The Locusts are coming!

katidecaire

Are you having an outdoor spring wedding? 

My wedding will be June 1st at the the Mandana Barn in Skaneateles and we planned to have an outdoor ceremony. I was mortified to find out today that this spring marks the emergence of the Brood II Cicadas (17 year locusts). I don't remember this happening in my childhood but it sounds terrible! These nasty bugs are huge, noisy, gross, and such a nuisance. When they die their bodies litter the ground and begin to rot and smell. And they will be coming by the billions! Anyone remember the last time the Brood II Cicadas emerged in 1996 in CNY? 

The reason we chose the Mandana Barn is because of its rustic beauty and the huge barn doors that swing open. Now I fear that if we have the doors open the locusts will infest the barn during dinner and our reception (and its basically a given that they'll be there for the outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour).I feel like I'm spending all this money to make this day perfect and now it's going to be far from that. 

Favoritemandms

My wedding is not until September, but I have been mourning the cicada invasion for a few weeks now particularly for showers and other events.
First of all - please do not worry about the Cicada invasion INSIDE the barn.  I was in high school for the last invasion and they rarely came inside, even with windows and doors open.  Also, cicadas are ugly, loud, and a nuisance, but they are harmless.  I would seriously recommend calling the Mandana barn for your own reassurance.  As my mother just reminded me, they don't hit all areas and yards.  You can find out from the Mandana barn how bad they got hit 17 years ago and how they handled it. 
A friend sent me this to try to shed some humor on this.  http://www.cicadamania.com/wedding.html
I feel for you believe me, but cicadas are NOT going to ruin your day.

katidecaire

Thank you so much for your reassurance and advice! It means the world to me right now. The Cicadas sound so horrible so it's nice to get a perspective from someone who witnessed the last invasion. I lived in Canada before so maybe thats why I don't remember them? I'll be calling the Mandana this evening to see what kind of info we can gather. On the upside, I did look at the Brood II map and it looks as if CNY is right on the edge of their territory, they seem to be most concentrated further to the west. 

cnf2013

There's reports that they're already emerging in a few other states and they expect them to start emerging soon here and be gone by the end of May. I remember the last time the came out and I lived in Syracuse and they weren't as bad there. You should end up okay. 

And FYI, cicadas and locusts are so not the same thing. 

katidecaire

I guess that's good news! Thank you for your input. I'm glad to know they weren't all that bad in this area. I do know that cicadas and locusts are not the same thing, but everyone I ask is like "what in the world is a cicada?" Seems as if lots of people know them better as locusts even though they are not.