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Semper Fidelis, Always Faithful

The Bride: Amber Holombo
The Groom: Ethan Ketola
Wedding Date: September 18, 2010
Venue: Private Home

Amber Holombo and Ethan Ketola didn’t pick August 15, 2009, as their wedding day just because it would mean celebrating in the warm, typically gorgeous days of late summer in New England. Instead, it carried special significance as Ethan’s last day as a member of the Marines. This day signified an end to all those long stretches of time spent away from one another, and Amber couldn’t think of a more symbolic setting for him to come home to than a classic country wedding in her parents’ sweeping backyard in New Hampshire.
Theme – Fruit of Their Labor
The bride and groom used classic summer peaches as a colorful and delicious symbol throughout their event. They decorated the tables with the fruit, which popped elegantly from the white china settings. The guests were given delicious, local donut peaches as favors, and the warm pink shade of the fruit filled out the color scheme with the ivory flower arrangements and soft blue bridesmaids’ dresses.
The Dress – Quick Work
As soon as she got engaged, Amber began thinking about her wedding dress. “Gorgeous white gowns began whirling through my mind,” she remembers. But after all the dreaming, it didn’t take long for her to find the right fit. One trip to Madeleine’s Daughter in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Amber had found the dress of her dreams: a Jacquelin Exclusive strapless dress with a chapel-length train and horizontal layers cascading from top to bottom.
Flowers – Family DIY
As if planning a wedding isn’t enough to tackle, Amber knew that she wanted to do all of her own flowers. She created unforgettable arrangements with the help of her mother and sisters. Delicious white roses in vintage containers were interspersed with playful white spider mums in tall glass vases. The bouquets were white dahlias with peach, blush, and orange roses and a touch of hypericum berries.
Menu – Summer Cookout
Amber was determined to blend a classy event with a down-home comfortable feel, so she developed a menu that was essentially a fancy twist on a classic summer cookout. The menu read like your favorite summer meal: barbecue chicken, twice-baked potatoes, rice pilaf with cranberries, sugar rolls, and homemade peach iced tea to wash it all down.
Photography – Artistic Vision
Amber searched high and low for a photographer with the right amount of style and creativity. Liesl Clark fit the bill in spades. Take, for example, the vintage velvet couch Clark set up outside on the grounds to add a fun element to the classic bridal party and family portraits. For all the creativity though, what Amber truly appreciated was Clark’s consistent contact in the months before the wedding.
Photography – Artistic Vision
Amber searched high and low for a photographer with the right amount of style and creativity. Liesl Clark fit the bill in spades. Take, for example, the vintage velvet couch Clark set up outside on the grounds to add a fun element to the classic bridal party and family portraits. For all the creativity though, what Amber truly appreciated was Clark’s consistent contact in the months before the wedding.
A Lasting Memory – In Uniform
For Amber, the most stressful part of planning their wedding was that Ethan was stationed in North Carolina right up until their wedding date. There was so much she wanted to share with him along the way and this made having him there, waiting for her under the arbor that day, all the more meaningful. They hadn’t seen each other prior to the ceremony. “The anticipation was almost unbearable, but absolutely worth every second.” Amber recalls. When she finally saw him waiting there for her in his dress blues, she was overwhelmingly proud and honored to soon be able to call him her husband. Later, that uniform would come in handy; they used Ethan’s saber to cut the cake.
A Lasting Memory – In Uniform
For Amber, the most stressful part of planning their wedding was that Ethan was stationed in North Carolina right up until their wedding date. There was so much she wanted to share with him along the way and this made having him there, waiting for her under the arbor that day, all the more meaningful. They hadn’t seen each other prior to the ceremony. “The anticipation was almost unbearable, but absolutely worth every second.” Amber recalls. When she finally saw him waiting there for her in his dress blues, she was overwhelmingly proud and honored to soon be able to call him her husband. Later, that uniform would come in handy; they used Ethan’s saber to cut the cake.