Martha''s Vineyard Wedding???

[s1]

Hi, has anyone ever had a wedding in Martha''s Vineyard? Or has anyone ever attended one there? Can you shed some light on how it was? I''ve done the usual Google search and I''m coming up with tons of info, but I''d like to get some first hand knowledge from some PS''ers to get a better idea. We plan to get married there, or some place on the East coast (maybe nantucket) in the Fall (2010). Does anyone have any tips/pointers/advice to share with a fellow Pricescoper?! Approximate cost, how hard it was to set up (I live down in Texas), travel trouble for guests? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks again!

 

[sap483]

I''ve been to a wedding on Nantucket, but not on the vineyard. I myself got married in Newport.

I was looking at venues in Nantucket, but my problem was that most places could not accomodate more than 100 people. This may also be the case on MV. This could be a limiting factor if you are planning on having a larger wedding.

Could you give us some information on your wedding size, what you envision, etc? I''d be happy to share any information I picked up when I was planning!

 

[wyndham]

Hi s1, congratulations!

My family has gone to Martha's Vineyard every summer for the past 20 years, so I would be happy to give you any information I have on venues/vendors that you're interested in. I debated having my wedding on Martha's Vineyard, but we ultimately decided to have it elsewhere due to a number of reasons (listed below). Basically, it was going to be quite costly to host the wedding we wanted there, and we figured that a good number of our guests would have to decline the invitation due purely to the costs associated with getting to the wedding. Some thoughts:

1) Cost of staying on the island: summer and fall are peak times on MV, so you can expect to have guests pay around $250-$300 for an average hotel room for one night. My fiance and I are in our late twenties, so we figured that the cost of hotels alone would be a deterrent to some of our friends.

2) Difficulty of getting to/from the island: if the majority or your guests live in the Northeast, this isn't as big of an issue because they can drive to Woods Hole, MA (on Cape Cod) and take a 45 minute ferry ride to the island. However, flying into Martha's Vineyard from other parts of the country is tricky, as you have to fly to New York, Boston, or Providence Rhode Island and then take a small plane from there (Cape Air, usually). The cost of the Cape Air flight alone is probably around $250/$300 that time of year...nevermind the cost of getting to Boston/NY/Providence.

3) Limited vendor selection: given the difficulty of getting to/from the island, you pretty much have to stick to local, on-island vendors (unless you're prepared to shell out tons of money to bring outside vendors onto the island for planning trips and house them for the weekend of the wedding). We've attended some beautiful weddings on MV, but they are all kind of similar in nature -- beachy feel, lots of white and blue color pallettes, white tent, seafood dinners, etc. If that's not what you want, you will probably get quite frustrated trying to find local vendors who can do something dramatically different than that.

4) Overall cost: this one is going to vary greatly depending upon which vendors/venue you decide to go with, but I know that most of the reception venues we looked at started around $150/person for food and open bar packages...excluding tax, service fees, tent rental, decor, etc. Obviously this is just an estimate -- I'm sure you could spend less or much, much more depending upon what your budget is. Just keep in mind that it's an expensive island off the coast of an expensive part of the country, so things will likely be pricier there than they are in Texas.

I think you can definitely plan a Martha's Vineyard wedding from Texas, but you probably have to have a very clear idea of what you want and be willing to turn a lot of the logistics over to a local planner to make sure that things get done well. I think Martha's Vineyard is a BEAUTIFUL location for a fall wedding, and I wish you the best in your planning. As I mentioned before, please let me know if you want any specific recommendations or ideas if you decide to go this route...I know the island pretty well.

Good luck to you!!

 

[s1]

Thank you both for the replies!

A friend of mine got married on Nantucket (I wasn''t able to attend due to being out of country), but I heard it was a really nice venue. However, they had a small wedding...about 50 people tops. Some of the factors listed below were part of the reasons some of my other friends didn''t go. I had a feeling this would/could be a costly wedding! I''ll get with the sig other and brainstorm on what exactly we want and post up once I find out more details. Again, thanks for the replies!!!

 

[Kellybell]

Hi!

I did not get married on the Vineyard or Nantucket, but I did plan a Cape wedding from long distance, so I wanted to share my experience. I truly believe that you should hire a planner to help you through this process if you can. Weddings on the Cape (or the Vineyard/Nantucket) get incredibly complicated very quickly due to guest transportation and accommodation issues, and having a local there to help guide you through the process is incredibly helpful. In addition, it is very difficult and costly to plan a wedding in one of these locations from another state (due to limited travel and the difficulty of being available to visit vendors, attend tastings and meetings in person, etc.) I was helped immensely by having a planner who was able to narrow down my vendor pool and help ease the whole process.

I did want to recommend a few people that I worked with:

Photography - Joe Mikos (www.mikosphotographers.com). He is actually based on the Vineyard, and his team photographed my wedding. They were INCREDIBLE. I cannot recommend them enough.
Planners - Patrie Grace (www.withgracemv.com). I have never worked with her, but many of the Vineyard weddings featured on Joe''s website are planned by her, and they are all gorgeous. I know she is based on island.
- Kate Parker (www.kateparkerweddings.com). Kate was my wedding planner, and I was overjoyed at the experience, process, and the results. My wedding day was effortless, and I owe it all to her. Kate is not based on the islands, but she frequently plans weddings there, so I wanted to include her in the list.