This review is long overdue: my fiance and I were married on July 17th at the Alerin Barn in St. Johnsbury. My budget was $20,000 and I came in around $17,000. Big factors for this: only 74 guests, there was only a maid of honor and best man in my wedding party, and I did A LOT of things on my own. This includes: table centerpieces, favors, hotel gift bags, table names/numbers, beverage purchasing. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at
pohlman312@gmail.com -Jenn Reynolds
The Alerin Barn: By far the best decision I made for my wedding day (besides marrying my husband) was choosing the Alerin Barn as my ceremony and reception site. The Barn's owner/coordinator, Christy Tomlinson, has made it her life's work to create perfect weddings. I had 74 guests and the Barn for a 5 hour time cost me $7100. The location is absolutely beautiful: a country inn, handcrafted barn, pond, fields, gardens, even an old sheep herder's "camp". Christy makes you feel as if your wedding is the only wedding occurring EVER at the Barn-making you happy and making the evening run smoothly is her number one priority.
Farmhouse Catering: Lisa runs a small cafe in Calais along with doing a wonderful job at catering. I met with her one cold Vermont afternoon to put together my wedding menu and she fed me and my mother an entire meal! Her professionalism and creativity in putting together my wedding day meal was outstanding. From the Vermont cheese spread for the cocktail hour to the variety of buffet choices for dinner, to the individual cupcakes for dessert. My menu choices were unique, simple, and extremely tasty.
Dona & Val Davis-Photography and DJ: The biggest draw to this husband and wife team was the fact that they had done several weddings at the Alerin Barn and they had a very affordable package deal. Honestly pictures were not important to me so I think some brides may not like the simple (not artsy) pictures I had taken by Dona. But her work was well done, efficient, and she accommodated me by coming to my rehersal dinner the night before the wedding. Her husband, Val, was easy to work with simply because he did exactly as I asked song wise: I asked for no country music and none was played. I sent him a playlist and he played the songs on the playlist. He also played the guitar during my ceremony which was a great, yet simple touch. I will admit that Val was not always the easiest to get a hold of, BUT Dona always responded for him via email or phone call.
I used Butler's Bus service to bring my guests to and from the Barn and their hotels (the Fairbanks and Comfort Inn in St. Johnsbury. Both gave discounted rates to my guests). All about Flowers in St. Jay was a very affordable florist: they made my bouquet and maid of honor bouquet for a little over $100. I made my own centerpieces of wildflowers and mason jars so I saved A LOT of $$ on those. My JOP was Suzanne Masland. She normally does ceremonies at the Inn at Mountain View but she was thrilled to come over to the Alerin Barn for my ceremony. I met with her once and she helped me to create a very simple, yet memorable ceremony. Finally, I bought my dress at Needleman's in Newport. Great selection, great prices. The women working there aren't the most helpful people in the world of dress buying, but I knew what I wanted the minute I walked in there so they didn't have much of a job to do.