Start with the gown.......

Imagine your beautiful day, and the excitement of getting ready is making you feel like you're walking on a cloud! All those weeks and months of planning have come together and now all your family and friends are together to help you celebrate. Blue Sky Weddings will make sure it all comes together the way you want. 

These are Essence of Australia wedding gowns - what is your style and dream wedding?

Swallows Nest

So you would like a place to get away from it all… Close  enough to Brandon and 20 min. from  Middlebury...Swallows Nest offers you plenty of room to spread out......

Snow White's gown on "Once Upon a Time".....Fairy tale Princess Snow meets Prince Charming. I like her better with longer hair.......Just the first piece of the puzzle.....

 The Turner Farmhouse is located in North Hero Island. It's a good hour and 1/2 from Burlington and if you want to escape to some privacy for a wedding or family reunion, it is a perfect spot. Make sure you prepare lists of items you'll need because you are not close to anything - Swanton is 1/2 an hour away and then St. Albans. The farmhouse is a bed and breakfast, so some of your guests can stay there. Others can camp there, your guests can rent other houses nearby, and some cottage rentals are also near by. A tent will be needed to have a reception and the kitchen is laid out well for catering.

I was down at Basin Harbor on a beautiful day last week and I came across a really nice Escape for dinner cruise on Lake Champlain. The food there is awesome and the staff is very accommodating.Lots of weddings there this summer and autumn with lots of beautiful gardens.

Last thursday I had a wonderful lunch on the spirit of Ethan Allen. I met with Sarah Chasee their wedding coordinator. I also met the new chef Steve Beaulieau from Huntington who is a graduate of CIA and it showed with an array of salads and fresh ship made desserts.

Here's a clip from video Vermont of scenes from a wedding at the boat. 
www.video-vermont.com/christa_reception.html

  

Common  Ground has constructed a wood fired oven great for flatbreads, breads and other yummy's.   Jeremy Fraize and I will be filming a walkaround tour later this month. Common  Ground is a great place for retreats and reunions and makes for fun planning in Vermont for weddings. The Eco Lodge sleeps over 30 people in deluxe accommodations with full bathrooms. Another hundred and 20 can sleep in rustic, newly constructed individually styled cabins, within walking distance of a communal bath house.  and another 100  can sleep anywhere they would like outside. Along the hiking trails they are working on new platforms for camping  in a more wilderness setting.

Sometimes ideas work and other times they do not because of certain circumstances;

 Tee lights in the bottom of  a paper bag with sand may be a cool way to light a path so long as it's not windy!

 A clear see-through tent is wonderful in the evening as the stars come out and the sun goes down. Trying to set tables with silverware during the daylight hours the silverware can become too hot to touch.

  A beautiful classic car may be wonderful  at the wedding for the photo ops and the thrill of being in an antique car.   A photographer once told me that during a photo shoot after wedding ceremony, that the classic car broke down and they had the pile into his car to get back to the reception.

When planning an event in Vermont or anywhere, it's good to know the downside of trying certain things and having the experience can save a lot of heartache later

Listen to the DJ, they have a real good sense of what is going on......

                                                       Photo by Lucas Desousa

 Trust me, I'm a big fan of live music in Vermont! There's nothing like great musicians to set the night on fire. But is there a Master of ceremonies in the group? A good DJ has their finger on the pulse of the event, and the really good ones have done this hundreds if not thousands of times and they understand the flow of the event.  Within the reception, some of the group are requesting certain songs, while others at the party are just sitting there tapping their fingers and waiting for the excitement to start.  Especially with the larger are events,  there is a lag time between finishing up dinner and when the excitement commences. With regard to the toast, you should really plan that just before the beginning of dinner. Everyone who was speaking  during the toast will be fresh and bubbly, having had a few drinks.

On one occasion at a wedding with over 300 guests,  the wedding planner had decided that the toasts should be after dinner. However, the DJ could sense that the crowd was getting impatient and wanted some action. The DJ approached the wedding planner who did not want to change the plans. By the end of dinner the father of the bride had consumed quite a bit of wine. The resulting toast was garbled and incoherent even with a microphone!  And the dancing was late in reviving the crowd. The best of both worlds would incorporate a live band with a DJ to control the flow of the event.

