DIY Wedding Tips - From Custom Water Bottles to Candy Bars

Spring is on it's way which means it's almost wedding season again. Here are some great DIY tips from our wedding coordinator Renée LaBelle 


Personalizing your wedding with DIY details makes your celebration special...and when it comes to expenses, it's not bad for your wallet either! In 2011 we had lots of great ideas from brides so I wanted to share a few with you as you're making plans for your big day.


One of our couples, Melissa & Nathan, got married in June and had lots of touches of pink and red, from their flowers to their linens. So for cocktail hour, we decided to make pink lemonade with strawberries floating in it to tie into their color theme. Refreshing and beautiful!

 Megan and Joseph had a September wedding and the bride made adorable vintage ribbon pins for all of their guests. The pins served as both place cards and favors and guests wore them throughout the reception.

Jessica and Stephanie love the outdoors, camping and hiking so for their favors they decided to give everyone personalized water bottles, again tying into their wedding colors. We often see a lot of favors left behind after weddings, but every guest took their water bottles home and it gave them a special (and useful!) way to remember Stephanie and Jessica's celebration.

Jane and David had lots of children at their wedding, but their awesome old fashioned candy bar was not just for the kids. Everyone loved the sweet touch their glass jars of lollipops and button candies added to the cake and dessert table. So festive and fun!

So get creative and have fun with your DIY wedding details. There are so many special things you can design or do yourself to make your wedding decor your own!

photos courtesy Jay Cavallaro Photography

Chef Jeff Scott Partners with Farmers, Food & Families

West Mountain Inn Chef Jeff Scott

Jeff Scott, our chef at West Mountain Inn, is not only the man who serves up delicious, creative, seasonal menus for our guests every night...he also does some meaningful work in our community teaching his passion for local, healthy food and giving back to families. Below is an excerpt from the Community Food Cupboard newsletter all about Jeff's work last year in a program he and CFC volunteer Dale Coppin started called Grateful Hearts - a partnership of local farms and the Vermont Foodbank to prepare and distribute healthy meals through the Community Food Cupboard. Great work Chef Jeff and all our awesome local farmers!......

Last winter, Dale Coppin, a friend of the Food Cupboard, brought several hundred pounds of beets to the Community Food Cupboard (CFC) that had been gleaned from a local farm by students in the Twilight Program at Mount Anthony High School.  This led to a conversation about how the lack of proper cooking facilities, food knowledge, and time can make it difficult for many families in need to use some of the fresh foods available at CFC.  Shortly thereafter, Dale had a plan.  In February, 2011, he recruited renown chef Jeff Scott of the West Mountain Inn in Arlington to begin a group dedicated to using locally grown and produced foods, as well as bulk foods available from the Vermont Foodbank to prepare healthful meals, soups, and salads to be distributed by CFC.  The two named their program Grateful Hearts, in honor of both their shared desire to help others and their love of the Grateful Dead.   

The Mighty Food Farm Team donated over 2500 lbs of fresh produce!

Clear Brook Farm workers with baskets of fresh organic beans

Each weekend, Dale picks up produce generously donated by Andrew Knafel of Clear Brook Farm, Lisa MacDougall of Mighty Food Farm, Rich and Kathy Moses of Moses Farm, and Roger and Penny Preuss of Equinox Valley Nursery.  On Monday morning, following Jeff’s instructions, volunteers gather in the kitchen at St. Paul's to wash, peel, and chop on cutting boards donated by our friends at J.K. Adams.  In the afternoon, Jeff assembles and cooks the menu items which are then packaged into portions by a second team of volunteers.  When completed, the meals are delivered to CFC for distribution on Tuesday.  In just nine months, these dedicated folks have provided hundreds of meals that have been enjoyed by our CFC families.       

    

Our deepest thanks go out to Dale and Jeff, to the students of the Twilight Program, to Christ our Savior parish for the use of their bright and beautiful kitchen, to all the farmers for sharing their harvest, and the more than 80 volunteers whose efforts are making this program a huge success for CFC families! 

Volunteers begin the cooking process in St. Paul's kitchen

2011 Festival of Santa Lucia

Wes Carlson, my dad, was Swedish and made Saint Lucia a special tradition at the Inn beginning almost 30 years ago. Each year we love spending time with our guests - decorating the Inn's Christmas tree cut fresh from a local farm; eating cookies, drinking Gloog, telling Troll Tales, holding a Troll treasure hunt and singing carols around the fire. In the morning Saint Lucia delivers coffee and Lucia buns to guests in their rooms followed by a delicious Swedish Smorgasboard brunch. This year's Santa Lucia Festival was a beautiful celebration of community and the spirit of giving. 


Organizers and speakers Paula Maynard, Stephanie Moffett Hynds, MaryAnn Carlson, Father Scott and many local children contributed to Saturday night's pageant at the Saint James Church in Arlington which had a wonderful turn out. We wanted to share with you a few images and excerpts from the evening's presentation and hope it will inspire you to come stay with us next year and enjoy this special celebration.

