Places to Stay if You're Coming from Away #1: Cod Cove Inn in Edgecomb, Maine

As was documented early in our wedding planning, the decision of where to host the Cooper-Parker wedding extravaganza of October 2010 was a difficult one to make, chiefly because Katelyn is from Michigan and her family is spread out across a good swath of the country while my family is almost entirely located in Maine.  Because of our decision to get married in Maine, we've had to consider--at each step of our planning--how we can best accomodate our guests who will be coming from a distance to celebrate our wedding.

To that end, we have been researching various lodging options in the general Boothbay/Damariscotta region to provide our guests with options for where to stay while in the area for our wedding.  The proprietors of the Cod Cove Inn in Edgecomb, Maine where kind enough to invite Katelyn and I down to see their inn back in January (back when there was still snow on the ground, even).

Our Wedding Caterer

Before touching on the topic of this blog posting, I'm aware that it has been far too long since my last entry about this wedding and this has been the result of a number of things, but I can't really make any excuses for it.  With the holidays, getting back to teaching, and finally having nice weather again, I just haven't been able to bring myself to sit down and write anything wedding-related until now.  I hope to make up for it, beginning today.

So when I last left you, faithful reader, Katelyn and I had settled on a photographer for our wedding and were getting ready to start looking at catering services.  I am happy to announce that we have settled on a catering service; though in reality the decision was made nearly a month ago.

The Time Crunch

The holidays are always difficult in terms of things that need to be finished and the amount of time that we actually have to finish those tasks.  This fact--along with my devotion to NaNoWriMo and recent travels that Katelyn and I have undertaken--has contributed in a major way to the drop-off in posting activity here at "The Groom's Take".

Even though Katelyn and I work in two very different fields--she as an architectural intern at a local residential firm, me as an adjunct instructor at a private university--our jobs both come "to a head" around the holidays.  She's trying to finish drawings and details so that they can be sent out to a work site before the office closes down until after the New Year.  In the past few weeks, I was preparing my students for the submission of their end-of-semester work and then evaluating their overall semester performance to turn in their final grades.  In the midst of all that, I had to travel to Bangor to read end-of-semester portfolios from other teacher's students as well.

These "holiday circumstances" aside, however, the fact that Katelyn and I work in entirely-unrelated fields creates some difficulty in terms of time management for the relationship.

Our Wedding Photographer

T'was the night before Christmas Eve,
And through the apartment...

Who am I kidding?  I'm no poet.  I write prose.

Katelyn and I recently checked off another item from our wedding to-do list!  Hurrah!

We have our wedding photographer!

A Long Overdue Update

Wow; so the last update I posted to this blog was over a month ago, on November 8th.  Needless to say, it has been a busy time in my life, and not just with wedding planning--indeed, wedding planning has taken somewhat of a back seat lately.

Oh, by the way:

The Guest List Boogie

Call me crazy, but just a matter of days (maybe only one day, my memory is fuzzy) after getting engaged to Katelyn, I had already begun thinking about my list of people to invite.  Now, this might be a little out of sequence according to most wedding planning suggestions, as in essence I was making a guest plan well before I knew what sort of number we would be able to accomodate at our venue.  Now that we're close to having that venue in place, it seems particularly important to talk about it here; even though I know many of you are waiting with baited breath for that venue announcement.

The issue of a guest list began to really hit home when I found that, upon first thoughts, I was already at around 80 potential guests; on my side of the family alone.  Katelyn's mother had begun a list as well, with a number coming out in the 60-70 guest range, even before Katelyn considered college friends and non-family-members to invite.  The guest list; it is an important and complicated dance.

A Clarification: The Purpose of this Blog

When I first began putting entries into this blog, I had no idea how long I was actually going to stick with it.  I've set up multiple blogs in the past, and none of them ever got beyond an opening introductory statement of who I was and what I was going to write about, although I never actually got to the point of doing that extra writing.  I knew that there was a better chance than before that I actually would write, seeing as wedding planning is a difficult thing and requires a lot of thought and analysis, but I never imagined I would have over 25 posts in under two months of writing.

The main purpose of this blog, initially, was to collect my thoughts as we go through the wedding planning process and also to share my experiences planning the wedding with Katelyn since she has no family out here in Maine and I don't have family right on-hand in Blue Hill.  Along the way, the blog began to grow out into reporting on the venues we went to and providing that information in one place for people who might currently be trying to plan a wedding of their own in Maine or who may one day need a source of information about where they might go for their own future ceremony and reception.

