Weddings – A Sprinkle of Life

What to expect at a Wychmere Wedding Tasting

March 23, 2025 No Comments

One of the pivotal moments in planning a wedding is attending a Wedding Tasting in preparation for your big day with your venue. Going into our wedding planning adventure, I had some ideas of what a wedding tasting might be like based on movies and TV shows, but I wasn’t fully sure what to expect. Today, I’m going to share our experience at our Cape Cod venue so you can go in ready to fully enjoy your wedding tasting experience.

What to expect at a Wedding Tasting for Wychmere

Around 6 months before your wedding date, Wychmere will schedule your Wedding Tasting onsite. As a May Bride, our Wedding Tasting event occurred in December. Ahead of time, your coordinator at Wychmere will pass along a questionnaire to collect insights into your wedding day expectations, vendors, menu preference and share an updated list of hor d’oeuvres, speciality cocktails, cocktail hour stations, entrees, deserts, and more!

The tasting itself is a Group Tasting, meaning it’s not just for you and your partner, but all couples getting married in a similar timeframe. Our tasting event had around 20 couples total, and each couple was allowed to bring up to 2 guests if they so desired, but some I saw were able to bring 4 guests.

Tastings at Wychmere aren’t free! I had gone into this assuming there would be no cost for a tasting since you’re already paying tens of thousands of dollars, but at our particular venue in 2024/2025 they were charging $175 per person to attend the tasting. At that price, you may rethink how many people you want with you 🙂

Brian and I opted for going alone, and not bringing our family with us. I actually preferred it this way because we were able to experience the offerings without judgement or opinions of others, and could make our own decisions for what we thought we and our guests would enjoy best. There were 2 other couples also solo during our group tasting, with most bringing one set of parents with them.

Cocktail Hour

Just like a real wedding, you attend a cocktail hour during your tasting. During this time you can try some speciality drinks, sample some butler passed hor d’oeuvres, check out some serving stations, and plated hor d’oeuvres. Here’s what our event included:

11 of the most popular passed appetizers
Soup station (clam chowder and tomato bisque with mini grilled cheeses)
Full open bar
Speciality cocktails
Table of appetizers

Dinner service

After cocktail hour, another room was opened to reveal tables for dinner service, as well as sample table settings at the entrance so you could check out a variety of place settings, linens, glassware and more.

What I loved about this part of the evening was that each couple/party received their own table. When I heard we were attending a group tasting, I was afraid we’d have to sit with strangers, but nope! Thankfully each group had their own round table so you could privately enjoy the offerings.

This part of the evening takes around 2-3 hours. So get ready for a lot of eating! I’ve never eaten for so many hours straight in my life! Here’s what to expect during the dinner portion of your tasting.

3 of the most popular salads + bread (these are already out at your table when you arrive)
4 popular fish entrees
3 popular beef entrees + 1 popular chicken entree
Variety of Plated & Petite Desserts
Cake samples to take home
Full Open Bar + Tableside House Wine (that we have paired with entrees)

You also receive a menu card at your table letting you know what meal selections you’ll be trying, which was helpful to keep note of what we liked and what we’d change.

Dessert Time

This was a seemingly never ending experience! We received a platter of small desserts that had a wide variety of items, and then before we knew it, we were then being served a number of full sized desserts too! When the evening was coming to a close, each table also received a box of cake samples to take away with them, which I appreciated because it let us take a break from eating and have something we could nibble on either later that night or the next day. Cake is a big deal, so you want to choose the right kind!

5 hours later

After what was around 5 hours at the venue, it was time to head out. After meal service, you were welcome to walk around the other venue spaces on the premise to check out the rooms you’ve already booked for your wedding, see some sample tables and floor plans, and just get excited for what the vision will be for the big day! Safe to say we were stuffed and exhausted after our tasting!

Napkins
Table Setting 1
Table Setting 2
Table Setting 3

Observations

Bigger parties during cocktail hour would wipe clean the butler passed hor d’oeuvres, so you often had to wait for a second, or sometimes third pass to be able to try something since those parties of 6 often grabbed as much as they could.
Cocktail hour for the tasting felt too long. I think we would have enjoyed 30-45 minutes max since there was often a lull in things to do or eat
I really loved seeing sample tables done up with various lines, plates, and glassware. You could see some of the things in real life that are only listed on the vendor websites, and it really got me excited to pick things out to compliment the vision I have for our wedding.
Takeaway cake is great! We had fun the next evening tasting the various cakes and were able to make a selection we were happy with.
Overall, we had a lot of fun, and it really made it feel real that we’e getting married before we know it!

