The Hunt for the Perfect Date

Ever notice that once you become engaged everyone becomes obsessed with their wedding ? Well, I wasn't going to be one of those brides who was obsessed. But then it happened. People kept asking us about the wedding and I had nothing to tell them, because we hadn't begun planning anything.

It began as a slow obsession ...... wanting to pick a date. We had decided that we wanted to get married next summer, but hadn't decided on an exact date. To be honest we didn't have a "special" date we needed to have, our only requirement was that it was in the summer and in Lake George, NY.

I was thinking June would be a nice month... not too hot and before (Horse Racing)Track season began. The man agreed that June would be good.

I tried to convince The man that we should have our wedding at The Sagamore which we always passed by when out on the boat. And we looked up their website thinking, maybe, just maybe, it would be a possibility. All hopes of this venue were tossed right out the window when we saw the prices. We wanted a small wedding, (although it's not looking too small now), but in order to afford The Sagamore, it would have to be a lot smaller than we wanted. So it was immediately out. But how pretty would this have been?

The Sagamore

We began scouring wedding and reception sites in Lake George. I went and looked at several places without The man as he was away for work and I knew we would have to pick a site fairly early on in the game of wedding planning. I wasn't going to pick a place without his input, but it was nice to get a head start.

I looked at several places in Lake George. And I liked them all. The first place I looked at was Dunhams Pond, and I have to say, the owner, Mark, was fantastic. He showed me the reception room witch was long and pretty. I saw the wedding site which was across the road on the lake. We talked prices and then he even showed me the rooms guests would stay in. It was a nice place, but I knew it wasn't exactly what The man would want. He wanted the place to be right ON the lake and it was ACROSS from the lake. I thanked Mark for his time, and took his card and had full intentions of having The man go look at it too, because I thought it was a contender. Sorry, but I didn't get a picture.

The next place I looked at was gorgeous. Absolutely Gorgeous. It was The Inn at Erlowest. Breathtaking and stunning. BUT I knew right away that it was out of our price range *sigh* and that it wouldn't even be a contendor since they only had 10 rooms for guests to stay in. We knew we would need something that had rooms for our guests, or that there were rooms somewhere close by (there wasn't anything really close by for our guests to stay in) so that our guests wouldn't have to travel far to get to. So as much as I would have loved to have gotten married in a castle, because of those two very important aspects, it was out.

Erlowest

The boathouse restaurant was very pretty but we also had the same room challenge. There were these pretty cottages people could stay at across the road, but they were very very pricey and we wouldn't ask our guests to pay that much after traveling so far, so that was out too.

I visited The Georgian by myself and I liked it and had The man go visit it too. It looks a little ghetto from the outside, but it's very nice inside the banquet room and the wedding would be out on the terrace right ON the lake. Stunning and nice. It included table linens, chair covers (score!) and the price was within our range. I wasn't sure how nice the rooms were since she wouldn't show me one (and that was a concern as it was an older place). I told the Man it was somewhere he should take a look at too. The Man wasn't impressed with the wedding planner. He thought she was very rehearsed and he wasn't a fan of the banquet room (which I thought was very nice and it had a 180 view of the lake). He also pointed out that people staying there could easily view our ceremony, which is something we both didn't want to happen. *sigh* It was out and we kept looking.

The next place we went and saw (we actually had the chance to go together this time) was The Fort William Henry Resort. It was everything we wanted. The price was in our range, the ceremony site was outside at a gazzebo and private, there were tons of rooms there and it was on the lake and had a great view. The banquet room was quite lovely. It comes with white table cloths but no chair covers (boo). However, I wasn't overly impressed with the wedding planner as she came across as very gruff (I have since changed my mind about her and LOVE her). We decided this was the place. It was perfect.

The fountain outside

The ceremony location

The reception room


Photos cuortesy of the Fort William Henry Website.

I took a few photo's aslo, but the lighting is dark and you can't see the details.

We asked about availability in June, and there was ...none. Seriously? July?.... Not an option either. really? So then we asked about August, and we lucked out here. There were two dates to choose from for a Sat. Wedding which we wanted. So we chose one of them, and that is how we got our wedding date.

I really hadn't wanted the wedding in August as I thought it would be too hot, and have since wondered why we didn't just push it back until September, but I am now at peace with the fact that our wedding is during Tourist Season in Lake George and Track Season in Saratoga (which has definately proven to be a challenge). I have decided we are crazy.

I am sorry that I don't have my own pictures of the sites I visited, but I wasn't thinking when I went there to take pictures. Silly me.

How did you decide on a wedding date? Was it something near and dear to your hearts that you wouldn't budge on, or was it decided by availability by your venue?