first official CHECK!!!!

bmetz34

went to the Branford House to show my mom the place and put my deposit down!!! feeling a little relieved that it's official, even though Katherine was so nice and penciled us in until we made the trip to see the place.  I love it there and it was so sunny today!  I will pray for good weather from now til next august!

kls114

Awesome check!! Congrats!

markandlaura112

Congrats! That's such a great check!

Alicia Bride

Yay! It looks gorgeous!

calindi

Yay another Branford House bride!!! What's your date?

TBee99

Yay Branford House brides!!!

bmetz34

august 11, 2012.... seems so far away!  we were originally thinking april so that's why we were looking to book soon, but there was a conflict with my cousin's wedding so we bumped it to summer.  Calindi- I saw some of your other vendors in a different post, we're going to meet DJ melee in a couple weeks! I have talked to a bunch of caterers and I think we're set there if you need any info!

blipsettpr

Congrats!!

tashala107

Congratulations! Great check!!

Melissa603

Congratulations! It is so exciting to book the venue and to finally have the date set

calindi

Bmetz - yes please! I'm trying to meet Jason (DJ Melee) while I'm up over Easter, but if not let me know how it goes!!! I'd have similar questions as it's for the Same venue! Are you having your ceremony there too? I'll PM you my email (you, too, TBee). I feel like as we are all getting married at the same place within a month of each other, it'll be helpful to keep in contact!

bmetz34

wow i didn't realize all our weddings were at the same place and so close together time-wise!! Definitely pM me or email me at honeeb34 at aol dot com and i'll fill you in on some of the ground work I did on caterers.  There were two it came down to and the one we're going with is basically b/c it was a couple thousand cheaper... if I had some more $ to work with I think I might've gone with the other one, but I really appreciate that we gave these guys our budget and they made a menu that worked for us instead of coming in $2-3,000 over.  It was so cool seeing the Branford house all set up for a wedding yesterday.  They were having their ceremony in the west room and the reception in the main room.  Are you thinking about doing your dance floor on the patio? That crossed my mind but I dont know about renting a dance floor and tent budget wise.  Can't wait to talk more!

TBee99

Calindi-Sounds great! 

bemetz-Who are you thinking of going with for a caterer?

calindi

Yay! My photographer was actually photographing that wedding, so if you wanna see pics, stalk alexissteinphoto.com - they should be up this week or next! I was super excited cuz it was my photog, my venue, and a military wedding (Air Force, I think?). My guy will likely be in his Marine dress blues! Yes, we're going to have the dance floor either on the patio or have a tent on the grass for dancing. I love the idea of dancing outside!!! But in August that can be a crapshoot if it will be too humid... I'm hoping that by Sept 1 at least the evenings I'll have cooled off a bit!

bmetz34

they're called David Alan Catering.  They seemed great when we met them and they made a mean chocolate chip cookie.  We're doing a tasting in April.  The other one we really liked was Catering by Christine.  They seemed very all inclusive.

Soon2BeMrsTing

Great check! Congrats!

TBee99

bmetz- We just met with them too and liked them a bunch! They are our top contenders right now for sure!

calindi

We're thinking of David Alan, too!  Glad to hear such good reviews!  We're actually going to need a caterer for the rehearsal dinner and a day-after BBQ, so I'm hoping we'll be able to negotiate a good deal since if we do it all with one caterer, that's a lot of business!

You girls might know better than me... do any of the hotels, yacht clubs, vineyards, or something else in the area have a nice room you can rent (for cheap, hopefully) where we could have the rehearsal dinner with 25 people?  My guy has his heart set on a New England clam bake, so I thought it would be easiest to have it catered!

Also, we want to have a field day the following day with kickball and family activities (like egg toss, 3-legged race, etc.).  Any idea on parks in the Groton/New London area that would be good for this?  Ideally one where we can rent a pavillion to set up the BBQ?

TBee99

From what I heard in our meeting, David does that a bunch (rehearsal dinner + wedding), so I think he would give you a deal.

Would you be opposed to a restaurant? There are some in Mystic and Old Saybrook that I am pretty sure do clambakes. I would stay away from the vineyards though. Most of them charge HUGE site fees.

McCook's in Niantic has a pavilion I know you can rent. You might also want to try Ocean Beach in New London and Rocky Neck State Park in East Lyme. I would stay away from New London parks...some of them are quite sketchy and illegal activity goes on there. I'm not sure, but Washington Park in Groton might have a pavilion, too.

calindi

TBee, thank you so very much!  No, we're not opposed to a restaurant - it's just Labor Day Weekend, so it might be tough, but I'm definitely willing to give it a shot!

I'll check out McCooks while I'm up over Easter.  Yay!!!  Rocky Neck State Park is not too far away, either.

TBee99

You are welcome. I'm a local of the area, so let me know if I can help! McCook's is nice, right around the corner from our chapel actually. It has a beach, and a nice lawn area where you can play games, plus a playground for kids.

bmetz34

Calindi-for your field day, Ive been to a park in the area, I think it's called Harkness State park, we played horseshoes and there are picnic tables and grills there, and its right near the water.  It's the property that Eolia Mansion is on, another popular wedding spot in the area.  I was there for a big birthday party, some people were having family reunions, seemed big enough that no one was crowded.  And I think I remember a bathroom building too.