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Wednesday, April 2, 2008The Perfect PlaceThirteen years ago today, I got married. The ceremony, a full nuptial Mass, took place at St. Joseph's Church in Babylon, New York. It was the parish my husband had grown up in and where he'd attended elementary school. I have such fond memories of the day even though it wasn't exactly how I pictured getting married. I'd always dreamed of a Christmas wedding. If you've read my book, Santa Brought a Son, you can get an idea of what I'd imagined my reception to be. But I have no regrets over the wedding we did have. I still can't believe it all came together as well as it did. Our wedding planning was rushed. We'd gotten engaged right before Christmas, the night before my husband flew back home for the holidays, but my future father-in-law was diagnosed with terminal cancer so we decided to forgo a long engagement and get married sooner rather than later so he could attend. After Christmas, we flew back to New York to get the planning underway. We knew, due to the circumstances, it would be a small wedding. First on our To Do list, find a location for the wedding reception. We knew that could be the hardest thing to find given the short timeframe. Oh, boy. Talk about an adventure. I felt like a stranger in a strange land, a west coast girl trying to plan an east coast wedding. No offense intended to anyone who lives there! I always pictured wedding coordinators to be like Martha Stewart or in the movie Father of the Bride or our own beloved Belle Mackenzie of The Wedding Belles. I quickly learned there was no stereotypical wedding coordinator. At least on Long Island. Early that day, we entered a lovely place with beautiful reception rooms. A man in a sharply tailored suit escorted us into an office. He sat on a big leather chair, behind a large wooden desk, clasped his hands together and leaned toward us. "You look like a nice couple. What can I do for you?" My heart slammed against my chest. He looked and sounded exactly like the Godfather. I kid you not. I thought at any minute there'd be guns pointed and bullets flying overhead. This was not the type of wedding coordinator I had in mind. My fiancé, a born and bred New Yorker, saw nothing strange about the situation. No, instead he laughed at me. I quickly realized I needed to change my expectations. I also learned that people talked who talked really fast and loud weren't angry or upset. That's just how they spoke. Over the ten hours or so of searching, we found some nice reception places, ones that could handle a wedding party of our size at short notice, but none that made me think, "this is it!" Soon, it was dark and we were tired. We just wanted to pick a place. But one named remained on our list so we drove north to a little village called Stony Brook. Somehow we made a wrong turn. Not surprising given the hour and the fact we hadn't eaten dinner yet. I saw a colonial white house with white Christmas lights and a big red ribbon tied around it. Right then, I told Tom that's where we were going to have our wedding reception. He said the place wasn't on our list. I said I didn't care. He started getting worried, but turned around and pulled into the parking lot anyway. The first thing I noticed when we walked inside was a white grand piano with lights and Christmas decorations on it. In the dining room itself, the décor was romantic and charming with lots of chintz and pink. My favorites! (This was at the time when I would devour the latest Laura Ashley Home catalog as soon as it was published.) The place was called Country House Restaurant, and they did wedding receptions. I couldn't believe we'd stumbled across the place. The manager handed us a folder full of menus and information. He also said they provided the floral centerpieces for the tables and could do the cake, too. Less work for us! We were sold. We knew we'd found the perfect place for our reception. And on April 2, 1995, the reception was just as romantic, just as wonderful, as I imagined. Unfortunately, one guest was missing. We weren't quite quick enough with the planning, but we both knew my husband's father was with us in spirit and toasting us with a champagne cocktail. If you're married, where did you have your reception? Was it hard to settle on a place? If you aren't married, where would you want to have your wedding reception? Any dream locations that you have in mind? Melissa M Labels: melissa, planning, receptions, weddings
posted by Melissa McClone @ 6:01 AM
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