You can check out my Youtube Short for a video version of our experience!

Weddings

Wedding Venue Tour on Cape Cod

September 5, 2024 No Comments

When I got engaged in the Spring, I knew my partner and I were going to want to look outside our current state of New Jersey for a wedding venue. New England seemed like the perfect choice since that’s where he and I both grew up, but the question was where?

As people who grew up in a fairly small town with not a lot of unique or fancy venues available in the nearby area, and having spent more high school dances than I can count at those said venues, it was time to broaden our horizons. We eventually decided a coastal feel for a wedding might be worth exploring, and I immediately suggested Cape Cod.

I grew up going to the Cape every summer as a little girl, and when I got older I was eventually invited to the ladies Fall trip to the Cape with my mom, aunt, and late grandmother. Brian and I even took a brief vacation or two to the Cape over the years. We knew we wanted to avoid a New Jersey wedding because they’re all over the top here, very expensive, and have that distinctive “Jersey” feel to them that we wanted to avoid. It just didn’t feel like us. So, the Cape it is!

After much research, we narrowed down our search and visited 4 venues. Follow along below for our thoughts on each, and maybe it’ll help you, a possible future Cape Bride or Groom find your perfect spot too!

West Dennis Yacht Club

The West Dennis Yacht Club is just that, a Yacht Club. They aren’t a venue by nature, but rent out the space for weddings and events to bring in extra income. The space inside was airy and I liked the colorful sound blockers they chose to hang from the ceiling, and the views of the water were nice.

Pros:
– Close to Beach if you wanted a beach ceremony
– Right off the water
– Great menu including fun late night snacks

Cons:
– Not a great backup rain plan. Your guests would sit at their assigned tables and you’d get married in between the tables.
– Aren’t very welcoming of smaller parties, especially during the Fall. They apparently had two dates open, one in April and one in the Fall, but they wouldn’t offer me the Fall date in hopes they could make more money from a larger party than mine
– Bar area was very dated and dark feeling

Pricing Info:
– Menus start at $130 per person
– Space rental can range from $2000 to $5300 depending on time of year
– Peak season requires a minimum of 130 guests for a Saturday wedding
– If you use an open bar, there will be a 20% gratuity added
– Prices do not include 7% meal tax or 20% service charge

Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club

The Ocean Edge is a beautiful old historic home turned hotel. Due to our smaller party size, we were looking at their Carriage House venue. The hotel has a few different areas where they can host weddings, and are really into providing you with a whole weekend getaway resort like event. Parts of the property are absolutely beautiful, and they have a lot of interesting things going for them, but ultimately, I wasn’t overly impressed with what I saw in terms of the Carriage House or ceremony spaces.

Pros:
– Plenty of onsite accommodations
– Can host rehearsal dinners and welcome parties
– Onsite spa for getting ready services
– Everything can be self contained here, from meals, to evening activities, to the actual wedding
– You can repurpose some of the space for a getting ready/bridal suite like space
– You get the whole building to yourselves for the whole day
– Very friendly and welcoming staff

Cons:
– The main room of Carriage House felt very old, dimly lit, and dated
– The ceremony options weren’t super impressive. You can get married upstairs in a room or on the very small titled lawn outside in front of the big carriage doors. You could also get married on the main lawn in front of the hotel too, but you have to contend with traffic, and it’s very out in the open.

Pricing Info:
– Carriage House food and beverage minimum for a Saturday is $18,000 or $12,000 for Fri/Sun
– Off season pricing is a $12,000 for Saturday or $7,500 for Fri/Sun
– Lawn ceremonies range from $1000 to $2000 depending where and what day
– Beach Ceremony: $3,500
– Above doesn’t include Admin fees, taxes, etc

Wychmere Beach Club

Wychmere Beach Club is a private club, that is home to 3 different venue spaces that can accommodate weddings of various sizes. It’s located right in the port, off the water, and offers great views and picture spots. Venue spaces are designed to feel airy, are full of natural light, and have a modern updated coastal feel. I also really liked the lighting options in the rooms. We toured the Ocean Room at Wychmere, their smallest space (which is still huge), and it’s located on the second floor.

