Boston Celtics Point Guard Payton Pritchard Marries Emma MacDonald — and Blake Griffin Officiates! See the Photos

NBA player Payton Pritchard is married!

The Boston Celtics point guard, 26, tied the knot with YouTuber Emma MacDonald on Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Wychmere Beach Club in Harwich Port, Mass. The couple — who invited 257 loved ones to witness their big day — had a special assist from Pritchard's former teammate, retired NBA star Blake Griffin, who officiated the ceremony.

MacDonald, 23, tells PEOPLE that she and Pritchard opted for a "New England coastal" theme for their nuptials, inspired by her Cape Cod roots. She grew up in Dennis, Mass., and "always dreamt of having a coastal beach wedding."

The couple worked with wedding planners, who helped make pulling together all of the event details "so seamless."

"We didn’t find ourselves stressed at all," MacDonald recalls.

The festivities kicked off with a welcome party on Thursday at the Tiki Bar at The Ocean House in Dennis Port, followed by a rehearsal dinner on Friday, attended by only their respective wedding parties, parents, grandparents and officiant. The weekend wrapped up on Sunday with a casual pool party at the couple's home.

"We ended up having a three-day weekend to celebrate since we had so many out-of-town guests and we cannot complain — it was the best weekend ever!" MacDonald tells PEOPLE.

Attendees included NBA players Xavier Tillman, Jaden Springer, Sam Hauser, Jaylen Brown, Svi Mykhailiuk and Lamar Stevens, as well as Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck and his wife Emilia Fazzalari.

While MacDonald and Pritchard had a sizable guest list, they were keen to keep a sense of intimacy to their wedding celebration.

"We also made sure on our wedding day that we had many moments where Payton and I could take a step back and just enjoy it all, or have moments alone to connect," the bride explains.

One of those moments was exchanging vows with each other privately over coffee on the morning of their wedding, followed by "repeat after me vows" during their ceremony.

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MacDonald walked down the aisle to "Young and Beautiful" by Lana Del Rey, wearing a Vera Wang strapless, drop-waist gown with a tulle overskirt, which she says was "absolutely stunning" and made her feel "so beautiful." Her hair was styled in an elegant updo.

She later donned two additional looks — a "more simple and classy" Anne Barge gown for the reception, which she swapped for a Monique Lhuillier minidress for the afterparty.

After the ceremony, guests gathered at a cocktail hour, where they enjoyed passed hors d'oeuvres. A plated dinner followed, complete with slices of the newlyweds' three-tier red velvet cake.

Pritchard and MacDonald shared their first dance as husband and wife to the Jordan Davis song "Next Thing You Know."

All in all, MacDonald says their wedding day was "an absolute dream come true," adding, "Everything we envisioned came to life — it was truly so special."

The pair first connected on Instagram after Pritchard commented on one of MacDonald's posts. In a June 2023 YouTube video, MacDonald recalled to her followers that their relationship didn't progress after that, but they reconnected two years later on the dating app Raya in 2021. The pair met up in person soon after and then had their first date at Yvonne’s supper club in Boston.

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Pritchard popped the question on July 2, 2023, on MacDonald's favorite beach in Cape Cod. They shared a series of photos of their engagement on Instagram at the time, captioning the joint post, "A love for a lifetime."

Now that they are officially married, they are looking forward to starting a new chapter together.

"We’re most excited about having the person you love being there with you through your highest and lowest moments and growing together through anything," MacDonald says. "[Marriage] means committing to someone for the rest of your life, the person you love and will cherish forever, and go through all life events by each others side."

Pritchard tells PEOPLE that he admires MacDonald's confidence and hardworking spirit and the fact that "she is always there for me and has my back." For her part, MacDonald appreciates the athlete's "selfless, caring" nature.

"I’m lucky to get to see this side of him," she says. "He is truly the most loving person I know and would do absolutely anything for me and us as a couple."