A Fourth of July Themed Wedding at Mission Oak Grill in Newburyport, Massachusetts

Anna Jones (31 and works in marketing and human resources) and Jon Merritt (24 and an artist and designer) met during college at the California Institute of the Arts when Jon accidentally stepped on Anna’s glasses. “Embarrassed and apologetic, he asked if there was anything he could do to make it up to her and Anna jokingly said, "Well, give me a kiss and we will call it even!" — the rest is history! “We dated for two years before Jon proposed and almost 5 years before we got married,” says Anna. “We even pushed back the date of the wedding almost an entire year when we decided to move to the East Coast from California, but it was worth waiting because we got a chance to get more organized beforehand. Choosing the Fourth of July weekend as the date for their “I do’s,” the couple planned a fun, festive Independence Day-inspired bash, complete with a red, white and blue color palette and lots of stars-and-stripes accents. Anna and Jon decided that Newburyport, MA, where Anna’s parents live, was the perfect place to host the affair, choosing Saint Anna’s Chapel for the ceremony, followed by a swinging reception at Mission Oak Grill. "Although we are not religious, we chose this location in part because of it's importance to our family (her father is the Reverend at the adjoining church) and in part because of the historical significance of the site to American Revolutionary History," says Anna. "Saint Paul's was founded in 1711 and is where the signed Declaration of Independence was read out loud to the townspeople before being shipped to England in 1776. The chapel itself is incredibly charming and features a full set of original stained-glass windows, a beautifully restored pipe organ, solid oak pews and a stunning brass chandelier. The gardens surrounding the church are perfect for photos!" The Grand America Hotel was decked out to the nines with bright star-shaped lanterns, tables named after the 13 colonies, fresh red, white and blue blooms and table linens that conveyed the wedding’s playful theme. "Since it was the Fourth of July weekend, we wanted the day to embody a fun, bold spirit that still had a sense of connection to the history of the town and the venue," says Anna. "We chose shades of red, white, and blue intermixed with gold, silver, black and ivory with a theme of stars and stripes to invoke a sense of vintage Americana." Guests were sent home with personalized flag-inspired mason jar mugs as reminder of the fun event-packed weekend.