Pros:
– Rooms can be sectioned off if an indoor ceremony is needed due to weather
– Each venue space seems to provide either a private deck or patio space, giving you indoor and outdoor flexibility
– Staff was the most welcoming, and really made visiting feel like an event
– Fireplace
– Bridal Suite and attendant
– Lots of big windows with water views
– Private deck for Ocean Room (for ceremony/cocktail hour/hanging out)
– They have recommended vendors that can be used towards your event minimum spend

Cons
– Multiple weddings can be held there in a single day, although they do space them out by different start and end times
– Parking might be challenging for those weddings being held later in the evening, since the first wedding of the day (Ocean Room) get’s parking lot priority
– Minimum spend needed to be met, regardless of party size
– Limited hotel rooms onsite

Pricing Info:
– Event Minimums are based on time of year. Peak season is July, August and October.
– Least expensive to most expensive days: Sunday, Friday, Saturday
– Peak season Saturdays can start around $50k
– Off Season can start around $28,000 for a Saturday depending on the month chosen
– Above doesn’t include Admin fees, taxes, etc

Chatham Bars Inn

Chatham Bars Inn is a luxury high end hotel that can host a wide array of events from your wedding day ceremony and reception to rehearsal dinners, after parties, and morning after brunches. They have 3 main venue spaces for weddings, all right off the sand with the ocean in the distance. They can accommodate small weddings to large tented events for hundreds of people. We checked out their Boathouse event space.

Pros:
– Resort gives a very high end and impressive feel
– You can walk right out onto the sand and beach
– Beautiful photo opportunities
– Private patio or deck area
– Use of beach
– Nice outdoor ceremony space (but many stairs to walk down for the bride)

Cons:
– Boathouse didn’t feel impressive compared to the resort itself. The room wasn’t anything special and felt like it would be cramped.
– No bridal suite or getting ready space
– Beach House was ok, but didn’t feel as wow as the main resort either
– Venue sales person wasn’t super friendly and felt disinterested the whole time. An event was happening in the main space we had an appointment to see (Boathouse) and she wasn’t sure we’d be able to get in to look around. We felt rushed, and it was the quickest least informative tour
– Very expensive accommodations, so if you’re guests aren’t wealthy, they’ll need to look elsewhere to stay

Pricing Info:
– Pricing for basic food and beverage packages starts at $600 per person
– Reception fee starts at $5000
– If you want the lawn of the Boat House, that’s another $3500
– I heard from some people that Saturday min spend is $90k, but can’t confirm

Final Decision

While the West Dennis Yacht Club was reasonably priced, had great food options, and had a nice outdoor space, it didn’t check off all the boxes for me. The bar was very old feeling, they were against allowing us to get married in Oct due to our small wedding size, and it just didn’t give me the wow factor I was hoping for.

The Ocean Edge Resort has a lot of wonderful people working there. Everyone made us feel so welcome and comfortable. If you’re looking to create a weekend retreat for your wedding, then this has a lot going for you, with activities, games, and great food spots, and plenty of rooms for everyone to stay in one spot. The venue space just didn’t level up to some of the other options we saw.

It was a tough call, initially, between Wychmere and Chatham Bars Inn. When we first walked through Wychmere, it was love at first sight. From the entryway, to the coastal inspired bar, to the water steps away. You could feel it was special and outshined the other spaces we had seen so far. The hotel and grounds at Chatham Bars Inn can’t be beat, they are beautiful, classy and elegant. However, the venue space left us disappointed and surprised, based on how beautiful the hotel and restaurant spaces are.

Ultimately, we decided that Wychmere would be our special spot, and the host for our wedding. The staff were amazing, they welcomed us with champagne and a bottle of sparkling wine as a gift, and they took the time to answer our questions and show us every little detail. The venue space was beautiful, bright, and had the coastal feel we were going for. I can’t wait to show you what we do with the space and how it all turns out!

