Love and Lobster Coastal New England Weddings

As you’ve probably gathered from the heart-shaped boxes and lovey dovey greeting cards showing up in stores, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. While we’re not exactly on board with jumping into V-Day before we’ve even had time to abandon our New Year’s resolutions, planning ahead has its place.

Maine’s inns and B&Bs are already booking up with couples eager to slip away for some February romance. If you and your honey are planning to sneak off, make your reservation soon. Here are just some of the sweet deals out there:

York Harbor Inn: Head to southern Maine on Feb. 10 and 11 for two nights’ lodging, tasty breakfast goodies and a Saturday night wine-tasting dinner. Feed each other some boxed chocolates, then hit the outdoor hot tub for some steamy time with your sweetheart.

Meadowmere Resort: This Ogunquit resort at the ocean’s edge gets points for flexibility – book your stay on one of the first two weekends in February or midweek if you want to celebrate on the 14^th.  Champagne and chocolates will greet you on arrival, followed by dinner at one of several local restaurants. The best part: a late 1 p.m. checkout.

LimeRock Inn: Situated in charming Rockland, the LimeRock offers a “February is for Lovers” package that includes a two-night stay, champagne, a dozen long-stemmed roses and local chocolates to please your sweet tooth. Reserve early to nab a room with a whirlpool spa.

The Captain Fairfield Inn: Travel to Kennebunkport for a Valentine’s package at this historic B&B. Don’t miss their a la carte options, including a sleigh ride, long-stemmed roses, and spa services. Or, choose a boutique package customized just for you.

Bear Mountain Inn: This western Maine inn celebrates Cupid with chocolate-dipped strawberries upon your arrival and homemade cookies with afternoon tea. Take a sleigh ride into fields overlooking the White Mountains, or strap on complimentary snowshoes for an invigorating walk. Kids at heart can borrow sleds to spend an afternoon on their sledding hill.

After a year filled with Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry, you might think pop hits would top the list of wedding reception songs in 2012. Turns out, the oldies are still the goodies.

According to a survey of brides and grooms by event entertainment booking service GigMasters.com, a few Top 40 numbers will break into the top 5, but Etta and Elvis still reign.

Check out these predictions for the most popular first dance and father-daughter songs, plus the ditties making couples say “I don’t.”

TOP 5 FIRST DANCE SONGS

1.    At Last – Etta James

2.    Can’t Help Falling in Love – Elvis Presley

3.    Marry Me – Train

4.    You and Me – Dave Matthews Band

5.    (tie) All My Life – K-Ci & JoJo
Lucky – Jason Mraz
The Way You Look Tonight – Frank Sinatra
Then – Brad Paisley

TOP 5 FATHER/DAUGHTER DANCE SONGS

1.    I Loved Her First – Heartland

2.    Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong

3.    The Way You Look Tonight – Frank Sinatra

4.    Cinderella – Steven Curtis Chapman

5.    (tie) My Girl – The Temptations
Unforgettable – Natalie Cole

TOP 5 ‘DO NOT PLAY’ SONGS

1.    Chicken Dance

2.    Electric Slide

3.    Macarena

4.    YMCA

5.    Cotton Eye Joe

We all saw the predictions when Kate Middleton was preparing to tie the knot with Prince William.  Her choice of gown would reshape the wedding style landscape for months to come, the experts foretold (accurately). But no one guessed that Kate’s little sister would nearly steal the show.

Pippa’s white cowl-necked gown, designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, captivated royal wedding watchers around the world. As Kate walked down the aisle in a more elaborate, lace-sleeved gown, many brides found themselves taken with the simple silhouette of her bridesmaid. Pippa’s gown became an instant hit, and versions of her dress are now available on this side of the pond.

Spoil Me, a high-end bridal shop in Falmouth, just announced it has its hands on a new Pippa-inspired dress designed by Blush by Jim Hjelm. Featuring a cowl neck and Chantilly lace back and sleeve, it’s a stunner.

Nicole Miller’s collection includes this beauty with the same cap sleeves but a more casual feel.

Brides on a budget can emulate Pippa’s look, too. David’s Bridal and Dillard’s sell versions of the A-line gown for under $200.

Cheers to both Pippa and Kate for showing the world that “always a bridesmaid” isn’t such a bad thing after all.

We have been following Brooklyn graphic designer and handmade talent Jen Pepper as she settles into life in Maine and plans her coastal New England wedding.

The search for the perfect wedding dress is exhausting. I accumulated a sky scraping stack of dog-eared magazines next to the couch, and still didn’t see anything that felt particularly “me.” Of course the obvious next step would be to make an appointment at a lovely bridal shop and let the experts help me find something amazing, but after watching too many marathons of “Say Yes! to The Dress” that felt like a very daunting idea. Instead I turned to my go to shopping site, etsy.com.

