The Bride Wore Bug Spray
Another option for the big day: Make your guests sleep in tents. Six spots for both gritty and glampy sleepaway-camp weddings.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
Location: Anywhere in the USA
You provide the field, and Shelter Co. will bring in the tents. Founders Kelsey and Mike Sheofsky, who started Shelter Co. in 2012, have created camplike events in remote settings ranging from the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington to a lawn in the Berkshires�the only requirement is that the site must be truck-accessible. Shelter Co. has two tent styles: the Meriwether (each tent comes with two full beds, side tables, lanterns, and Pendleton throws), and the Armstrong (which can accommodate an intimate dinner for 30). Shelter Co. will also procure a larger tent for those who want space for full-on dinner and dancing. Since Shelter Co.’s fees run steep, couples often request that guests cover their own tent rentals.From $300 per person per weekend, plus delivery and setup fee; shelter-co.com
Lamb Chops and S'mores
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(Photo: Michael Tallman) |
Ohana Family Camp
Location: Post Mills, Vermont
Set on serene Lake Fairlee, 20 minutes north of Hanover, Ohana’s 20 shingled cabins (which sleep two to eight guests) have working fire�places, small kitchens, and Adirondack chair�dotted porches. There are also six old-school platform tents that each sleep four, and linens and towels are provided so guests don’t need to schlep their down comforters to Vermont. Couples often tie the knot on the sprawling lawn in front of the Main Lodge overlooking the lake. (In inclement weather, the lodge porch is a still-lovely alternative.) A sit-down dinner in the Main Lodge accommodates up to 165 guests. The kitchen staff can manage a reception dinner of pork loin with rhubarb chutney, and sirloin strip with horseradish dijon, but the bride and groom are welcome to bring in an outside caterer. Almost all wedding groups follow the reception with a campfire and s’mores, and guests can sail, canoe, and play tennis in their free hours. Ohana is happy to set up a webpage to facilitate direct payment for guests’ lodging.
$6,500 for a two-night wedding weekend, plus $185 per person for two nights, including breakfast; alohafoundation.org/ohana
Trapeze Classes and Tennis Tourneys
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
French Woods Enrichment Center
Location: Hancock, New York
This boarding school turned sleepaway camp is set on 170 acres on the Pennsylvania�New York border. When camp isn’t in session from June to late August, as many as 250 guests can bunk in two climate-controlled dorms set up in suites with attached bathrooms that sleep eight to ten apiece. Attendees can channel the camp’s Little Orphan Annies�in�training and take part in a talent show (there’s a massive theater as well as a prop shop), try a gymnastics or trapeze class (staff must be arranged beforehand), or organize a softball game on the baseball diamond. Ceremonies can take place on a wooden footbridge over a private lake, and the kitchen staff will cater the reception dinner in the dining room, or prepare an outdoor BBQ��though outside caterers are encouraged.
$5,000 site rental, plus $50 per person per night; frenchwoodsenrichment.com
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
Migis Lodge
Location: South Casco, Maine
Since 1916, East Coasters have headed to Migis Lodge, a collection of 35 cottages tucked into 125 acres of pine forest on the shores of Sebago Lake. Up to 130 of your nearest and dearest can stay in kitted-out cabins, which feature fireplaces, kilim rugs, handmade quilts, and four-poster beds, plus TVs and Wi-Fi. The lodge’s kitchen handles the rehearsal dinner�usually a lobster bake�and the reception dinner (a buffet or sit-down meal can include anything from pan-seared salmon to roast duck breast), plus breakfast. During the day, guests can partake in fishing, tennis, sailing, kayaking, and paddleboarding, and a Tykona Chris Craft is available should the bride want to make a grand entrance.
From $89 per person/night, from $55 per person for Friday-night rehearsal dinner, from $130 per person for Saturday reception dinner; migis.com
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(Photo: Leah Haydock Photography) |
Sandy Island Family Camp
Location: Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire
This multigenerational YMCA family camp, where a young John Updike worked one summer, is located on a private 66-acre island in the middle of Lake Winnipesaukee and can only be reached by ferry. Sandy’s 41 simple cabins are equipped with electricity, cots, �Army-issue wool blankets, and lake views. The island is available only four weekends each year�the two after Memorial Day and the last two in September�but the good news is that the staff sticks around to support the wedding, so luggage service, waterfront activities, and the dining-hall kitchen run like clockwork. Couples get married in a pine-�covered chapel overlooking the lake, and during the day, guests can hit the bocce or tennis courts, or take kayaks out to nearby islands to pick blueberries.
$165 per person for two nights, includes all meals with the exception of the reception dinner, which is $50 person; bostonycamps.org
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
Earthdance
Location: Plainfield, Massachusetts
Located near Mass MoCA, the 100-acre Earthdance is a workshop, residency, and retreat center. Spiritual types will appreciate the indoor yoga studio, sauna, three fire circles, and quarries for rhodonite-hunting, as well as the site’s various nature trails. Couples frequently hold ceremonies in the Umbrella Studio, a round indoor space that reinforces ritual and community, or outside on one of the lawns. Earthdance’s kitchen staff can prepare a reception dinner (they specialize in vegetarian cuisine), or couples can bring in their own caterer. The three-story Gratitude Lodge sleeps 60 people dormitory style, while across the meadow, the post-and-beam B&B Nine Mountain Retreat sleeps 26.
$3,000 weekend site-rental fee, plus $3,000 for the Gratitude Lodge and $2,500 for the Nine Mountain Retreat B&B; earthdance.net