I got married in mid-September, so this is very late, but I wanted to post reviews of our vendors—they were all absolutely wonderful and deserve recognition for their hard work! Our wedding certainly would not have gone as smoothly as it did or been as relaxing and fun without having such professional and well-organized vendors. We got married in the White Mountains in NH and our vendors came from all over the NH, VT, and ME area.
Venue: The Rocks Estate in Bethlehem, NH
We had both our ceremony and reception here. It is a beautiful, natural setting and your money goes to support the New Hampshire Forest Society. We were able to use the grounds the entire weekend for set-up, the rehearsal, and for welcoming friends and family in the days before the wedding. The staff was helpful, but with a great, easy-going attitude that kept everything low-key and relaxed.
Caterer: Harvest Moon Catering in Saxtons River, VT
My husband and I love great food and wine, so having the right caterer was critical to having the wedding we wanted. I feel very fortunate to have found Harvest Moon—Sarah and James were professional, but also friendly and willing to work with us to make sure the meal was exactly what we wanted. We had a family style dinner at banquet tables, which their staff handled flawlessly. They even made a trip to the local farmer’s market to get fresh salad greens for the day and they were more than willing to work with our desire to have as much organic and local food as possible. As one of my bridesmaids said, the food was “ridiculously good” and got the “best wedding food ever” rating from several guests. And, all of this was for a very reasonable price.
Tent, etc: Abbott Rental in Littleton, NH
Abbott Rental had worked at The Rocks before, so they were a big help in knowing where all the outlets were, exactly what supplies we needed and where to set up the tent. We supplied pretty much everything for the wedding, from silverware to tables and chairs, so having a well-organized rental company that could help us cover all our bases was essential.
Flowers: Emily and Andrea Detterman in Kennebunk, ME
Emily and Andrea are actually my new sisters-in-law, so we got some special treatment on the flowers. But they are professional florists and deserve mention for doing an incredible job with the flowers—they chose flowers from a local, sustainable grower and created unique arrangements that captured the colors of late summer and also the feel of the rustic, outdoors setting.
Photographer: Daniel Nystedt of Nystedt Photography
I can’t say enough about how professional Daniel was. He did a great job capturing candid moments and the outdoors setting. We had some formal photographs, which he did quickly and then got on with the fun, informal photos that we wanted. After the wedding, he had the photos edited and posted online within a couple of weeks and sent us a CD with all the original images.
DJ: Jeff at Soundrock Entertainment in Panton, VT
Jeff did exactly what we wanted—he kept the party going, with minimal announcements and helped us organize all the dances and speeches so that the evening went beautifully. The dance floor was full pretty much all night, which, to me, is a sign of a great DJ.
Cake: Kathie Girouard in Lisbon, NH
We had three different types of cake, with our main cake being carrot cake. It was delicious. My cake set up was a little unusual, but Kathie worked with it without any problems and even went out of her way to get us a sample cake before the wedding.
String Band: Mountain Aire Strings
We wanted some live string music for the ceremony and cocktail reception and found Mountain Aire Strings online. They were wonderful and worked with us to pick the right ceremony music and played beautifully during the ceremony and cocktail hour.
Housing: Bishop Farm Bed & Breakfast in Lisbon, VT
The wedding was a bit of a destination wedding, since neither my husband’s family nor my family live nearby. We were incredibly lucky to find Bishop Farm as a place to call home base for the weekend—the inn has several rooms in the house and also some adorable cabins that we used for friends and family members who wanted some more privacy during the weekend. We came and went as needed and the ladies of Bishop Farm could not have done more to make us feel welcome. We also hosted our rehearsal dinner here at the picnic tables out back.