Any Adirondack/Northern Vermont vendors?

[SoonIHope]

As I''m sure a bunch of you know

, I''m getting married in June 2007 in the Adirondacks in upstate NY (about a half hour south of Canada), right across Lake Champlain from Vermont. I''ve been trying to find good caterers and other vendors, but there''s really not much going on up there! Has anyone else gotten married in that area? We''re thinking our best bet is generally going to be Burlington, VT (where we''ve found the most stuff so far), but we''re also pretty close to Plattsburgh, NY. If you have ANY vendor recommendations AT ALL please let me know!!!! We haven''t booked anything at all yet, and are still a little unsure on whether we want a florist, and a few other vendors like that, but if people can point us in the right direction, that''ll help a lot!!!! (FYI our location is our family house, so I don''t need any location recommendations.) Thanks!!

ETA: We are looking for caterer, wedding cake baker, hair/makeup (might end up doing myself for time reasons), florist or flower market, potentially tent renters, photographers...anything else you can think of!

 

[griffitk]

Good luck with that! There really isn''t much up there! I went to college up there (Potsdam) and we pretty much used the bigger cities for everything. Heck, we used to drive to Syracuse to buy socks. Massena was our closest shopping center because they had a tiny mall and Walmart, lol.

I can''t offer any help, but thought I''d say good luck! Personally, I''d be tempted to drive the cake & flowers in from Burlington or Syracuse or another larger city.

 

[SoonIHope]

Hehe, thanks! Yeah I know there''s not much...that''s why we''re pretty exclusively looking at Burlington and Plattsburgh. There isn''t even a real grocery store in the town we''re in! I just feel like there must be soooooomeone in the PS community that''s gotten married up there? Anyone? Anyone...? But moral support is greatly appreciated as well!

 

[griffitk]

So, I was just thinking and remembered the BEST restaurant up that way. It''s in Massena and called Violi''s (http://violisrestaurantandtravel.com/opening.htm). They have the absolute BEST italian food I''ve had outside of Italy. The service is excellent and the buisness if family owned. They travel to italy annually to buy wine and food for the restaurant. It''s WAY classier than what you usually find in northern New York. I don''t know if it''s too far from your site, but they might be flexible as it isn''t a chain.

Even if you don''t use them as a caterer, I HIGHLY suggest the restaurant. The inside isn''t fancy by city standards (just nice) but the food is EXCELLENT. Mmmm.... I love their Panna Cotta!

 

[griffitk]

Oh yeah, I was just thinking some more and if you''re looking for ceremony musicians or a cheap DJ, I would contact the Crane School of Music at Potsdam State U. Their string quartet played our graduation and it was lovely (a group of professors). I think you could probably get a very resonably priced group of students from there to play. (Strawberry Fields CD shop in Potsdam could probably recommend some local bands or DJs as well. It''s a pretty happening place.)

 

[snow_happy]

have you tried the message boards on theknot.com?

 

[dani13]

Albi-

Try paging Lovelylulu- she is getting married in Vt this July (I think) and she knows of many vendors in that area and is more than willing to help....good luck- hopefully you both will be around when I get around to wedding planning- we are thinking of a Vt wedding next summer....

 

[SoonIHope]

Whoops, I totally forgot to come back and check this thread! Sorry everyone and thanks for replying!!!!

Griffitk - Thanks for the restaurant info! We''re actually on the far east side of the state, though, so I think that might be a bit far for catering. If we''re ever in that area though, I''ll check it out, it sounds great! The musician idea is also really helpful, I might look into that!

Dani - I already asked LovelyLulu where in Vermont her wedding was b/c I was so excited to see someone else getting married up there! But she''s in southern Vermont so I think it would be like a 3 hour drive to where we are...so not ideal. For the Burlington vendors we''re talking to, we already have to pay them a 2.5 hour round trip travel fee.

Snowhappy - I haven''t tried the knot. Honestly their messageboards scare me!!!

So many PS people say they USED to be there but got chased away by the crazy posters that I''m a little nervous.... Hehe. That said, I did browse around in their forums a bit but it just really irritated me how they were set up so you can''t just navigate in an instinctive way. But I know that is a resource that is out there and I''ll probably get up the courage to try it one of these days...hehe...

 

[NurseKate]

This might be a little bit late to reply, but I am getting married in Vermont this October (Grand Isle). We''re using Flowers in Season for the flowers and they are doing a fantastic job.

Kate

 

[lovelylulu]

albi: there is a vermont-specific message board on the knot. (and the girls on it on nothing but helpful and nice) Though I did get married in S. Vermont, I do know there are bunch of burlington brides and perhaps you can get some firsthand info! Good luck!

 

[SoonIHope]

Thanks Kate & Lulu!

Do you have any other vendors booked, Kate? or research that might be useful that you''d be willing to share?

Lulu - I knowwww, I keep telling myself to try it!! But it is good to hear that that board specifically is a good one, so I''ll try to pop over there soon! We''re getting close enough now that I''m starting to get nervous about not having booked, um, anything yet!!