Weddings

I’m Engaged!

March 11, 2024 No Comments

Last week, the day I have been waiting for, for a very long time, finally arrived. My partner and I got engaged!

Our story starts almost 2 decades ago, in high school, where we officially met, became fast friends, and soon started dating. High school sweethearts are far and few between, and it’s something I’ve always held closely in my heart. I’m lucky to have some friends who went on the same journey as us too.

How did it go down?

I always knew he wanted to surprise me with a mystery trip, to keep me on my toes and guessing. On a Thursday night, I was presented with instructions to pack a bag, given some rough ideas on temperatures at our final destination, and nothing else. Friday we headed to the airport, and almost didn’t make our flight due to weird system errors with our check-in, but thankfully we made our flight. Our first flight was just a transfer, but it was a long layover in Denver, so it gave me plenty of time to wonder what kind of adventure I was about to embark on.

Our final flight took us to Ontario, California. Who knew there was an Ontario in California, not me! It’s also quite confusing with California and Canada each abbreviated to CA. But I digress. Our final destination was not Ontario, but about an hour and a half drive away in Rancho Mirage, just outside of Palm Springs. We’ve never been to either location, so it was a new adventure and place to explore.

On day one of my surprise trip, we visited a beautiful place called Indian Canyons. If you’re ever in the area, I 100% recommend you go. There’s a number of hikes you can take, but my favorite is at the end of the road, where you hike down the canyon into a Palm tree oasis. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It was a magical spot, but very windy when we were there. When we got back to the hotel for the day, our faces and necks were coated in dust. Our face cloth was no longer white when we were done with it.

The next day was the big day. As fans of the National Park Service, we like to visit parks with our official Parks Passport, a little blue book you can stamp at each location, commemorating the date and location of your visit. Our plan was to drive out to Joshua Tree National Park during the day for hiking and checking out the visitor center for our stamp.

After hiking for miles through various sections of the park, which is beautiful and seemingly out of this world with some of the landscapes, we decided to end our adventure for the day in the Jumbo Rocks section. This section of the park has massive light brown boulders that I can picture being scattered on Mars. It’s gorgeous and fun to see the different shapes and sizes created over time by the wind in the valley. We decided to do some off trail exploring and climbing of the Jumbo Rocks, which is when I spotted a cool rock that had a little cave like cutout, so we decided to get a closer look. It was at this special spot that Brian got down on one knee and asked me a question I’ve been anxiously awaiting. It was a special moment, just the two of us, and it was one we’ll never forget.

I can’t wait to get started with planning! Life is a bit busy right now so I probably won’t get into the weeds until mid April due to work travel and a personal vacation, but I’m sure it’s going to be quite the ride. I feel guilty not using the next few weeks left of this month to get a good grasp of things, but planning an international work trip and vacation across the world is probably more than enough stress for me at the moment.

I’m not sure where to start, so if you have any tips, good templates, planners, etc, let me know! I can’t wait to bing you on this next journey with me!

Reviews, Style, Weddings

Rent the Runway Review: Wedding attire

May 23, 2016 No Comments

What’s Rent the Runway?
A rental service for dresses, accessories, and outfits. They carry a ton of different designers from Kate Spade, Badgley Mischka, and everyone in between. When you rent a dress, you’re allowed to choose two sizes, at no extra cost, so you can try the dresses on at home and make sure you get the right fit for you.

I had been meaning to try them out for a couple of years, but after college I didn’t have many events that called for a fancy dress. This past year however, the wedding invitations poured in and my boyfriend suggested I finally give it a try. We had a mutual high school friend’s wedding this past fall so I decided to go for it. I found a great dress and was super pumped to see how it would look, but that’s where the excitement ended.

My dress was scheduled to arrive two days before we left, I had a UPS tracking number and it showed everything was looking good. I should note, I live in the same town as the Rent the Runway factory where they ship all the dresses out. I assumed the whole rental was going to be easy peasy and everything would go smoothly, but boy was I wrong. UPS showed my dress was out for delivery by 8pm (our complex is the last stop for UPS as we’re also in the same town as the UPS shipping center). 8pm came and went, as did 9pm. I started to freak out.

