Progress!

Vendors have been contacted, met with and some selections have been made!

We are delighted to be working with a classical music group, the Charter Oak Trio; they will be providing the music for the ceremony.

Next on the entertainment list is the DJ - he's out of New York City and we have received only glowing reviews about from recent and not-so-recent clients.  He'll be doing the cocktail hour and the reception so if anyone has any songs they would like us to add to our play list post them here!

We have also chosen a photographer, Hawk Photography.  He (Daryl) has been in business for 25 years and he has a great relationship with the Interlaken Inn.  He lives in Wilton CT and we are excited about working with him.  We are very happy about this decision, albeit a tough one.

Lastly, thus far in our progress, we have indeed found a florist.
They are a family owned and operated business run out of Millertown NY; Country Gardeners Florists.    Both of the women who own and run the business (sisters) were both married at Interlaken, so that seemed a positive sign.

That is all for now.  Have a great holiday week!

Clara

Rest In Peace

She was a fantastic member of our family who fought the good fight and died happy and pain free.  We will all miss her.

1995  - 2009

New Wedding Advisor

Kate here,
Everyone - we would like you to meet our newest roommate.  Her name is Elie, she is about 7 weeks old now, part Russian Blue and part Cornish Rex; and she will be working as the counterpart to Trigger in regard to wedding decisions.
Leave her questions and comments as desired.  (We hope you like her!)

Vacancies at the Inn

Let's get down to business - the rooms. 
We would love for everyone to be able to stay at the Inn, however we know that not everyone will be able to. Here is what we know about Interlaken's rooms:


45 rooms will be blocked off for the Friday and Saturday of the wedding until March 1st. To get room availability and pricing, call (800-222-2909) and get specifics; be sure to mention that you are booking for the Baker/Levine wedding.  The website does not have pricing but it does have lots of photos so check them out to see what kind of room you might like. We learned that there is a two night minimum so those who come for the weekend should check out the previous blog posting with a host of suggestions. 


Check out the backside of your "Save the Date" card for suggestions of hotels, motels, and B&B's. 

One establishment that was recommended by Interlaken is the Inn at Iron Masters which is only five minutes away and has no minimum night stay.

"Save the Date" & Invitations

Unfortunately we needed to reorder (which gave us a chance to redesign) our "Save the Date" cards but we did so last night along with ordering our invitations. We went with VistaPrint after looking at several other places, including Michael's and David's Bridal, mostly because they had a design we liked the most. Along with the invitations we ordered RSVP Cards, Rehearsal Dinner Invites, Thank You Cards, and Return Address Labels. Kate did a great job of putting a bunch of helpful information on the back on the "Save the Date" and Invitation so be sure to flip it over when you get it.

first speed bump - the date!

Sooooo, yeah, the date has changed. The date is now July 24, 2010. There seems to have been a little miscommunication somewhere but we were able to salvage the situation with the 24th. Next on the list is tidy up the guest list, order and send NEW "Save the Date" cards, finalize invitations, and begin the vendor search.  Despite the news of the date changing we still had a beautiful day up in Lakeville and it reinforced what a good choice Interlaken Inn was. The drive on the Taconic was also great and we were lucky to have no traffic. Check out the  "Add to Google Calendar" button on the left.

Registration has begun!

We began our registration picking outage tonight at Macy's in Herald Square. We worked with two very nice "consultants" who got us started with a free tote bag and then handed us our own scanner so we could walk around and just scan whatever we want - it was quite fun. We made a good dent in the registry and are about 80% through the "recommended number of items". You can view the incomplete registry by clicking here and using Katherine Baker or Scott Levine.  Pictured here is the Villeroy and Boch "Audun" Collection which we chose for our daily dining set. We will be going back to finish picking things out but tonight was a good start.

Places to visit, stay, and see part 1 *updated

Below is a list of some places that are in the area of where the wedding is to be held.  The range in price is from $50 per night to $175 and I encourage you to check them all out as the nicer B&B's seem to cost less than the Days Inn and such.

PLACES TO STAY

The (time in Minutes) indicates average travel time to Interlaken 

The Inn at Iron Masters (7 Min)  (This Inn was highly recommended to us by Interlaken and it looks terrific!)

229 Main St., Lakeville CT
(860) 435-9844

Blackberry River Inn (20 Min)

538 Greenwoods Rd W

Norfolk, CT 06058-1242

(860) 542-5100 or 1.800.414.3636  

Comfort Inn and Suites (30 min.)

249 Stockbridge Road (Rt 7), Great Barrington, MA 01230 

(800) 437-3260  

Days Inn Torrington  (45 Min) 

492 E Main St, Torrington, CT  

(860) 496-081 

Holiday Inn Express Hotel (30 Min) 

415 Stockbridge Rd, Great Barrington, MA 01230       

(877) 863-4780 

Locust Tree Bed and Breakfast  (17 Min)

131 East Main Street, Canaan, CT 06018

(860) 824-8035  

Sharon Motor Lodge  (15 Min.)

1 Calkinstown Rd, Sharon, CT 06069    (860) 364-0036 

Did you Know...

Kate here;    

Did you know...  

