I have been stressing out lately, worrying about silly things like what kind of chairs to use (could they have uglier banquet chairs?) and whether or not my FI's snotty extended (not immediate) family will enjoy the wedding.
But now I feel so much better...
I almost screamed at my desk when I saw this link posted on Wedding Gawker today (besides Style Me Pretty, it's my go-to wedding inspiration blog). When I looked at the pictures, I nearly teared up. It's (like so much of the Finger Lakes and Central New York) beautiful! Lesson learned: I'm not going to sweat the small stuff anymore.
For your enjoyment and inspiration:
http://www.clarkwalkerstudio.com/blog/wedding-photos/ventosa-vineyards-wedding
Re: Ventosa girls
Rachael, your hometown has so much to offer! It's a great location for us because so many of our guests are coming from out of town, and many are planning to make a long weekend out of it.
I've never seen pictures of Ventosa before -- it's so gorgeous! You ladies will all have beautiful weddings!
http://www.lauriedirkx.com/PortraitsReunions/Carla/18445703_zvvqHQ#1422791592_cFmzTqf
Chelesa thanks for the links. I love seeing pictures of the venue. I have 17 days and Im starting to worry about all the little details. But I keep remembering how beautiful the venue is and how I dont need all the little details.
Is anyone else getting married on the Terrace?
I just started looking into and, holy crap, they are so much more expensive than I anticipated.
To re-introduce myself - My name is Kara and my fiance's name is Jay. We are getting married August 18th, 2012 at Ventosa. We currently live in Ithaca. :-) So far we have booked the DJ, photographer, Hair & make up artist, and looked into some string quartets for the ceremony.
Chelsea, those pictures are beautiful that you found and I'm glad to know that I am not the only one that goes online and tries to stalk ventosa weddings! My fiance will constantly ask me what I'm doing when he sees me browsing photographers websites since we already have one booked and I'm just like Oh yea seeing who got married at ventosa over the weekend! haha
It seems like you all are having your ceremony at Ventosa too, which is great since we are as well! Kim - are you definitely getting a tent? My mom is trying to convince me that we need to get one, but I am just not sure that it's worth it. I don't plan on having a very long ceremony so I don't feel like we'll be using it long enough. Are you planning on doing anything else under the tent or just using it for your ceremony? Chelsea- are you getting a tent? Smclardy - you mentioned you're getting married on the terrace. How many people are you expecting to have? I know I talked about this with RJ, but couldn't remember how many he said could fit seated on the terrace.
Chelsea- are you looking for a religious officiant? We're meeting with an officiant from the Ithaca area next week, but she is a humanist celebrant. My family is Jewish and my fiance's family is Catholic. His family is not very religious, where my family does practice our religion, but not very strictly. Although, my fiance's family isn't relgiious, I felt bad just having a rabbi because I felt like than my religion was dominating his. Long story short - if you are looking for someone that is religion neutral let me know and I'll send you her info! :-)
My big question is lodging! My family is from Buffalo and his is from Long Island, therefore all of our guests will be coming in from out of town! I have wedding blocks set up a couple of the Geneva hotels, but I am getting worried that it will not be enough. Do you guys have any other places set up for guests to stay in the area - B&Bs, houses, etc?
Also - when is everyone getting married? smclardy - I noticed yours is coming up soon! You must be so excited! I'm sure everything is going to be beautiful :-)
Thanks for your help girls! I can't wait to really buckle down and do some serious planning and to hear about all of your wedding plans! :-)
If you're looking for other string quartets, check out the Angelicus String Quartet. They're based out of Rochester but do many Finger Lakes weddings.
I'm not getting a tent. While having a ceremony on the lawn is ideal, I'm completely fine with doing it on the terrace. I can't remember exactly how many RJ said the terrace could fit, but we're expecting 150ish and that wasn't a problem.
Please send me the officiant's info! We're looking for anyone that is a good fit for us, religious or not.
Like you the majority of our guests are coming from out of town. We have blocks at the Hampton and Ramada. We're going to send Save the Dates in October (for our September wedding) and encourage people to book as soon as they can. Both hotels said we could monitor it and add rooms when those fill. We're also going to let people know about B&Bs, etc. The only thing is that we're hoping to provide transportation for everyone between the Hampton/Ramada and Ventosa, so those people would be out of luck.
Thank you! I'm glad to be back :-)
For a DJ - we're going with Finger Lakes Entertainment;
For a photographer - we booked Modern Photographies. She is an art teacher in Buffalo and does the photorgraphy as her hobby. My mom had a friend that used her for her daughter's wedding and they loved her! http://www.modernphotographie.com/Site/home.html
For hair & makeup - I booked glam on location. http://glamonlocation.com/
That is actually one of the string quartets that I contacted! I listened to their music on their website and LOVED it! We haven't decided whether or not to do it yet. When we originally met with the DJ we had decided just to have him do all the cermeony stuff, but once I started listening to music online, they all sounded so beautiful and I thought it would look really nice for the ceremony... so we'll see!