Venue Search #13: Point Sebago Resort in Casco, ME

For the last stop on our Sunday venue tour, Katelyn and I drove an extra hour beyond Cliffside Lodge to go visit Point Sebago Resort in Casco, Maine.  Katelyn had called and left a message a few days before we planned to go out on our visits, and we hadn't heard back from them.  We assumed, much with other locations, that we would be able to see the venue anyway, regardless of whether or not we had a planned visit set up.

We stopped on the side of the road because of this particularly beautiful sight between Cliffside Lodge and Point Sebago Resort.  It's a good thing we did, because it's the only good that came out of our drive.

Venue Search #12: Cliffside Lodge in Poland Spring, ME

Our second stop on last Sunday's venue search brought us to Poland Spring, Maine; yes, the home of the famous bottled water company.  After navigating a couple of rural back roads, the signs for Camp North Star led us to the Cliffside Lodge, which is part of the camp grounds but is also used to host wedding parties.

Join us in looking at one of the more interesting venues we've found in the state, the Cliffside Lodge in Poland Spring, Maine.

Venue Search #11: Maple Hill Farm Bed & Breakfast in Hallowell, ME

After a long delay, it is time for me to do some reporting on the venue we visited last Sunday (October 4th, 2009).  This time around we decided to make some calls in advance to the three places we wanted to visit (Maple Hill Farm Bed & Breakfast, Cliffside Lodge, and Point Sebage Resort).  We were able to get in touch with Maple Hill Farm, and we actually set a time to meet with them as our first stop on the venue search.

Check out our pictures and reaction to Maple Hill Farm Bed & Breakfast in Hallowell, Maine.

Venue Voting Results

When I decided to post a poll to this blog asking people which venues they liked the most from our venue search and reporting so far, I was putting myself out there.  What I mean was, I was taking the chance that nobody would vote and I would feel as though I'm writing this blog only for myself.  Although this wouldn't be the worst thing (at least the blog gives me an opportunity to write on a regular basis), it does make me feel better now that I know people are actively reading what I write and are interested enough to weigh in on the decisions Katelyn and I face for our October 2010 wedding.

Here are the final poll results:

Venue Search #10: Linekin Bay Resort in Boothbay Harbor, ME

And here we are, the final venue to discuss from our marathon of venue visits this past weekend.  Just a little ways up the Maine coast from Bailey Island lies Boothbay Harbor, Maine, another popular destination for my family growing up.  At least once every summer, my family would go up to Boothbay Harbor, go shopping in the town's stores, and go on a seal cruise out into the harbor and the ocean to see the seals sunbathing out on the rocks.  Boothbay Harbor was the site of my parent's honeymoon (they got married in Lewiston at St. Joseph's church and had their reception at Lost Valley in Auburn), so there's a bit of a family history involved with this location as well.

Once again, I got to see a new side of an old destination through our visit to the Linekin Bay Resort in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

Venue Search #9: The Driftwood Inn on Bailey Island, ME

This venue search post needs to be prefaced by a short family history.

My grandmother on my father's side, Eleanor Parker, was killed in an automobile accident less than a mile from her home in Lewiston in January 1984.  The driver of the other car, who survived, was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol when he hit her car as she was driving from work.  She was cremated and her ashes were spread in the ocean off of Land's End on Bailey Island, ME.

Growing up, Bailey Island was a popular destination for my family.  If it was a slow weekend, sometimes we would just drive out to the ocean there and fly a kite, or shop in the gift shop at the end of the road.  For my brother and me, it was the only way to connect with a grandmother we never got to meet.

This past Sunday, a rainy September Sunday, Katelyn and I made the familiar drive (to me, anyway) to visit The Driftwood Inn on Bailey Island, Maine.

Venue Search #8: On the Marsh Restaurant in Kennebunk, ME

There is a problem with visiting venues that you do not have pricing information on, and that problem is that you might just fall in love with a venue that is far outside of your price range.  Of course, at the end of the afternoon last Saturday when we had just left the worst venue of our visits that day (Ocean Woods Resort), all Katelyn and I wanted was to visit a venue that we could potentially see ourselves having a wedding at.

We fell in love with On the Marsh Restaurant in Kennebunk, Maine.  It is far outside our price range.