For a buffet lunch or dinner for a wedding or any other banquet setting, the standard rule is to have 5% available above and beyond the guaranteed number of guests. But how much food you have to put out to feed your guests adequately? That amount is up to the chef and the catering professional where you want to have plenty of food but not excessive. The problem arises when a guaranteed number is unrealistic, and the day of the event the number increases by 20% in this one example. The budget for 350 people was $8000. 430 people actually showed up, and within 20 min. the food was gone, and a lot of people went hungry and complained.

With the budget  being very tight at $17++ per  person, and with a basic menu there was not a lot of extra fluff.

Other  issues concerning  the group such as are they big  eaters, what time of day is it, did they have lunch or did they miss a meal? If the catering people had sensed a problem brewing they could've erred on the side of success for them and success for the client.

The client who was in charge of the party was wrong to not get them a realistic number of attendees. The final resolve by the client was to maintain their budget even though they knew there were more people coming and that they did not want to pay more.

The facility comes off looking unprofessional and ill prepared for 430 people, and all the staff gets beaten up.

Sometimes accepting a client who is inflexible and ultimately doesn't care about the vendors reputation is not a client you want or to work for.

                                                           Photo by Ed Champagne

That being said this event was a lose, lose.

White Cake and Red Wine don't mix well......

Photo by Lucas DeSousa  Cake by Michelle Hines

Why you should keep the cake away from the stationary hors d'oeuvres….

The ceremony was over.  The reception had started. We had a small celebration cake for the cake cutting and we placed it between the 2 stationary hors d'oeuvres on an elevated prop.  A lady approached the hors d'oeuvres with her glass of red wine, and proceeded to place the glass next to the celebration cake. As she reached over to put some hors d'oeuvres onto a plate her elbow kicked the wineglass into the cake, splashing her red wine over the white cake, which panicked the lady into a quivering mass of ”What can I do to help?” I told her to please get a glass of white wine and that everything was going to be okay. I took the cake into the back and patted it dry. We added some flowers to the exposed area, brought it back out to the reception and turned the wine stained part of the cake away from the guests. Nobody spilled the beans to the bride and groom. The cake cutting went on without a hitch. The next morning the bride and groom and their entourage were laughing over the incident at breakfast. Planning a wedding in Vermont is aided by the experience of what not to do....

Blue Sky Blog VI 3.1.2012

Blue Sky Blog VIII 3.4.2012

Some of the best places in Vermont to have a wedding are off the beaten path. Sterling Ridge Resort is located in Jefferson Vermont and offers the backwoods safe relaxed style while having the comfort of beautiful cabins to relax in. You'll have to find a good caterer,  and a wedding planner to help you with the details. There are no supermarkets nearby nor any box stores to help you with supplies. You have to plan ahead and in Vermont it means a checklist of all the supplies you will need for the entire event. I've had weekend events were everyone was assigned one meal to be concerned with and it was a fun family style event. Who knows you may even see a deer at the ceremony! They're just curious and hopefully will stand still for a photo. Those type of events make for a special occasion.

Blue Sky Blog VII 3.2.2012

Using friends to perform services for your wedding, can save you lots of money. It can also cost you missed or ruined opportunities at your celebration.


The DJ was a friend of the groom. The  Vermont wedding seem very relaxed and low-key at the time. The groom was getting drinks for the DJ. And the DJ was really enjoying himself. The celebration progressed and the DJ was getting hammered. About the 2nd hour after dinner when the crowd was taking a break from dancing,  some bridesmaids went up to the DJ to request some songs.  The DJ began to make rude and crude remarks about the bridesmaids.  One bridesmaid got very insulted and went off to get her other half. He  showed up in a not so friendly mood and proceeded to jump across the table and grabbed and tussled with the DJ. After the incident the DJ decided not to play any more music. He left the room for the remainder of the celebration,  which came to a sudden end.  When planning a wedding, using friends to be the vendors at your wedding does not mean they can't do a good job for you. But if these people are celebrating along with you, things can get out of hand very quickly.

