We’re adding five more NJ reception venues to our list of New Jersey Historic Estate Wedding Facilities. Driving along the NJ countryside to visit the beautiful grounds is in itself a great way to spend the day. These expansive, beautifully landscaped NJ estates have been converted into elegant wedding venues where the past meets the present.  Often, today’s country clubs were once elegant estates allowing enough land to build a golf course and offer a banquet hall for special occasions.  If there is a country club near you, give them a call…ask them if they cater weddings. Where they once limited use of their facilities to members only, country clubs often offer their facilities to the public to support the necessary upkeep expenses.

Ramsey Golf and Country Club
Ramsey, NJ

Hold your wedding reception in a gorgeous 19th century stone castle surrounded by stately trees, a formal garden on 30 acres with 3 lakes. They can accommodate your wedding whether it is for 12 or 200 guests and “are eager to bring our excellent food, superior services and fairy-tale setting to your affair and continue the legacy that has made the Ramsey Golf & Country Club one of New Jersey’s premier locales for special events and memorable weddings”. (more…)

We visited The Breakers in Spring Lake yesterday. Spring Lake, NJ is known for its beautiful large homes with manicured lawns. Spring Lake is a NJ residential summer location more than a tourist attraction. The beaches are clean and well taken care of. No coolers, food, or beverages are allowed on the beach. We witnessed a Spring Lake police officer require sunbathers to remove their cooler from the beach and empty out the cans. That was certainly better than getting a ticket for they had beer in their cooler.

Last April, we inquired about holding a NJ beach wedding ceremony and reception at The Breakers. The following is the reply we received from Shannon Costanzo, Director of Sales:

The Breakers on the Ocean has the distinction of being the only full service hotel located on the ocean in Spring Lake. For the most special day of your life, The Breakers offers the ideal setting for a NJ oceanfront wedding. From the cocktail hour on the Front Porch overlooking the Atlantic Ocean to the reception in the elegant Crystal Ballroom, guests will enjoy magnificent NJ ocean views, attentive service and exceptional cuisine.

Our wedding packages, including prices, are available on our website - www.breakershotel.com. Our package includes four or five hours of premium open bar, cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres, Champagne Toast, Five-Course Sit-down Dinner or Wedding Buffet, Custom-designed Wedding Cake, Private Bridal Suite for the Wedding Party during the Cocktail Hour, Complimentary Standard Guest Room for the Wedding Night, Complimentary Place Cards, Direction Cards and elegant Silk Centerpieces.

Our prices start at $112.00 per person, inclusive of tax and gratuity. We offer a 10% discount on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and 15% all day Sunday along with seasonal discounts. (more…)

Are you thinking of having a 4th of July wedding in New Jersey? Next year’s 4th of July is on a Saturday and since this year’s 4th of July just passed, now is a great time to shop for decorations and favors for your NJ 4th of July themed wedding. And where should you hold your 4th of July wedding? On a New Jersey beach, of course!

4th of July NJ Beach Wedding Fireworks

Almost anywhere along the Jersey shore or other waterview locations, you and your wedding guests can enjoy exciting fireworks and you won’t have to pay for them. You can check with the local towns to see when they schedule their fireworks displays. Red Bank’s, on the Navesink River, are always on July 3. NYC’s are always on July 4th. This year, Red Bank had the 3rd best fireworks display, with Macy’s in NYC having the best. We were in Red Bank this year for the 4th of July celebration and must agree that they were great! Red Bank really out did their past displays.

4th of July NJ Beach Wedding Save the Date and Invitations

Once you decide where and when, design your “save the date” announcements with your 4th of July theme, but decide first how casual or classy you want your wedding to be. Your announcement and invitation should give your guests an idea on how to dress for the occasion. For a NJ beach 4th of July wedding, you could include a picture of the two of you on the beach sitting at a table with your theme decorations dressed as you wish your guests would dress for you NJ beach wedding. (more…)

The Wedding Cake

Imagine spending $5000 for a wedding cake! Not many New Jersey brides would spend that much on their wedding cake. One Texas bride had a long time fantasy of having a doll modeled after her. (Wouldn’t an American Doll be a lot less expensive?) To celebrate the renewing of her vows after 10 years of marriage, her husband agreed to her having a life-sized cake make to her likeness. Chidi Ogbuta of Allen, Texas, worked along with two designers to create a wedding cake that looked just like her.

