Wychmere Beach Club Wedding Video: Four Weddings on Nantucket Sound
Wychmere Beach Club on film, through four weddings we filmed in Harwich Port: harbour first looks, vows on Nantucket Sound and the dunes at dusk.
Wychmere Beach Club is the venue we have filmed more than any other. Four of the weddings in our gallery were shot there, and between them they cover most of what the place can do: a first look above a harbour full of boats, vows with nothing behind the couple but Nantucket Sound, a church ceremony in town followed by a reception on the water, and a grey, blustery day that makes for a quietly atmospheric film.
This is what we have learned about filming at Wychmere, told through Olivia and Julian, Caitlyn and Jacob, Hannah and Carson, and Sam and Khahnty.
Two waterfronts in one venue
The thing that makes Wychmere unusual is that it has two completely different backdrops a short walk apart. On one side is Wychmere Harbor, small, sheltered and full of moored boats. On the other is Nantucket Sound, open water all the way to the horizon. One reads as a harbour town; the other reads as the ocean. A film can use both.
The harbour side
Olivia and Julian did their first look on the lawn above the harbour, under a tree, with the boats behind them. From the club the harbour lies to the north-east, so in the late afternoon the sun is at your back as you look out over it, and it lights the boats and the far shore warmly rather than silhouetting them. That is exactly the light you want for a first look: flattering on faces, with a background that tells you where you are.
The Sound side
Three of our four couples married facing Nantucket Sound. Olivia and Julian’s ceremony was set on the lawn beside a low stone wall with the water beyond it. Hannah and Carson and Sam and Khahnty both married under arches of blue and white hydrangeas with nothing behind them but water and sky. It is as clean a ceremony backdrop as exists in New England: no buildings, no parked cars, just a horizon line.
The Sound lies to the south, so for a late-afternoon ceremony the sun sits off to one side rather than directly behind the couple or in the guests’ eyes. Side light like that gives faces shape, and it is one reason ceremonies here look so good on camera.
The club lists three event spaces — the Dune Room and Ocean Room, both with outdoor terraces or rooftop decks, and the indoor Harbor Room. The receptions in our films all took place in bright, white, window-lined rooms, which are lovely to film in: soft daylight through the windows early in the evening, and a room that holds warm light well once the sun goes down.
Wind: the thing to plan for
A ceremony on the open Sound will almost always have some wind. Sam and Khahnty’s veil caught the wind partway through their vows and streamed out across the ceremony, and on film it is one of the loveliest moments of the day. It is also a reminder that wind is the one thing on the coast that can take away your audio if nobody plans for it.
We film outdoor ceremonies on the Cape with wind protection on every microphone and a backup recorder on the officiant. If your officiant will be using a microphone, as at Sam and Khahnty’s ceremony, tell us early and we will take a clean feed as well. We wrote more about this in our guide to filming weddings on Cape Cod.
A grey day at Wychmere
Sam and Khahnty’s wedding day was overcast from start to finish, with a grey sky over a grey Sound. On paper that is the day every couple dreads. On film it is soft, even and moody, and their blue-and-white flowers and pale grey suits sit perfectly against it. Overcast light is kind to skin, it removes harsh shadows, and it means nobody squints through their vows.
If you are weighing the odds, we analysed thirty years of weather records to work out how often it actually rains on a wedding Saturday, including on the Cape. The short version: in July and September, about one Saturday in seven had enough rain to matter at the Hyannis weather station.
If you marry in church first
Caitlyn and Jacob married in a church before coming back to Wychmere for the reception, and their film moves between the two: the ceremony inside, then the harbour, the beach and a reception in a room full of light. If you are doing the same, plan for the drive, and plan for portraits when you arrive rather than on the way. The club is the backdrop you chose; use it.
From the air
Drone coverage is included in every one of our collections, where regulations allow, and Wychmere is one of the places it earns its keep. A single aerial shot shows the clubhouse, the beach, the harbour entrance and the Sound together, which is the whole sense of place in a few seconds. Hannah and Carson’s and Caitlyn and Jacob’s films both use one to set the scene.
The dunes at the end of the day
Every one of our four Wychmere films includes the beach or the dune paths near it. It is where Olivia and Julian ended up at dusk, veil catching the breeze, and where Hannah and Carson finish their film as a silhouette against the last of the sunset. A short walk from the reception, with beach grass and sand and an open sky, it is the most reliable golden-hour location we know on the Cape.
Sunset on Cape Cod comes a few minutes earlier than in Boston. Our month-by-month sunset table includes a Cape Cod column so you can plan your dune portraits to the minute.
Planning notes for a Wychmere Beach Club wedding
- Use both waterfronts. The harbour for your first look or portraits, the Sound for the ceremony. They look like two different places on film.
- Plan for wind, not rain. Tell us whether the ceremony will be amplified, and consider a veil and hairstyle that will enjoy the breeze.
- Leave twenty minutes for the dunes in the last half hour before sunset. Set it by the clock, not by feel.
- Ask about drone coverage early. It is included in all our collections, but it depends on conditions on the day.
- Do not fear an overcast forecast. A grey day at Wychmere can film beautifully, as Sam and Khahnty’s film shows.
Wychmere is one of the venues in our Cape Cod guide, and one we are always glad to go back to. You can watch more coastal weddings in our gallery, see what each collection includes, or tell us about your day.