Tucker Hill Inn - The Perfect Fit

Tucker Hill Inn - tuckerhill.com

When you want everyone to be staying with you and you want the rule of the roost, you buy out a Hotel or an Inn that fits the bill. The Tucker Hill Inn can sleep 50 people and keep everyone safe and relaxed.

Phill and Alison have cultivated a beautiful part of Vermont into a lovely, cozy wedding spot for 50 to 120 of your closest friends and relatives. You are totally inside for 50 or add a tent to get to 120 revealers. The Wooden Spoon caters your every desire for food. As a wedding planner, having great food makes my job a lot easier.

The pool is lovely in the summer, and the clay tennis courts offer foot friendly exercise in the woods! There is a separate barroom and dining area, where you can dance the night away and not bother the neighbors.

Bed and Breakfast style of the Tucker Hill Inn allows you to take a deep breath and energize. There are many nearby Green Mountain hikes to take the calories off the wonderful breakfast. Or you can sit by the pool and chill.

Blue Sky Blog V 2.23.12

Perfect Fit Vermont Venues

Tucker Hill Inn - tuckerhill.com

When you want everyone to be staying with you and you want the rule of the roost, you buy out a Hotel or an Inn that fits the bill. The Tucker Hill Inn can sleep 50 people and keep everyone safe and relaxed.

Phill and Alison have cultivated a beautiful part of Vermont into a lovely, cozy wedding spot for 50 to 120 of your closest friends and relatives. You are totally inside for 50 or add a tent to get to 120 revealers. The Wooden Spoon caters your every desire for food. As a wedding planner, having great food makes my job a lot easier.

The pool is lovely in the summer, and the clay tennis courts offer foot friendly exercise in the woods! There is a separate barroom and dining area, where you can dance the night away and not bother the neighbors.

Bed and Breakfast style of the Tucker Hill Inn allows you to take a deep breath and energize. There are many nearby Green Mountain hikes to take the calories off the wonderful breakfast. Or you can sit by the pool and chill.

Blue Sky Blog V 2.23.12

Allergies are easy to deal with

“Especially tough to deal with an allergy if you are on a destination off site catering that is away from it all!“

Blue Sky Blog III 2.22.12

Food allergies are always present at large and small affairs. It should be a question that’s asked early on in the process. Plans can be made in advance to accommodate these people very easily. It’s the last minute scramble that occurs if the dietary concerns are not known until show time. Especially tough to deal with an allergy if you are on a destination off site catering that is away from it all! A Hotel may be able to deal more readily, but there is no guarantee!

The final menu selection or BEO should be signed off on by the client to be sure the items on the menus are correct. One wedding I was part of had roasted red potatoes as a starch for the beef, and the chicken and Salmon has rice pilaf. Turns out the bride was allergic to rice…….There is nothing like the imposing figure of the MOB with hers hands propped on her waist sides, asking the servers/managers in the back hall doorway “Who put rice on the menu!?” She had a big hair do as well. There was no way to change the starch at that time. Free wine was given to the party for the snafu, but by 10 pm the bride got so intoxicated that the mother sent her to her room……

Do I really need to assign seats at the tables?

Blue Sky Blog 2.8.5.12

For a plated or buffet wedding dinner, everyone should have a place at an assigned table. This allows every guest to have a home base, to place their purse, jacket or personal belongings for the entire evening. If you have to remove a table from a dance floor, make sure it is a table of younger members of the party.  A stationed food reception can be either totally casual with random seating, or assigned seating, as you like!

Some of the problems with not having assigned seating are resetting tables last minute to accommodate guests whims and not having enough seats for family members.  “Lets make a 14 top out of a 10 top so that all my friends can sit with us!”  Crunch! Or worse…..here comes a family of 4 at the beginning of dinner service. They would like to sit together. There are plenty of seats, but not 4 together…….Speaking to the banquet manager ”This is your !#&#! Fault (that we are late to the reception), and what are you going to do about it?” Roll another table out, set it and seat the family of 4 at it…….. very awkward position to be in…..She apologized later.

So plan where everyone is to sit. The tables will all be full, with no last minute moves to slow up the action! And only the bride and MOB, MOG knows if Uncle Bob can sit next to Aunt Judy and be civil! Or where is the best place to place them!    

                                               Photo by Lucas DeSousa