meghanjs's reviews

Lara Luppi is the wedding coordinator at The Inn at Woodstock Hill. She is fantastic. She has a list of vendors (officiants, photographers, florists, music) that are nearby, and will also give a recommendation from that list if asked.

We sat an hour with her and hammered out a menu, mixing and matching choices; discussed open bar options; discussed overnight room options both for us and for our family; decided upon which room we were to use for dining; and she never got tired of us - or if she did, we never knew it.

I had requested a television and DVD player to be placed in the large room we were using for our dinner, for the children to watch some movies when they got bored. After we saw that the children were wanting to curl up, I approached Lara and asked if we could have some blankets for the children, and she added in pillows also, so the kids could curl up on the floor and watch the movies.

Lara was great. It was very nice to have one contact person who was only interested in your wedding for that day.

We wanted pictures from our wedding, but did not want to pay an arm and a leg for them to be taken. We also were very interested in someone who would make us both feel comfortable. We were instantly comfortable with Karleen, and she allowed us to have an hour of her time on top of the ceremony time (but it actually ended up being more than that amount of time), for a flat price - an a la carte type menu.

We only ordered our prints a day after our first year anniversary, as my husband was deployed to Iraq, and we had a hard time viewing the digital prints with our computer program. When we did meet with her, she was simply outstanding with us, allowing us to make changes to the pictures ad lib.

Her portraits are beautiful and varied - inside/outside, unexpected views and angles, natural shots and posed shots. She listened intently to our wishes when we first met with her, and the pictures that we received reflected that. We have already discussed taking pictures in dress uniform with her, and will most likely continue to use her for our portraiture needs. We highly recommend her.

I only wanted a band, with diamonds within it - no solitaire or engagement ring. My husband purchased it at a jewelers with whom he was familiar. It is a beautiful ring - exactly what I wanted.

We returned to the same jeweler to have my ring sized (as they both did not believe that I had a size 4 ring finger, and had previously said to my husband that they could size it right then if it was true that I had a size 4 finger). As we were on our way to Disney, we rushed up to the jewelers prior to our flight (after engagement), and were told that they could not size the ring down that far, so I was without my ring for another 2 weeks - which started a little anxiety in me, as the wedding was only in 3 weeks.

We purchased the groom's ring there (tungsten), and received a much smaller discount off the ring, because we did not purchase another ring for me also.

Carissa is a friend, and my normal hair person. She actually gave me my consultation and hair style on the day of the wedding, as a wedding gift. She is employed at Hair by Design in Torrington, CT.

As she knows me, she knew that I did not want anything really out of the ordinary - just some ornamentation of my hair, with some curls. I just wanted her to pretty up the usual hair that I have. She did just that and more. I would highly recommend her - for your usual hairdresser also.

Our flowers were beautiful. We had three large table arrangements, two small table arrangements, a few flowers for our cake, Mother of the bride corsage, Father of the Bride boutinnere, Groom boutinnere and bridal bouquet. As I knew what room the wedding was to be in, I knew my color scheme would be peach/pink/ivory and the florist agreed (as she knew the room also). I told her that I would like ivory roses with hydrangeas for my bouquet, and it was beautiful. They also "dressed up" a red poinsetta for me, as a surprise to my husband (whose deceased mother was a huge fan of the plant and always had one in the house at the holidays). The vendor's estimate of charges was accurate. My only disappointment was seeing the drooping/wilted flowers of the arrangements the next day - I thought that they should have lasted longer, but maybe they had been put together earlier than just that day.

I walked in, and an hour later I walked out with the dress that I wanted - and I did not even know it was on sale. However, I was very disappointed in their shoe selection, and their selection of non-veil hair accessories. I feel that I want to put together my look in one place - especially as I literally planned and booked our wedding in five days.

Mary was exactly what we wanted: She is an older, mentally spry and somewhat comedic JP who allowed us to be comfortable in whatever she was going to add to our ceremony. We fully wrote our own vows, and she added into the ceremony with some very nice sentiments of her own. She also personalized our ceremony with a blessing of my husband who was about to deploy to Iraq.

We had three weeks to plan our wedding, and wanted someplace relatively near us, but also near enough for our families to travel to, and either go home afterwards, or spend the night. We essentially needed a nearby "destination wedding." The Inn at Woodstock Hill was the first place I called, knowing that it was within a half hour of two families, and less than 5 hours from the other three. I am very glad that we chose this vendor, as our experience was a very intimate wedding, family style - something that the Inn and wedding coordinator fully fostered.

This wedding was immediate family (parents, siblings and sisters-in-law and nieces/nephews) only (total 14 adults and 8 children), so we treated it like a big family dinner after the ceremony. We previously were able to mix and match the meal choices to our liking, and were able to customize the wedding cake, and decided upon open bar for our family throughout the time of the ceremony and dinner.

The Inn provided some gracious extras. While we were having our portraits done after the ceremony, our family was well fed and hydrated by very nice appetizers and cocktails. And unexpectedly, one of the two waiters for the night approached us with shrimp cocktail to tide us over while our photography was completed.

We returned for dinner and an overnight for our first anniversary. I had requested a replica of our wedding cake, and also brought our champagne goblets once again. And again, the Inn out-did itself and took care of us completely (including washing our goblets and storing things in the refrigerator overnight).

Our wedding was in January, so we only went outside for some pictures, but I understand that the Inn holds weddings outside in the summer.

I would highly recommend The Inn at Woodstock Hill for quaint, intimate indoor weddings in the winter. The level of service is impeccable, and planning is very easy.

Every bride needs a massage or two leading up to the big event. I would highly recommend A Healing Trail in Harwinton, CT. The facility is calming, easily found, with plentiful parking, reasonable prices, and employs a variety of therapists that will fit any need.

This Inn is located in Whitefield, NH and is run by Chris and Roger Coteau. We wanted to get away, and go near to where I am from so that my husband could meet my 90 year old godparents before he deployed to Iraq.

We stayed in the Egyptian Room, which was furnished with a two person jacuzzi tub, fireplace, two person walk-in shower, king bed and small refrigerator. Breakfast was wonderful, as were the owners. They also offer an unadvertised military discount, which was very generous.

The Inn is relatively near Mount Washington, and you can travel through both Franconia Notch and Crawford Notch while there. You can also go into North Conway, NH or go to Bethel, ME relatively easily. We would highly recommend this Inn for a weekend away, or even a week if you are an outdoors person, as there is so much to hike, kayak, canoe, etcetera in this area of New England, and the Coteaus make this Inn a very pleasant place to visit.