated at least three wait staff to our table, including the manager, were exceptionally responsive considering we were there at the busiest time of the week, and we never felt rushed. The staff made helpful recommendations for wine and starters that made everyone happy and ordering for 16 stress free. In the end, they made it possible for us to focus our attention on our families meeting for the first time.

Our Wedding Day

We started our wedding day by getting our home ready for the ceremony in our living room. Bow Street Flowers on Beacon Street outdid themselves with three large bouquets that we used to frame the ceremony and the formal pictures in our bow window. In my conversations with Shelley at Bow Street, I provided her with an idea of what I was looking for with the hopes they she could translate it into something beautiful, and we weren’t disappointed. She even provided a bouquet, which I hadn’t ordered, as a personal touch. For our toasts after the ceremony, we drank champagne from the Wine and Cheese Cask, which is always a favorite in our household.

From the ceremony, the wedding party walked to Bergamot for a wonderful meal. The staff went out of their way to make the meal special, including a customized print menu and multiple servers working the table. The owner and the head chef had sat down with us in advance to accommodate food allergies and plan a three course meal that had all of our guests raving. The duck in particular was talked about for the rest of the evening.

From our dinner we moved on to Precinct in Union Square for a larger reception in the back room. A new chef had just been hired a month before our reception, and under his guidance our appetizer order became much more interesting and tasty. In addition, the walls had been recently painted and new furniture had just been ordered. Ronan, the general manager, had worked with us for weeks to make sure the room looked just how we wanted, with candles and flower petals on tables and a special place for the cake and DJ on stage. The staff did an excellent job navigating the very full room with wine, champagne, appetizers, and cake. They went so far as to provide a basket for cards, which we had forgotten to set up, along with a staff person to watch the entrance. Ronan did a fantastic job thinking of all the things we hadn’t.

Looking Back

Our wedding day lasted only one magical day, but the relationships we developed with local Somerville business owners will last much longer. I appreciate the hard work they put into making our wedding day special, and they can count on my business in the future.

Photos: Leise Jones Photography