|
 A
conversation with a wedding locator
Sarah Stitham of Charmed Places has helped countless brides and
grooms find their perfect wedding locations in New York's Hudson
Valley, the estates of Newport, Rhode Island, and surrounding areas.
"I work with creative clients who are looking for unique
settings for their weddings," says Stitham. "We start off
with a brief conversation in which I find out what the bride has in
mind for her wedding, the size, the style, and her budget. If the
bride has an image of her perfect setting-say, a view of the Catskill
Mountains-we go from there, but if she's open to suggestions I ask
her what she and her Fiancé' love to do together, where they
love to go on vacation, whether they prefer more elegant, upscale
things or a more homey country style. This way, I get a feel for who
the couple is and I can help lead them to the perfect location.
Stitham does charge a fee for her services, as any customized site
researcher would, and she accompanies couples at meetings with the
owners of private vineyards and estates where she has relationships
and experience at the site. A professional site locator can save you
tons of time, focus your vision, and point out great places you may
never have heard of before. So if you are stumped for a unique and
beautiful place that's you, consider hiring a site-locator service
for the most inside advice and help in locating your dream location.
 We
spoke to Sarah Stitham of Charmed Places (www.charmedplaces.com) for
this one, and she suggests (and we agree!) that it's a wise move to
talk to a wedding coordinator in a two-hour consultation on the
specifics of the get-away wedding sites you have in mind, plus her
recommendations on additional sites that fit your wedding's style.
(Note: Today's wedding coordinators also offer piecemeal services
such as just helping you narrow down your potential wedding
locations, without hiring them to do the whole wedding!)
A good coordinator who's local to the area you're scouting will know
all the best places to consider because she's likely to have done
weddings there before. She'll tell you all about the resorts and what
they have to offer your guests for their wedding weekend activities,
which historic manors have recently been completely restored and
redecorated (perhaps featured in travel magazines!), which perfect
inns have great outdoor sites on lakes or with mountain backgrounds.
You'll never find all this firsthand information and personal
referral just through a brochure, and Internet site pictures might
not be current! Plus, you can find out what these destinations have
to offer in different seasons. For instance, Stitham said that a lot
of resorts where she plans weddings offer colorful fall foliage
scenery in the autumn months, and in winter they offer beautiful
crowd-pleasing fireplaces, sleigh rides, cross-country skiing, and
ice-skating. Even better, since these resorts are not "wedding
factories," you may get more reasonable prices and more elements
and activities than you would in a standard wedding package at
another resort! A wedding professional can help you with your choices
of getaway locations without the risk, and even recommend the best
wedding professionals in the area for the rest of your planning.
If you want your wedding somewhere in the
vicinity of New York’s Hudson Valley and surrounding areas,
including Boston and Long Island, check out the creative selections
found through Charmed Places: A company that scouts out wonderful, unique
sites from beach coves to mountainous and scenic overlooks. |