My boyfriend called UPS and said we would pick up the dress in person the following morning when they opened up.The next day we went to UPS and the man at the front desk said they didn’t have the package. Apparently Rent the Runway was (or maybe still is) known for not placing labels on packages securely. They mentioned that this was a frequent occurrence where the labels would fall off and the delivery person wouldn’t know which package was which so they would just bring the clothes back to Rent the Runway. We then spent the next day calling Rent the Runway, emailing, and tweeting them. No one answered. Twitter showed a lot of people were also missing their dresses. We even offered to go to the warehouse to pick up the dress in person (they have a store where you can buy the worn dresses from them as well – I’ll do a review one of these days) but they said that they wouldn’t be able to give us my rental dress. I was crushed, and luckily had a backup option. Rent the Runway gave me a coupon code for my next rental and refunded my purchase after a few days of harassing them.

Flash forward a few months and I decided I would put that coupon code to use and try once more to see if Rent the Runway could come through for a wedding. Everything started to play out just like last time. The dress was “out for delivery” for hours and it was starting to look like another failure. Eventually, I got an email from the front desk that I had a delivery. I was expecting to get my hopes up again, fearing I couldn’t trust RtR, but success, my dresses arrived! Now onto what I ordered:

Screen Shot 2016-05-10 at 1.21.57 PM

The wedding was in April so I figured a cute brightly colored dress would be perfect, and lo and behold I found this Kate Spade Mint Bow Back Dress. I chose the 4 day rental, crossed my fingers that the dress would fit and look appropriate. Shortly after placing my rental order I realized the back, which appeared fairly low in pictures, along with the inward facing straps might call for a strapless bra. I didn’t have anything great on hand, except a neon pink one, so I zapped my way over to Zappos and ordered a nude strapless bra, which came before the dress 🙂

As I opened the garment bag I started to get really nervous. Is the dress going to fit me? I chose to order a second size (for free) just to be safe, and I also found the dress being sold at a department store online and checked out the size guide there so I felt I had a fairly decent idea of what size would work best. Thankfully, both dresses fit (the bigger size was a little too roomy so I opted for the smaller size).

That weekend, I got nothing but complements on the dress. Everyone loved the color and thought the cut and fit was absolutely perfect. No one could believe I rented it! With my coupon code for RtR’s previous blunder, and the Pro account I bought (covers insurance and shipping) I got the dress for $35! That’s a steal when the dress itself costs $348 at retail.

Screen Shot 2016-05-10 at 1.24.20 PM

Would I use Rent the Runway again?
Yes, but always with apprehension. I suggest that you always have a backup on hand because you never know what might happen. The dresses I received were in perfect condition, so I definitely trust the quality. If you can get away with it, try the 8 day rental option for your first order so that if something does go wrong, you might be able to get through to customer service in time for a new dress.

Have you rented from Rent the Runway?

Weddings

A look back at recent weddings

April 21, 2016 No Comments

In the past year I’ve attended three weddings, one having been just a couple of weeks ago. Going to weddings is a great way to gain ideas for your own wedding. While I’m not engaged yet, (still waiting…) I love to just absorb everything. Now onto the juicy stuff…

Buffet style cocktail hours need labels!
At the last wedding I attended there were a number of food items around the room but none of them had labels, nor were there wait staff present to let you know what was in the dish. I personally won’t feel too adventurous if the food on display isn’t labeled and is hard to distinguish. Keep in mind there might be people in the crowd with allergies or food sensitivities so labels just make sense.

The couple should always greet guests individually.
Most of the couples at the weddings I’ve attended have come around to each table and greeted guests, thanking them for coming, but one couple didn’t which I found to be a bit disappointing. Sure, you may not know everyone really well (or in some cases at all) but saying “hi” and “thank you” is a pretty painless thing to do. I find this to be a great touch, and makes your guests feel important and appreciated. I really felt touched by my friends who made this effort and I’ll remember to reciprocate when my day comes too.

Guests are going to touch your centerpieces.
Guests are always curious when it comes to elaborate centerpieces – are they real or are they fake? Flowers are crazy expensive, so I understand why some couples opt to go down the fake flower route, at least for their centerpieces. Just expect people to touch your centerpieces out of curiosity. If you’re cool with that, power to you!

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