De-lurking to Say Hello

joules12

Hi all!I've been checking in on this board for a bit now, but wanted to actually say hello.  My wedding is planned for 11 Sept 10 and will be held in Oakland, ME.  The wedding location (ceremony & reception) is Alden Camps -- an 'American Plan' resort situated along a lake.  After Labor Day, the Camp allows for events such as weddings to be held on their property.I'm planning my Maine wedding from New Jersey (southern) -- yup, I'm a flatlander!  My family's been vacationing near Belgrade Lakes since my mom was young and that tradition has continued through the generations -- hence my complete and utter love for the state.  My parents, along with several other family members, now spend their summers in ME and my brother/sister-in-law live there year-round.  Because I have quite a few folks who will be near my wedding site in the months leading up to it, I should have a decent amount of help orchestrating the shindig.  However, I'm really hoping that I'll be able to find additional planning assistance from you ladies -- especially with vendor searches/reviews. I look forward to more conversation over the coming months!Take care,Jen

angeliza

OMG I'm so excited to see your post! I grew up in Oakland and my wedding was this past September 12th on Great Pond in Rome at Jamaica Point Lodge! The same day I got married, a guy I went to elementary school with got married at Alden Camps. I checked out Alden Camps as well and loved it, but Jamaica Point Lodge was my husband's pick so we went with that. Please feel free to let me know if there is anything I can help with. I'm obviously super familiar with the area and local vendors, etc. Happy planning!!

joules12

Oh, that's so cool!  Thanks so much for your reply!  We actually checked out Jamaica Point Lodge also -- what an amazing view and gorgeous place!!!  I contacted a few of the ski rests also, but realized that my heart really was set on being near a lake.  A few of my family members occasionally go over to Alden Camps for dinner -- they've raved about the place, so I decided to look into whether they host weddings.  I'm so excited to have it there!  Did your friend have a positive experience at AC?  Any things for me to be aware of?  We're pretty laid-back about the whole event, so AC should work well for us.Most of my family is over in Vienna and Mt. Vernon -- our plan is to get ready at their camps and do our "first look"/pre-wedding photos over there before we head to AC.I am SO psyched to have made contact with you, as I will certainly have questions and will appreciate your first-hand knowledge of the area!  Did you have everyone stay at JPL, or did any OOT guests stay in hotels?  I will likely block some rooms at one of the Waterville hotels (unfortunately, I don't think that all of our OOT guests are up for the cabin experience).  I also need to start checking out music options...we are leaning towards musicians for the ceremony (1 or 2 people, acoustic, perhaps some bluegrass influence) and a DJ for the remainder of the wedding (I thought that I might try to find someone through Colby or UMF, since I'd like some more unusual music mixed in with the popular stuff).  If you know of anyone who might fit the bill for either of these, feel free to pass along their info!Looks like you got married the same weekend that we'll be getting married -- good stuff!  I was a bit hesitant about the whole Sept 11th deal...but my mom was worried that, with every passing week, we increased our risk of needing heaters.FYI...my email is jbgifford at gmail dot com

angeliza

If this year is any indication, it can get COLD early so I say the weekend of Sept. 11th is a good bet. Sept. 11th was the day before my wedding and while we were setting up we had the radio on and they kept playing all these flashback clips of Sept. 11th and it drove me crazy so I put in a CD instead. But on your wedding day you'll be too busy to watch tv or listen to the radio, so I'm sure you won't have any reminders. I'm honestly not sure how my friend's experience was with AC, he moved away after elementary school so I haven't actually seen or talked to him in about 12 years, but my mom heard about it through the grapevine. If you're a laid back type, AC will be perfect for you. I've only ever been there to check it out as a possibility for the wedding so I don't know a whole lot about it, but I've heard the food there is awesome. If I find anything out from others who have been there, I'll pass it along!We had our whole bridal party stay at Jamaica Point Lodge which took up all the bedrooms, and there were a few guests who over-indulged and fell asleep on the couches downstairs or the hammocks outside, but other than that I don't know if many out of town guests ended up staying nearby. Actually about 80% of our guest list were locals. I know a few of our aunts and uncles were planning to stay at Bear Spring Camps which is right on the same road as JPL, but we also gave people the info for The Hampton Inn in Waterville in case anyone wasn't up for the camp experience like you said. For our ceremony we had an acoustic guitarist who played and sang a few things for about a half hour before the ceremony and then played my processionals and accompanied my 2 bridesmaids who sang during the ceremony. He was wonderful and so easy to work with. I'm not sure what he charges because he was a friend of my aunt's and she hired him for me as a wedding present, but you can contact him at my49desoto@hotmail.com if you are interested at all. My dj was Mike Davis of Mike Davis Entertainment. I was nervous about this because I couldn't find any reviews of him online, he doesn't have a website or anything, but my dad knew him and hired him for me and he was phenomenal. He was only $300 (I think that may have been a deal because my dad knew him) but his music library was fantastic. He is completely accommodating to whatever style of music you like, he is a great master of ceremonies and just a really nice guy in general. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me at liza_bonnell @ yahoo.com!!!

jaimebeth9

Hi & welcome!!

MiniMin20

Welcome to the board! Feel free to ask about anything -- the ladies here are great!

jgreg29

Hi! I'm another Jen who has never lived in Maine but whose family has lived or vacationed there for a long time. I checked out your venue and it looks awesome! But, my wedding was at an "American Plan" family-camp resort too. Just in Boothbay Harbor not Belgrade Lakes. ;-) I can't wait to hear about all your plans!