A Chequessett Club wedding puts the whole day by the ocean in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Katherine and Kevin got married right on the beach. Cocktail hour moves into the boathouse. Dinner goes up under a tent beside the same stretch of coast. Below, I walk through how their day flowed, room by room, and the vendor team that built it.
What Makes the Chequessett Club Wedding Venue Different
Two things set this venue apart. The first is the ocean. It is the backdrop for the entire evening, and the photos make the case better than I can. The water is simply always there.
The second is how contained everything stays. The whole day happens in one place, so no one has to drive between the ceremony and the reception. After Katherine and Kevin’s ceremony, guests walked a few steps to the boathouse to grab a drink for cocktail hour. That kind of flow keeps people relaxed, and it keeps the day from ever feeling like logistics.
Wedding Venue With Ocean Views
If you want a coastal wedding that sits on the water, Chequessett is hard to beat. The beach hosts the ceremony. The boathouse opens straight onto the water. The dinner tent goes up right beside it. From the first look to the last dance, the ocean stayed in the frame.
The Flow of Katherine and Kevin’s Wedding Day
Katherine and Kevin got ready up the road at Copper Swan, about five minutes from the venue. The space had real character, which is to say it was the opposite of a bland hotel room. From there, a white trolley carried them over to Chequessett.
They were clear from the start about what they wanted. Katherine and Kevin asked for candid moments over posed ones, plus a light, airy, colorful feel to the day. They wanted to stay relaxed and present, focused on the people who came to celebrate. For everyone else, they wanted the ease of a good party. So that became the brief, and the rest of the day was built around it.
First Look and Private Vows
The first look happened in a bend in the coastline, on a small sandy beach framed by large rocks. They chose to read private vows there. I love documenting the whole day. But I love it even more when a couple protects a piece of it for just the two of them. Consequently, by the time the ceremony came around, they had already had their most private moment together.
Beach Ceremony by the Water
The ceremony sat between the boathouse and the tent, right at the water’s edge. White garden chairs faced a deconstructed arch. The ocean stood directly behind the couple as they said their vows. They had already shared private vows during the first look. Because of that, this part of the day felt loose and unhurried rather than nerve-wracking.
Cocktail Hour in the Boathouse
After the ceremony, cocktail hour moved into the boathouse, with the deck thrown open to the water. There was a raw bar with 400 Wellfleet oysters, passed appetizers, and a full open bar. The boathouse has an easy, salt-air feel, and that kind of room gets people talking to each other almost on its own.
Dinner and Toasts Under the Tent
Dinner went up under the tent beside the ocean, set with white linens, blue-patterned napkins, and colored water goblets. The food ran as stations: a beef filet station, a miso salmon station, and a seafood paella station. Toasts landed here too, with the water sitting just beyond the edge of the tent. Meanwhile the light over the harbor did most of the decorating.
Dancing Back in the Boathouse
Then the night circled back to the boathouse to dance. Moving the party into a different space for the final stretch gives the evening a second wind. As a result, the room that hosted cocktail hour at golden hour became the dance floor after dark. It felt like a brand-new space.
Planning a Chequessett Club Wedding
The reason this day ran so smoothly is the planning underneath it. The day moved more than 100 guests from a beach ceremony to a boathouse to a tent and back again. That kind of choreography takes a coordinator who has thought through every handoff in advance.
Katherine and Kevin worked with Megan at MCM Events, and the difference showed all day. In the month before the wedding, Megan and I sat down with the couple. Together we fine tuned a timeline around how they actually wanted the day to feel. It was specific to them, not a template. On the day itself, her team stayed ahead of everything. They handled the ceremony setup and small touches alike, down to bringing the couple water.
Chequessett Club Wedding Vendors
A wedding is the sum of the people who build it. Here is the full vendor team behind Katherine and Kevin’s day, with links so you can find them for your own.
Photographer | Madison Van Wylen
Wedding Planner | MCM Events
Venue | Chequessett Club
Catering | Pink Door Catering
Raw Bar | Wellfleet Raw Bars
Cake | Kiss Me Cakes
Florist | Foraged Floral
Rentals | True North Event Rentals
DJ | Keith Lemire
Ceremony Music | Katelyn Mae Music
Hair | Kate Bevan
Makeup | Artworx Bridal
Transportation | Cape Destinations
Officiant | Soulful Ceremonies
If you are planning a Chequessett Club wedding of your own and want photos that feel like the day you actually had, reach out! I would love to hear about it.
The Full Gallery
There is only so much a blog post can hold. Below is a longer look at Katherine and Kevin’s day, from the quiet of the first look to the last stretch on the boathouse floor. Scroll through when you have a minute. If you see the kind of day you are hoping for, that is usually a good sign we would work well together.