It took about 5 weeks to complete the wedding cake and after serving it to their 500 guests at the September, 2007 wedding, it took about 1 week to finish the leftovers off with the help of friends. Are you wondering if they saved the head for their first anniversary? Imagine going down to the basement late at night to get a pizza out of the freezer and have a head peering out at you? Well, not to fear, the body was the butterscotch cake and the head and arms were made from polymer clay.

How did she accomplish this amazing cake? The bride hired a pastry chef to make the cake, except for the (more…)

Today, I will marry my best friend
 The one I will always turn to.
 Confide and be strong,
 In my friend and my lover.

Today, I will marry my best friend,
 To drink of love’s eternal fountain.
 Where we turn our heads from the past,
 And trust in God to guide our paths.

Today, I will marry my best friend,
 Traveling together as one.
 Our dreams at last have came true,
 As we live our lives together forever.

Today, I will marry my best friend,
 Where our lives are not our own.
 We place our lives in God’s hands,
 and let him carry us all the way to the end.

Right now you are madly in love, you can’t be with each other enough…you count the time until you will be together again. Your engagement is exciting with all the NJ wedding plans, gifts, and attention. But it can be stressful, too, because now you are starting your life together, combining two lives into one. It is during the stressful times that we learn more about our partners and what they really value in themselves and life.

The following poem, The Invitation, by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, addresses those personal values that keep a couple together through a lifetime relationship of marriage.

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dreams
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon…
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain. (more…)

The wedding ring is a ring that binds two hearts together in an eternal promise to love each other forever.

The circle has always had significance from ancient cultures to the present as a symbol of wholeness and perfection. Its endlessness is the perfect symbol of oneness and unity - no beginning, no end. The following wedding poem tells of the legend of the wedding ring.

In a far off country many centuries ago,
A kind young king was married
to a princess he loved.

Together they lived happily
Until they learned one day
that duties were to force
The king to journey far away.

One night, before he left,
He tossed some pebbles into a moonlit pool
On the palace grounds
As he sat thinking of his lovely Queen. (more…)

How should your groom dress for your NJ beach wedding so he won’t literally overheat and be able to look stylish standing next to you, his beautiful, sexy bride? First of all, you must decide on your beach wedding dress. The level of formality, or informality, you choose for your wedding dress will greatly influence your groom’s attire. (And guys, you know your bride will have something to say about what you will wear!)  Since a New Jersey beach wedding is an informal setting, it is most likely that your groom will not be wearing a tux…so what is he to wear?

NewJerseyWeddingVendors.com has put together suggestions for your groom to help you decide the style you want for his New Jersey beach wedding attire:

• white Guayabera* shirt, black embroidery optional, with black Bermuda shorts or slacks
• black Guayabera shirt, white embroidery optional, and white linen pants
• linen white or off-white shirt with tan, black, or matching color pants
• tan linen suit, tropical color shirt, coordinating tie optional
• light weight wool suit, white shirt, coordinating tie
• seersucker suit with light blue stripes, white shirt, tie optional
• ivory suit, white shirt, black tie (more…)

While shopping for your New Jersey beach wedding, NewJerseyWeddingVendors.com recommends you think carefully about the setting where you will be holding your NJ wedding ceremony and your NJ wedding reception.  New Jersey wedding dress vendors recommend that you stay away from the formal style. A beach wedding just isn’t a formal setting…a formal, heavily adorned wedding gown just doesn’t match. Keep in mind, you want to be comfortable, gorgeous, and gracefully feminine all at the same time - not tripping or sinking in the sand.

1. The Don’ts

Don’t choose a fabric that will:

• catch the sand, such as an organza
• cling to your body, preventing air to circulate and hold in the heat
• wilt with the humidity and salt air
• raise up in the air if a strong breeze comes along (more…)

The possibilities are endless for alternative wedding locations. Here is an idea that was recently submitted to NewJerseyWeddingVendors.com:  Hot Air Ballooning!

NJ Wedding Ceremony in a Hot Air Balloon

Float off into the New Jersey sunset with your officiant, exchanging vows in midflight and then landing in a NJ field or local winery where all the guests await with champagne glasses in hand and a five-star menu, catered by one of New Jersey’s finest culinary vendors, waiting for everyone under a tent.

If you want to catch an early flight to start your honeymoon, you could hold an early morning ceremony followed by a champagne breakfast. When it’s time to leave, have a hot air balloon take you two away. (more…)