Venue Search #7: Spring Hill in South Berwick, ME

After "crashing" weddings at the Dockside Guest Quarters and Clay Hill Farm, we moved much further inland from coastal Maine to the town of South Berwick.  My mom, Joan Parker, had found and suggested this venue to Katelyn and me and she had actually gone through the trouble of contacting the owner in advance to let him know that we were coming.  While we weren't aware of the venue's hours (not opening until 5:30PM; we showed up at noon), we were able to meet up with my mom's contact and get a quick tour of the venue.

This is a venue in our price range, so read on for more thoughts on Spring Hill in South Berwick, Maine.

Venue Search #6: Dockside Guest Quarters in York, ME

As I mentioned in the last post about venue outtakes from the weekend, checking out potential venues on a Saturday in September has its drawbacks; chief among them, of course, being that many venues are being used to host a wedding ceremony.  This was the case when we arrived at the first venue of the weekend, the Dockside Guest Quarters in York, Maine.  However, we were able to check out the reception building and get a quick glimpse of how the wedding ceremony was set up on the grounds while the ceremony was happening.

Venue Search Outtakes #1: Places that don't fit our wedding.

Well, as you readers know, this past weekend Katelyn and I went to southern Maine for two reasons; to visit my parents in Lewiston, and to see in person as many of the venues as we'd been looking at online as we possibly could in the span of two days.  I adopted a tactic that may or may not have been the best way to go about looking at places, and that tactic was (for the most part) not letting places know that we were showing up to see their venues.  My thinking was that if we could see the venue as it normally is (not all made up by the staff for our scheduled visit) we'd have a better idea of what to expect, and also that the behavior of somebody startled by our visit would be a good indication of how they would behave if we had our wedding at their venue and something went wrong in the planning for whatever reason.

Of course, the thing I forgot to take into account was that it was a Saturday in peak September wedding season, and so many of the places we ended up visiting actually had weddings going on when we arrived.

Regardless, we were able to see most of the venues we'd set out to see, and we were at least able to get a sense of whether or not a venue would be something we can consider for our own wedding.  This post is a wrap-up and reflection upon the places that would not work out for us.  That way, with this business out of the way, I can move along to places that we did like and are better suited for us.

Note: There won't be any pictures in this post because we really didn't photograph places that we knew wouldn't work for us.  I will, however, include the website links in case you are interested in visiting the venue sites.

Wedding Venue Weekend (September 26th & 27th, 2009) Preview

Katelyn and I finally got a free weekend to visit my parents in southern Maine, and we took advantage of the opportunity to visit a bunch of the venues we've been looking at through their websites.  Since we ended up visiting almost ten venues (!) over the two days, there's a lot to go over and I'll need a little bit of time to post pictures and reactions in the next few days.

In the meantime, I figured I would post the venues we visited in terms of our level of interest in them, along with some website links for all of you readers to check them out based on how they promote themselves.  Hopefully I'll be able to cover most of the venues in individual posts before the weekend.

One final note before I start listing the venues; all of the venues have been added to our Google Map of potential venues, and the color key has been updated to reflect our feelings after visiting many of the locations.

Potential Wedding Venues Map

Using Google Maps' fancy map-making tool, I have just put together a map of the venues that Katelyn and I have visited, are planning on visiting, and have already ruled out in our venue search.  Hopefully this will help us in our travel plans as well as give our out-of-state guests the opportunity to see the scope of our search and make the best plans for traveling into the area.

Click the link below the map to view the map on a bigger scale.


View Potential Wedding Venues Map in a larger map.

For those who don't click to view the larger map, here is the map key:

• Red locations are locations we're favorably considering.
• Yellow locations are possible choices that we have visited.
• Green locations are places we haven't visited yet.
• Light Blue locations are places we've visited and have mild interest in.
• Blue locations are venues that are not well-suited to us or do not have openings and won't be considered in our decision.

New locations will be added to the map as we find them and visit them, so be sure to check back to this post or the map in the future for the most up-to-date information.

Venue Search #5: Alamoosook Lakeside Inn in Orland, ME

After we were done at The Pilgrim's Inn in Deer Isle, Katelyn and I drove back inland to see a venue recommended by a friend of mine from college, the Alamoosook Lakeside Inn in Orland, Maine.  To my surprise, the venue isn't located very far from our current hometown of Blue Hill.  In fact, I pass the turn to go to this venue every Tuesday and Thursday on my commute between the apartment and work in Bangor.  While we found a sign on the door saying that the inn was closed for the day when we arrived, Katelyn and I took the opportunity to look around the grounds a little bit and see what kind of interest we might have in the venue.