December 9, 2022

Tom & Lia’s Portland Wedding at Oxbow Brewing

Tom and Lia met on the first day of college in 2010. It took Tom 3.5 years to gather the courage to ask Lia out. But it ended up being worth the wait because guess what… Now they're married!

One of Tom and Lia's favorite things is spending the weekends exploring Portland, Maine. They're constantly trying out new restaurants, coffee spots, and breweries when they make the trip from Connecticut. Of course, finding a new breakfast spot is always a highlight.

We've lived in Maine our entire lives and have spent a good deal of time in Portland, yet Tom and Lia know their way around better than I probably ever will. So I asked what some of their favorite spots were, and they named Speckled Axe, Coffee ME Up, Hunt and Alpine, Central Provisions, Duckfat, and HoneyPaw. And those were just the first ones to come to mind.

When we started chatting about their wedding day, Tom stated that he wanted to include a variety of Portland backdrops. We met them at the Press Hotel, where they got ready with their immediate family members and had an emotional first look. After the first look, Tom led us to the old port, which was only a few minutes away by foot. He had several spots in mind, and we managed to squeeze in a few before meeting their families for portraits at city hall.

After family photos, we jumped into a shuttle to hit up the rest of the spots on their list. I highly recommend hiring a driver to transport you and your photographer if you're getting married in Portland. It saves so much time since we don't have to worry about parking.

After portraits, we headed to Oxbow Brewing for the ceremony and reception. Tom and Lia are engineers and are big fans of more urban-looking spaces. So after seeking out fun backgrounds downtown, Oxbow was the perfect spot to celebrate. Guests spent the evening sipping delicious brews (their sours are some of my all-time favorites!), nibbling on the seemingly endless bites from 58 Culinary, and dancing to Tom's carefully-curated playlist. It included songs we'd never heard at any wedding we'd photographed in the last twelve years. I'm so happy that someone finally used "Let's Get Married" by Bleachers!

Here are our favorites from Tom and Lia's Portland wedding at Oxbow Brewing!