The Historic 1896 Lounsbury House is certainly not your only venue option in Ridgefield, and regardless of where you decide to tie the knot, the town itself has all the fixings necessary to make hosting your event easy. Especially if you’re not a local, it’s always a challenge to, not only find vendors, but also figure out their proximity to your venue. Not the case in this town…

On Main Street alone, there are a half dozen salons and cosmetic shops to choose from, a tuxedo rental store and florists galore. There’s a deliSH bakery available for wedding cake orders (the most important reception detail), and there’s even a little liquor store called Liberta’s for pre-ceremony toasts and post-party spirits. Of course, my absolute favorite shop on the block is Deborah Ann’s (www.deborahanns.com), which is an authentic chocolaterie that makes truffles filled with everything under the sun. As a self-proclaimed chocolate addict, I would recommend a little box of these heavenly chocolates as, perhaps, favors for your guests, but that’s just me.

There are several churches to choose from if you want to have a religious ceremony, and there are so many fab restaurants in town that you could host your rehearsal dinner in Ridgefield as well if you so choose.

The town is a hot spot for New York City folk looking to exchange their Big Apple atmosphere for country couture on their big day. The train ride from Grand Central Station to Ridgefield Center is a breeze making the travel a breeze for your guests. And there are plenty of cute little Bed & Breakfasts to recommend as accommodations, many of which are also walking distance to town.

When it comes to hosting a wedding celebration, I put Ridgefield in my top five CT town recommendations. For what it’s worth, below is a list of a few spots in each “wedding vendor” category that I totally approve of!

Salons (Hair and Nails) …

Shine (http://www.shine-salon.com/)

Bellisima Hair Studio

Full Service Spa …

Adam Broderick (http://www.adambroderick.com/)

Bed & Breakfasts …

Green Rocks Inn (http://www.greenrocksinn.com/)

West Lane Inn (http://www.westlaneinn.com/)

The Elms (http://www.elmsinn.com/)

Stonehenge (http://www.stonehengeinn-ct.com/)

Restaurants …

Fifty Coins (http://www.fiftycoins.com)

Bailey’s Backyard (http://www.culinarymenus.com/baileys.htm)

East Ridge Café

Toscana

Rehearsal Dinner/Reception …

Bernard’s (http://www.bernardsridgefield.com/)

Stonehenge (http://www.stonehengeinn-ct.com/)

CAKES (Yum) …

Patisserie Des Anglaise (408 Main St. Ridgefield 203-894-8482)

Chocolates/Favors …

Deborah Ann’s Sweet Shoppe (http://www.deborahanns.com/)

Ridgefield is one of the rare Connecticut towns that has somehow managed to ward off the invasion of conglomerate retail stores and chain restaurants. Justin and I were thrilled to find a trip down Main Street to be delightfully Banana Republic-free, and a local coffee joint made me an iced-Americano that was so yum it made me giggle. Also located on Main Street is a rare, impeccably restored turn-of-the-century mansion, and the reason for our trip to Ridgefield.

The Historic 1896 Lounsbury House acts as Ridgefield’s Community Center and is used on a daily basis for everything from piano lessons to council meetings. Of course, it also makes for an idyllic wedding locale. You can pop on their site to learn all about the history of the property, etc. but here’s what we loved about this spot…

Two words… Gail Renken. Gail is the gal that takes couples through the whole “this is why you should get married here” dog and pony show at the Lounsbury House. If she weren’t happily married, we’d set her up with one of friends just to be able to hang out with her again. Twenty minutes with this woman will genuinely take that “gotta plan a wedding craze” edge off.

Now that I got that little outburst out of the way…

The Lounsbury House has a fairy tale quality to it that makes you want to trade that strapless, satin Vera Wang number in for a 1920’s couture, high-waisted silk gown and a lacy veil that will undoubtedly make your grandmother cry from reminiscence. The main hall is highlighted by a gorgeous staircase complete with a landing on which you can pause with your spanking new hubby before descending towards the admiring eyes of your friends and family. And when you reach the grand hall that awaits you at the base of the stairs you’ll find that it’s just right for your first dance. Dreamy, huh?

Unlike many historic homes in Connecticut, the Lounsbury House offers nearly every inch of itself to it’s visitors. Upstairs two of the rooms have been officially named the “Bride’s Room” and the “Groom’s Room,” and are decorated accordingly. In the Bride’s Room, there are four adorable country-cushioned stools lined up in front of a long mirror clearly intended for bridesmaid primping. And, of course, an antique full-length mirror well suited for a bride’s last glimpse of herself as a single woman. The guys get their own bathroom, which is completely unheard of, and have plenty of space in which to “get ready” (but, let’s be honest…they likely finish getting ready in five minutes flat and use the “Groom’s Room” for a pre-ceremony poker game and a few frosty… soda pops).

