Wedding Bell Blues

Well, it’s back to school time for Coach! So, what did we do on our summer vacation, you ask? Opened up a vintage shop in The Barn at Todd Farm.

Spent two glorious weeks touring the UK and Ireland. Didn’t get a chance to visit with the queen, but her house is quite lovely : )

Plus, we celebrated my milestone birthday and announced our daughter’s wedding engagement! Woo Hoo! Let the wedding planning begin! Admittedly, I have been thinking about this for quite some time. After all, what mother doesn’t dream of the perfect wedding for their daughter? But I have to say that I was not quite prepared for the amount of traveling, viewing and decision-making this past weekend just to secure a venue for the summer of 2015. When Coach and I asked where my daughter and her fiancé would like to have their wedding, their response was “anywhere along the ocean from Maine to Rhode Island.” Yikes.

When you grow up along the coast, the stunning blue hues of the shimmering ocean as a perfect wedding backdrop seems the obvious choice. BUT, that’s quite a span of coastline to cover in just a few days, so we did our best and came up with a couple of obvious front runners. Friday we drove north, “down Maine” as the natives call it, along the coastal route through Wells, York, Ogunquit, Kennebunkport and Portland. Yes, we did. There were the quintessential New England venues like Union Bluff in York

and The Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport.

In Portland, we discovered The State Theatre,

a very cool turn-of-the-century movie theatre with no outdoor views. Next we ventured to the Portland Regency, a downtown hotel with a spectacular roof top deck at 25 Pearl Street

with amazing views of the Portland harbor.

All fantastic, each with its own quirky and charming selling points. Day two, we ventured to the South Shore and Cape Cod. Since we had vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard for many summers over the years, we had often discussed that as the wedding destination of choice. But since many, many of our guests will be flying in from around the world, we decided that asking them to land in Boston, then drive to the Cape, then board a ferry to the island seemed a bit much to ask. So, we are sticking to mainland America. What did we discover on Saturday’s southbound trip? There was the absolute Cape Cod charm of The Popponesset,

the tented venue on the dunes in Mashpee-I mean, have you ever seen a bluer blue sky??

Then, The Sea Crest Beach Hotel in Falmouth,

featuring bright Orange-Crush-colored umbrellas scattered down the beach as a contrast to the deep blues of the ocean and sky, a “bubble room” on a golf course in Onset (not on the ocean, but still quite beautiful)

and the White Cliffs Country Club in Plymouth,

literally perched on a cliff with the most spectacular ocean vistas

I have seen in a very long time. Not surprisingly, many of these venues had very few dates still available for the summer of 2015! But since we have teachers and students who will be traveling and attending the nuptials, July & August are it. So we need to move quickly in order to secure our spot or we will be blue! Do you have a favorite in this bunch?? And do you have any other suggestions, north or south of the city of Boston? Speak now or forever hold your peace : ) Have a terrific Thursday, everyone! We’ll keep you posted! Susan