 Tonight we gather again, as we have for more than three decades in Arlington, to celebrate the Swedish Festival of Light honoring the ancient saint named Lucia, who took it upon herself in 304 AD to do something.  We will also look at this sense of giving of oneself through the more recent stories of a few remarkable human beings from around the globe who, like Lucia, answered and acted on the question … What Can I do? This is the season of hope and it is our hope that these powerful examples of ordinary people doing extraordinary things will inspire each of us to think globally and act locally to better the lives of those in need … to become a light where light is needed. 

While the Festival of Santa Lucia is a Scandinavian tradition that has made its way into American culture by way of Swedish immigrants, the origins of this Christmastime celebration are not actually in Scandinavia.  The story of Lucia was written more than 1700 years ago in a town named Syracuse on the Italian island of Sicily.  According to the Sicilian legend, Lucia’s mother, a wealthy lady, had been miraculously cured of an illness. Lucia, a Christian, persuaded her mother in thankfulness to give her money to the poor. So, by candlelight, the mother and daughter went about the city secretly feeding and ministering to the poor of Syracuse. Unfortunately during this time, Christians were being persecuted by the emperor and Lucia was martyred for her beliefs. Those whom she served -- never forgetting her kindness -- spread her story.

Tonight we will honor the memory of this brave young woman who lived almost two thousand years ago far from here, by speaking of the lives of others from around the world who, against all odds, also dedicated their lives to serving those in need, bringing peace and light to their darkened worlds.  The story of Lucia’s life is global and far reaching and the same can be said for these modern day Lucias.

The evening's speakers (children and adults) shared the stories of activists and Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Jane Adams, Nelson Mandela, 

Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, Mother Teresa, and even our local community members Sally and Don Goodrich. Their examples connected us back to the message of bringing light into the world - whether thru fighting poverty and working for children's and women's rights in America, helping to overturn apartheid in South Africa, founding the Community of Peace People in Northern Ireland, caring for the poor and ill throughout Asia and India, and building a school for girls in Afghanistan. 

As our friend and neighbor Don Goodrich said:

“We need this kind of hope to cross divides of culture and religion, tribes and nations, families and neighbors – to live with dignity and search for understanding. These things cannot be achieved everywhere and all the time or even predictably, but, it is in striving, reaching for them that life has its meaning.”

Happy New Year Everyone! 

We hope your days are filled with light and happiness.

Renee's DIY Wedding Tips - Fall Pumpkin Carving

West Mountain Inn's wedding coordinator Renée LaBelle is blogging today with a great DIY wedding activity and decor idea from one of last month's beautiful fall weddings at the Inn.


In November Sara and Tracy celebrated their wedding at the Inn and planned a fun rehearsal dinner activity which also served as a great fall wedding decor idea I wanted to share with everyone. The new trend in weddings is all about DIY and after a few meetings over hot chocolate, Sarah & Tracy explained they wanted to do something different on Friday night before their rehearsal dinner that would involve their friends in creating their wedding decorations together.

They knew they wanted pumpkins as part of the decor for their fall wedding and after we talked further they decided to have a pumpkin carving party.

I just loved this whole idea because it was a way for Sara, Tracy and their friends to relax, have fun and create a special memory of their wedding together. They carved their names, their wedding date, words like LOVE into the pumpkins and placed them along the stone wall near their ceremony site the next morning.

The candle-lit pumpkins had a beautiful orange glow that evening which they used to decorate their dessert table and line the walk up to the barn for their reception.

So for any brides planning fall weddings for next year - keep this fun idea in mind. A pumpkin carving party is a creative DIY way to include a Friday night activity with your friends and add a pretty, warm glow to your fall wedding decorations. Congratulations to Tracy and Sara!

Photos courtesy Heather Trimm Photography

www.heathertrimmphotography.com

www.facebook.com/heathertrimmphotography

Ellis Paul & Richard Shindell House Concerts

In late August this year we had two wonderful house concerts with renowned folk musicians Richard Shindell and Ellis Paul, joined by Radoslav Lorkovic. This will be our third year in a row organizers Tim & Lori Blixt of Cabin Concerts have brought a group of about 50 folk music fans for 3-5 day retreats, complete with private living room performances, free song writing workshops, delicious group BBQ's and time to get up close and connect with their favorite folk musicians.

Every year our house concerts have been completely sold out and we're so pleased they've grown to become an annual event here at the inn. In fact they've been so popular - this year we held 2 separate concerts instead of one! Many fans who attended our first ever house concert have come back again and again for the chance to experience the music, friendship and intimate atmosphere of these music retreats.

Each night guests gather in the living room for a private all acoustic performance where there are no repeated songs. It's a brand new show each night. Many guests bring their own guitars and take part in the free songwriting workshops offered during the day. Shows and workshops are open only to the folks staying at the Inn so when they sign up to attend, guests truly have the artists to themselves. Once in a while guests will even sit in on a song or too as Ellis Paul fan Karen Zundel did.

