Island Community

View from Little Cranberry.

The rehearsal dinner at The Neighborhood House.

A whole buncha heart rocks.

Cranberry Cove Ferry.

Island flowers being arranged for the tables.

Every last one!

Kaitlyn's bouquet, made of island dahlias.

Ann & Chick Carroll of Topsham officiated.

Marian Baker & Ian Anderson, ceramic artists and professors at MECA. Marian owns Islesford Pottery where Kaitlyn works in the summer.

The cake adorned with island cranberries.

The cake plates.

The groom with a broom after the farewell brunch!

My daughter Kaitlyn's wedding was a beautiful community collaboration. I can only give you a smattering of an idea about how the island community and family and friends pitched in to make her wedding the sweet old timey event that it was. Here are just a few of the ways:

• Many islanders rented out their summer homes for the weekend guests at greatly reduced prices.
  
• The Neighborhood House opened its doors to all who were on the island for the weekend and lent their space for the rehearsal dinner, and the farewell brunch, two delicious buffets that were lovingly prepared for us by my son-in-law Cory's mother and aunts.
  
• The Cranberry Cove Ferry reduced its fares for wedding guests.
  
• The island let us use The Town Field for the wedding, free of charge.
  
• Several women on the island rose early on the morning of the wedding and grabbed drywall buckets to gather flowers from gardens all over Little Cranberry to make the bride's bouquet, the corsages, and to fill all the vases for the tables.
  
• The Islesford Dock Restaurant loaned dishes and silverware for the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, and the farewell brunch.

• Several men on the island washed dishes, set up tables, fetched coolers, greeted people at the dock and shepherded them to their lodgings, etc.
  
• Aunts, cousins and siblings helped to fold napkins and arrange flowers.

• Family and friends helped to decorate the cake plates that were given out as favors.

• The cake was made by one island woman as her gift to Kaitlyn & Cory, and she decorated it with cranberries from the island.

• All the bread was baked by another island woman as a gift to K & C.
  
• Another island woman taught Cory how to waltz so that he could dance with his bride at the wedding.
  
• The couple who officiated at the wedding gave their services as a gift to Cory & Kaitlyn.
  
• Another couple made goodie bags for the ferry ride to give to the guests who came over for the day, and the gentleman of this couple played his accordion for folks as they came off the dock!
  

Ok, ok, I'll stop. I think I've made my point about the strength of the community on Little Cranberry Island.

But Kaitlyn and I have had many conversations about how tight the community is on an island and how difficult that can be to recreate here on the mainland. I felt the same tight community when I spent time on Monhegan. It is a rare and wonderful thing.