Downstairs there are four large rooms surrounding the main hall that are all up for grabs. You can sit people throughout the entire main floor, use each room for something different (dancing, eating, mingling) or you can even pull the pocket doors shut and just use only a portion of the space for a more intimate party. If you pick a date that’s weather friendly (um, summer… it’s Connecticut people), then the massive wrap-around veranda is an awesome spot for people to hang out or even dine!

Couples are free to hire whichever vendors they choose, and there’s a full kitchen available for your caterer. Heck, this place even has tables, chairs, china and flatware that can accommodate up to 150 guests just in case you don’t feel like renting all that stuff elsewhere.

The price tag on this classy joint is heavenly. You get the WHOLE house for the WHOLE day at a bargain, conveniently leaving you with more of that wedding budget to spend on important details like… an open bar perhaps? And because they only allow one party a day at this venue, you can avoid that wedding factory feel you get from throwing up a high-five for the bride whose ceremony starts thirty minutes after your party is hustled out the door.

We dig this joint. If you’re looking to get hitched in the Ridgefield area, it’s worth checking out. And if you do, tell Gail we said “hi.”

Well, it turns out never is really only, like, six years. I’ve since buried the hatchet with the Constitution state and list it among my favorite places to visit. It also happens to play host to some impressively grandiose nuptials making it a pretty rockin’ place for us to work as well.

Connecticut runs the gamut for reception properties, from country club galas to waterside “I do’s” overlooking the sound. Better still, Connecticut boasts some of the nation’s oldest architectural gems making in a brilliant spot for a true country wedding.

Justin and I were up there in May tooling around the southwestern portion of the state for a week, so we decided to check out some of the best reception spots that area has to offer.

We’ll throw a few posts up with pictures of our favorites.

The short story goes something like this… Justin and I met back in college and never really stopped digging one another. So, after a brief intermission in the early 2000’s, we rendezvoused about a year and a half ago. He was living in Atlanta running a photography company in three states that he had started right out of college. I was up north in Connecticut working as the Associate Publisher of a Pitney Bowes small business magazine. After six months of bargain shopping for weekend flights to visit one another, I drew the short stick and moved to Georgia. Amidst the shock of co-habitation, we decided to throw another log on the fire and try working together as well. Sounds like lunacy to most, but for these two pigs, the poop couldn’t be finer.

We started our company, English Tavern, with two goals in mind.

First, explore the world and encourage others to do the same. One of the greatest offenses of the common traveler, beyond clipping finger nails on an airplane, is going on vacation to a new place and never taking the time to actually see it. We’re in agreement that drinks taste better when accompanied by a tiny umbrella, but our mission is to challenge you to throw that cocktail in a go-cup and VACATE YOUR ALL-INCLUSIVE. Not sure where to go? We’ll show you. Our promise is to photograph and write about every blog-worthy adventure we go on, restaurant we eat in and hotel we stay in as a resource for your destination wedding and general travel planning.

Second, by exposing the culture, music, heritage, cuisine and natural environment of the communities we’re fortunate enough to visit, our initial hope is to promote exploratory travel. Our hidden agenda, however, is the influence of ecotourism and sustainable travel that supports the communities we visit. Tourism is a powerful mechanism for community sustainability and for many of the most well traveled places on this planet; it is a necessity, not only for advancement, but for survival.

So, how does wedding photography fit in to this agenda? An estimated 350,000 couples said their “I do’s” at a destination wedding in 2007. An average of 63 guests per wedding accompanied those couples to their destination of choice. That translates into nearly 22.8 million travelers generated by the destination wedding industry last year alone. And with 71 million generation Y-ers on their way into the matrimony arena, with around a 20% chance of getting hitched away from home, this industry accounts for a hefty chunk of the tourism community.

There are several very important factors that make this hefty chunk of particular interest to us. First of all, these bridal tourists have a unique ability to influence the way a whole bunch of other people experience a destination, and would likely appreciate some suggestions to which they could offer their guests. With the already exhausting stress of planning a wedding, and the added responsibility of entertaining approximately 63 other people in a place that you’ve likely never been, a destination bride is certainly not in the seat of envy. Hopefully our blog reviews and photographs will help make the job of a destination bride a bit more tolerable.

Of course, weddings are also just a whole lot of fun to photograph. A bunch of people show up in the same place for the shared purpose of celebrating love, and family. It is arguably the best day of two people’s lives, and most importantly, cake is pretty much a guarantee. Two very simple words, when exchanged by a couple on their wedding day, momentarily transform into the two most powerful words every uttered. The ability to capture that powerful exchange of “I do” in a way that preserves the intensity of that moment for countless years to come is an honor.

It goes without saying that the wedding photography portion of this show is what makes things like eating and paying bills feasible for us. And, we use a percentage of everything we earn from photographing weddings to help support the sustainability of the communities within which we work. It’s a win-win.

We look forward to sharing our work with couples, travel enthusiasts and ecotourism junkies worldwide.

Cheers,
Cait and Justin