I fell in love with the idea of buying a handmade wedding dress. Thinking about the love I put into my work, I couldn’t help but imagine the amount of love sweat and tears that someone would be putting into my gown. Of course the obvious downside to buying a dress on etsy, or really anywhere online, is that you do not get to try on the dress before you buy it. This can be a scary decision to a lot of brides, but for me I just decided to go for it!

After favoring a few designs, and showing some ideas to friends I decided on a beautiful peach tulle ball-gown. I sent off a quick email to the designer and asked if she would be willing to make a few changes to the dress and a few days later I put down a deposit on a custom made wedding frock! Monique was so sweet and answered all my questions, set up a time frame  for sending her my measurements, dress production and even sent me some fabric swatches in the mail to add to my poorly kept wedding binder. The dress hunt was over, and pain free. Or so I thought!

Right before Christmas the fear of the unknown started setting in. What if I got the dress and hated it? What if it made me look like an overripe Georgia Peach? What if I hated the way I looked on my wedding day? It wasn’t that I didn’t Love the dress, I just didn’t know if I was going to love the way I looked in it. So I decided to bite the bullet and try on some dresses in person.

I ended up bringing Matt to my first appointment because I knew that he would be able to keep me calm and talk me out of making any rash decisions. They put us in a large private room, listened to what I thought I wanted in a dress and then disappeared behind  a big curtain to pull out some dresses for me to try on. When our lovely bridal consultant returned to the room I turned to Matt and made a face that I can only describe as my, “none of theses dresses are what I am looking for at all” face. Sequins, beading, big puffy skirts were surrounding me, but because I was there I decided to try them on! The first number was kinda cute, but just didn’t feel right, and was way too much dress for me, after all we are getting married on a schooner so I was hoping for something easy breezy. Because our wedding was only 6 months away, there was a lot of pressure from the consultants to make a decision on a dress as soon as possible. Unless there was something on the rack that fit me, it would take almost 5 months to order a dress, and then there was still the matter of fittings and alterations.

After trying on a few dresses and narrowing them down similar to an eye test, 1 or 2, better or worse, I stepped into a dress that actually made me look pretty. It was simple, asymmetrical, light weight and best of all it fit me. Really the only downside of this gown was that it wasn’t what I came in to buy. It was essentially strapless, which was exactly what I didn’t want. I just couldn’t make up my mind so I put on my street clothes and was ready to go home and sleep on it. I thought, maybe my dream dress doesn’t exist, maybe I am not the kind of bride that has a magical moment filled with tears and champagne, maybe it’s enough to just really like a dress that fits and flatters and can come home with me today. I took a chance and asked if there was a way to get a discount on the dress since I was buying what was essentially a sample and I would take it with me right now. After a quick chat with a manager and signing a waiver that I was buying the dress as-is I walked out of there with my wedding dress at a pretty decent discount.

Even though I didn’t have an bridal moment in the store, I do have one every time I look in the closet. Whenever I am feeling a little overwhelmed by all of this planning, I can just open up the closet and look at that big fancy white bag that holds the dress I am going to wear on my wedding day. Well maybe, I might end up in the peach one after all!

Previous posts in this series:

I’m engaged. Now what?

Decisions, decisions

How to find a wedding venue without leaving the couch

Finding a wedding venue that won’t break the bank

The wedding guest list

Let’s get organized

Wedding weight loss

Finding what’s right for you

Setting the table

Invitation dilemma

Clockwise from top center: Hey Look, Delesie, Oh Little Rabbit, Bryan N. Miller Photography, Yellow Owl Workshop, James Carriere, Sean Flanigan, Miguel Flores-Vianna, Alison Conklin Photography

The Chebeague Island Inn is getting plenty of attention from the mainland.

The immaculately restored 1920’s-era hotel, tucked away on one of Maine’s most scenic islands, was just ranked the 11^th Best Small Hotel in the U.S. in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards. And the accolades don’t end there – the inn was also named one of the Top 500 Hotels in the World (yes, the world) in the magazine’s 2012 Gold List.  An impressive showing for one of our favorite venues!

Located off the coast of Portland and a quick 15-minute ferry ride from Cousins Island, the Greek Revival-style inn hosts weddings from mid-May through mid-October. Take a peek at this intimate affair that caught the attention of Martha Stewart Weddings. Brides, grooms and their guests have full use of the property all weekend — think lawn games, fresh lemonade and sweeping views of Casco Bay.

Hesitant to plan an island wedding of your own? Caitlin Prentice, who handles events for both the inn and Diamond’s Edge Restaurant & Marina on nearby Great Diamond Island, recently shared with us some handy pointers on off-mainland event planning.

Congrats Chebeague Island Inn!