I would love to have the ceremony on the lawn, but my mom's whole issue that she is using to fight me on getting a tenet is the weather. I told her that I would plan for the lawn and then if the weather didn't cooperate, we could move to the terrace. But she doesn't think that the terrace will provide enough shelter if it were to rain. I really don't want to plan for rain because I don't want that to happen!! Good to know that at least 150 can fit. I'm not sure how many we will end up with since it is out of town, but it should be around that.
The officiant that we're meeting with is Barbara Behrmann. She works at a event planning company so if anyone needs any assistance with that, they may also be able to help you! http://www.ceremoniesandevents.com/about.html
Same deal with us. We have the rooms booked at the Ramada and Hampton. I was hoping to send the Save the Dates out by the end of this month/ begninng of September, but unfortunately the weekend that I had saved for engagement pictures something came up with the photographer and so I've been trying to coordinate with her to do another weekend, but unfortunately that means they are now behind. I was hoping to use one of the pictures on the STD. So I will probably end up just calling family and having them pass the word around until the STDs can go out. We would also really like to have a shuttle for guests staying at those hotels. Have you looked into any places yet. I am worried to see what the price of that will be! Ideally, I would just want the shuttle for before the ceremony to bring guests there and then after to bring them back starting at a reasonable time. I'm worried they will charge for the whole time in between and I don't want to pay their driver to sit in the parking lot. A friend suggested that if they try and do that, just book two different companies. One for before the ceremony and one for at the end of the night! haha
When is your wedding? :-)
I haven't really dug into shuttles yet, but from what I've seen they do charge for the whole time, which in our case would be 7+ hours. It's something we really have to think about over the next couple months. Not going to lie, I like your friend's idea!
Our wedding is 9/8/12.
[QUOTE]T But she doesn't think that the terrace will provide enough shelter if it were to rain.
Posted by Ksobien1[/QUOTE]
I had thought about that as well, but a tent becomes an issue then too. It will most likely be set up on the lawn in front of the house which is a little bit of a walk from the parking lot through grass which could be soggy.
Either way, rain isn't good, so I'm hoping for beautiful weather for all of us!
Yea, that's what I was worried about with the shuttles! If we can find two companies that are close enough to do it, I think that may be the way to go! It's sneaky, but really we shouldn't have to pay for what we don't need or won't be using! I'll let you know what I find when I start researching places to call.
I hadn't even thought about that issue with the tent and rain! That would be quite the soggy walk :-( Agreed - rain is NO good! I hope we all luck out with the weather as well. Yesterday was a beautiful day out so I hope next year is just as great! Another question about the ceremony - did anyone ele get sticker shock over the fact that chairs for the ceremony are $4 a chair? That adds up quickly! I was wondering if anyone had thought about or looked into renting chairs from an outside company to see how the prices compare?
September 8th should be beautiful! Maybe you'll even get some of the leaves changing by then! I was hoping to set the date for the weekend after that (9/15), but unfortunately there is a Jewish holiday that falls on that Sunday and my mom was worried that would affect people from wanting to travel.
Have you chosen anyone for your cake? I had been doing some research on cakes, but then last month I found out that I have celiacs diseas so now I am contemplating what to do.... I want to be able to eat my own wedding cake!! So I was thinking as alternate of maybe having a regular baker do cupcakes for the guests and finding a gluten free baker to make a small tiered cake for us to use for pictures and to eat because I can imagine that making anything gluten free will be a lot more expensive! :-(
Susan, whew! I wonder if people will be setting up for you while we're there. I'll stay out of their way! Good luck with making a time line.
FI talked to the owner of Big D's Limos out of Auburn and they're willing to provide shuttle transportation (a 14-seat bus or a 22, I think) for an hour before the ceremony and an hour after the reception for $540, which includes the tip!
My FI's mother is marrying us. She is a pastor. If anyone wants her information just PM me. She is based out of Rome NY and travels.
I did the room blocks at the hampton inn geneva, holiday inn seneca falls and microtell seneca falls. My family is staying at the lake house the owner of Ventosa (Meg) rents. We also rented out thewilliamsmithinn for the bridal party and the groom and I will be staying there the night of the wedding. The inn keeper, Theresa, is amazing. Super helpful and extremely friendly.
Has anyone found any usual transportation methods? Im really interested in a unique car to take us home at the end of the night. Right now we dont have any transportation booked.
[QUOTE]RJ is awesome. That is all. : )
Posted by smclardy[/QUOTE]
Any reason in particular? Or just in general? :)
Good luck with your final week of planning and all the last-minute details! I'm so looking forward to hearing about your wedding and seeing pictures!
Thanks. Im getting really nervous about the wedding. Only 6 days to go.