Scott grew up on Long Island, is the eldest of three boys and loves the Mets?  His brothers are Kevin and Ross Levine, whom I adore.  Scott's favorite football team is the Jets and he also likes to watch and play tennis – it should be noted however, tennis does not hold a candle to his passion for the game of paddleball (for those of you unfamiliar it is a cross between squash and racket ball but played outside with only one wall).    

Scott and I went to college together in Boston MA at Emerson and knew each other there but never dated.  It was not until 2006, when we had the opportunity to work together at New York City Opera, did a romance begin.

Did you know that Scott used to work for Cirque du Soleil and lived in Japan for 9 months?

Did you know that Scott LOVES chocolate, ice cream (Stewart's preferably) and cherry pie filling?

As for moi, Did you know...

I am a Yankees and Giants fan, when tennis is on (US Open anyone?) I get in a lot of reading while Scott watches; I grew up in Tolland CT, and am the youngest of three siblings.  

My sister Megan is about 4 years older, married to Jamie and they have a super-cool-wacky-zany-intelligent-4 year old named Liam.  The other sibling is my twin brother Ric who lives in San Francisco with his supper-awesome-fantastic-zany-video-game championing-wicked-superb-baker girlfriend Mary.

More fun facts coming your way.

And the winner is!

Get your calendars out - a decision has been made. The Interlaken Inn, located in Lakeville CT, will be the spot for the hottest and most anticipated wedding of 2010 (no offense M&M). July 17th is the date but we have not yet decided on a time. All of the venues we looked at last weekend had a lot to offer but in the end The Interlaken Inn had by far the most beautiful setting for the wedding and they only host one wedding a weekend. Both of those elements made us feel comfortable with the venue.  The wedding planner, Brandon, seems very organized and prepared and was extremely welcoming to us and our slew of questions. A nice feature of the Inn is that there are many rooms, townhouses and cottages on site that you can stay in if you choose; there are a number of options nearby as well. Interlaken has a great restaurant & bar that offers breakfast/lunch/dinner; they also have a pool and tennis courts. The town is lively in the summer with lots going on. A lot more info will be upcoming but for now mark down July 17!

Site Visits

This weekend will be the first round of site visits to the following places:

Saturday
Pavilion (several of the locations)
The Harvest Restaurant
Amarante's Sea Cliff

Sunday
The Salem Herb Farm
Wright's Mill Farm
Interlaken

We will be sure to let you know how it goes and if we get lucky enough to pick a place. In the mean time check out the blog on the left hand side of the page.

Bronx Zoo Engagement

My (Kate's) summer has been plagued with bad luck, mono, our kitchen ceiling ended up on the kitchen floor, we replaced the ceiling together (that was fun though), then a relapse of mono, then an emergency root canal... sigh.

Scott, knowing that I LOVE the rain, elephants and going to the zoo decided that on August 22, 2009 (just 2 days after the fateful root canal) we were going to get our rain gear together and tromp off for a rainy day at the zoo.  

It was fantastic.  It rained so much and it was warm so we were comfortable the entire day, walking around in our rain jackets while everyone around us was hiding under archways and in gift shops.  Finally we stopped at an information desk to ask about seeing the elephants and we learned that the only way to see the elephants at the Bronx Zoo is by way of monorail, and they had just closed it due to all the rain.  

Instead we kept walking, agreeing we could see them another time, and found ourselves alone, in the pouring rain in front of the rhinoceros paddocks.  I was sipping my delightful hazelnut coffee and looking for the rhinos when Scott tugged on my left hand, got down on one knee and said, "Marry Me?"  And put a beautiful ring on my finger.  I didn't say anything for a moment out of shock, and then I'm pretty sure I rambled a bunch of Yes's, and the rest, well, I don't want to kiss and tell... 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!

Picking a place

We have begun down the road of finding a venue to host our wedding and we are starting to look in the southern Connecticut area. Quickly we are learning that many of the dates, especially Saturdays, are booked but we are not dead set on a date so hopefully the place we end up wanting will work out. Currently we are juggling around dates in June, September, and November. During the second weekend in September (this year) we will be going to visit a few places and hopefully we will come away with a place that we like locked in. Some of the places we are looking at (in no particular order):

Saybrook Point Inn
Inn at Longshore
Wrights Mill Farm
Interlaken
Lord Thompson Manor
The Woodwinds
The Pavilion at Crystal Lake
...and the list goes on.

Allow us to introduce...

Before we go any further, it is important that everyone meets the equally important third party in this relationship, Trigger. This Russian Blue joined us on April 15 and after a brief sickness quickly made himself at home in our NYC apartment. He recently befriended Kate's cat in Connecticut, JP, and while he misses him very much Trigger is happy to be back in his 2 bedroom apartment. Trigger is the final judge on all wedding decisions, so all requests and suggestions should be directed to him.

First post!

Hello everyone! This is the first post on our wedding blog and we look forward to sharing our planning and wedding ideas with all of you. We look forward to reading your comments, thoughts, personal experiences and anecdotes, or anything else you wish you share. We are still working on a date and location for the big day but once we decide,  we'll let you know and keep sharing our progress here. Stay tuned for more...