Our Vineyard Wedding

We took our first trip to look at potential wedding sites in March 2005 in Connecticut. We knew we wanted to get married there since Michelle’s large family would be attending and most of the rest of the guests would be college friends from the Northeast. We set out hoping to find a good vineyard, as since we have been living in Virginia we had come to appreciate the beautiful vineyards there. I could make a parallel between the aging of fine wine as it relates to building a relationship, but I think I’ll pass for now. Maybe another time.

Of the few things that have kicked around in my mind relating to having a wedding, the one that has stood out the most has been having an outdoor ceremony and reception. I feel most connected when outdoors (funny, working in computers and all) and feel like such as event would have to have no roof other than the wide open sky to feel right to me.

The very first potential location we looked at was the Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonington, CT. Despite a storm and lots of snow, it immediately felt right to both of us. We were a bit anxious to lean heavily towards a choice so early in the process, so we kept an open mind and continued our investigations that weekend. Honestly, all I remember about the rest is how they didn’t stack up to the vineyard.

After some months of thought and a little bit of planning, we informally decided on the vineyard and made our plans to come back in May. We came back this week to finalize our plans and once again found Rachel Edwards’ genuine hospitality and enthusiasm to be excellent in every way. Any wedding hostess who hugs you at the end of the deal is good in my book

As you can see by the photos linked below, the wide open sky is very much a part of the vineyard (Seriously! Look at that amazing photo at the top of the site!) There was a bus tour there that day, but we were able to wander around and definitely make up our mind. We inked the deal and the wheels are in motion…

We hope to be making a couple more trips in the future, such as this September to view the season and again before the wedding as often as we can. We’ll keep the photos updated!

Update 2/22/06: We now have a photo page that keeps them all indexed in one place. Visit it here.