So if you're a folk music fan, look for our updates on next year's house concert and book your retreat early. If you've never had the chance to experience a house concert with your favorite folk artists, private living room performances, and kicking back with a small group of die-hard fans - we promise you'll love it!

- photos courtesy Dave Marion

Summer Fun

You could come to Vermont in summer just to soak in the beautiful views, dip in a lake or take a walk through the woods, but there are also a ton of fun local summer events going on just a few miles from the Inn. Most of our weekends are still busy with weddings but our guests are out enjoying music performances, summer theater, horse shows and a host of other great activities nearby. Here are a few great events coming up in July and August.

July 6th - Aug. 14th - Vermont Summer Festival Horse Shows

The Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset hosts the fourteenth annual Vermont Summer Festival with a beautiful backdrop of the Green Mountains. The Festival welcomes all spectators to the show grounds so you can watch the horses and athletes, shop the onsite boutiques, or plan to have lunch and a drink. The show grounds boast FIVE all weather rings, including one of the largest Grand Prix fields in New England, as well as several all weather schooling and riding areas, permanent wash racks, paddocks and extended trails for casual enjoyment.

July 7th-Aug. 18th - Thursday evenings of Music at the Southern Vermont Arts Center

The Southern Vermont Arts Center’s performance space, the Arkell Pavilion, is a 400 seat acoustical gem in Manchester where a season of great music events take place. Completely restored in 2000, The Arkell has been entertaining audiences since its opening night nearly 50 years ago.

The 2011 performance series includes three exciting shows:

Homemade Vermont Jam with The Samples, Gold Town, and The Gordon Stone Band

Come Fly with Me - a Frank Sinatra Tribute with vocalist Rob Zappulla

DooWop Legends - Original recording stars Jay Siegel and the Tokens, Jay Traynor of Jay & the Americans, and Shirley Alston Reeves - lead singer of The Shirelles

July-August - Summer Theater

Southern Vermont and the surrounding area have some of the best summer playhouse line-ups you'll see anywhere off Broadway. The Dorset Playhouse, Oldcastle Theater, the Weston Playhouse and the Williamstown Theater Festival are all a short drive from the Inn and showcase a season of great plays and top-notch actors. The Dorset and Weston Playhouses are beautiful restored historic buildings providing unique Vermont settings for theater. Oldcastle in Bennington is an intimate 250 seat playhouse and the Williamstown Theater Festival has 3 performance venues and attracts star-studded casts, big productions and up and coming playwrights. All of these festivals attract audiences from throughout the Northeast and several have been going strong for over 30 years so you can count on some great entertainment from any one of them.

Aug. 5 - 7 - Manchester's 33nd Annual Southern Vermont Arts Festival

Artists and Artisans exhibit under gorgeous camelot-style tents at the Hildene Meadowlans in Manchester. You'll find everything from birdbaths and patio tables to handcrafted pottery, hand painted clothing,furniture, jewelry, leather purses and bags, photography, original paintings and more. You get to stroll into 150 boutiques and meet the actual artists and hear their stories. A fun day of outdoor art and food and a great way to support handcrafted products!

Aug. 6 - Norman's Attic Craft Fair

Right in our backyard, you can't miss Norman's Attic - a craft fair with over 60 vendors, plus antiques, collectibles and a town wide tag sale. You’ll find woven items, pottery, art, jewelry, china, linens, antiques, dried flowers, home made jams, knitwear, and the folks at St. James Episcopal Church serve a great assortment of home cooked food at their popular grill and food booths. This fun family event has been held for 17 years in historic Arlington, Vermont, the home of beloved American artist Norman Rockwell and his family from 1939 to 1953. In addition to the town green and main street being lined with vendors, the town-wide tag sale includes over 20 locations, stretching from Sandgate to Sunderland. You might even meet one of the models for Norman Rockwell's paintings in town!

2011 Spring Weddings

We're well under way with our wedding season now. It's always wonderful to see so many happy couples and families celebrating at the Inn each year. After 30 years, we've probably had thousands of weddings, but each one is truly unique and we feel very lucky to help create so many special memories. We wanted to share just a few spring weddings with you from 2011.

Now we don't want to make any brides' mothers nervous, but one of our first lovely weddings in April was an elopement. Eric and Rebecca had a private ceremony in our living room followed by cake cutting and champagne. The Inn was quiet and the lilacs were in full bloom - so perfect and romantic.

Sarah and Chris had a late April wedding at the Inn with their ceremony in our meadow and reception in the barn. They had a great time dancing and as you can see below, really got into the old tradition of the bouquet and garter toss.

One of our loveliest early June couples was Melissa & Nathan. They had a bit of spring rain early in the day, but as they say - rain just ties the knot tighter!

We loved their maple syrup favors which were also made beautiful place cards for their guests seating assignments.

Congratulations to all our spring brides and grooms! May you enjoy a lifetime of happiness.

photos courtesy Jay Cavallaro Photography