Jeff Alexander & John Pletzke

September 8, 2012
The Jetties
Nantucket, Massachusetts

Photographs by Katie Kaizer Photography

Romance first bloomed between Jeff Alexander and John Pletzke at the office: The two met 15 years ago while working at Banana Republic’s San Francisco headquarters, where they quickly bonded over their mutual love of running. Four years later, Jeff and John registered as domestic partners and moved to Hingham. But it wasn’t until they adopted their son, Blake, in June 2010 that they thought about a formal wedding. “It was something we wanted to do not only for us, but for Blake,” John says. So at a family birthday party in Napa Valley last January, Jeff presented John with a photo album chronicling the major milestones of their relationship. The last page was a picture from a recent trip to Puerto Rico, where Jeff had secretly written in the sand: “Will you marry me?”

A Nantucket wedding was a no-brainer for the pair, who have spent every Labor Day weekend on the island for nearly a decade. John, who headed up the planning, chose the Jetties for its “casual, rustic” ambiance. “We didn’t want anything too precious,” Jeff says. “We just wanted it to be comfortable and fun.” In that spirit, John accented the space with wildflowers, lanterns, and an enormous farm table, where all 60 guests tucked into a New England clambake.

The couple says Blake, now three, was just as excited as his fathers were to celebrate the big day. At the end of their sunset ceremony, in fact, he turned to the audience and exclaimed, “We got married!”

The pair posed for photos on Jetties Beach. 

The Etsy artist Cyberoptix printed Blake’s red-and-gold bow tie.

“We wanted something we could wear in the sand and not have to change after the ceremony,” John says of their casual kicks.

The day after Jeff’s Napa Valley proposal, the couple picked out platinum bands at Derco Fine Jewelers, in San Francisco.

“The view was beautiful,” Jeff says of the venue. “It was strange because we could look out and see all the lightning and craziness happening on the mainland, while we had the most beautiful, calm weather.”

Flowers on Chestnut arranged hydrangeas, lisianthus, grasses, and freesia in vintage bottles and mason jars.

The long farm table was accented by hanging lanterns and lots of candles.

The couple commissioned Connecticut’s Mystic Knotwork to craft rope bracelets for guests.

THE FILE

Shoes: Tretorn and Converse
Bow Ties: Etsy (Blake), Brooks Brothers (John), and J.Crew (Jeff)
Favors: Goodwin Graphics and Social Graces
Cupcakes: Petticoat Row Bakery
Invitations: Megan Brett Khayali, Social Graces
Flowers: Flowers on Chestnut
DJ: Pete Ahern, Audio Architechs
Caterer: The Jetties

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