Come on Up
Vermont's quest to became a prime destination wedding state.
When Bostonians Kate Netherton and Adam Rodgers tied the knot last September at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Shelburne, Vermont, all but one of their 130 guests had to travel to the Green Mountains, including the far-flung immediate families: Kate’s parents flew in from Georgia; her sister and brother-in-law, from Manhattan; Adam’s mother and brothers drove from New Hampshire’s Lakes Region; and his father and stepmother journeyed from the Philippines. The couple, who met while attending separate colleges in Burlington, chose Vermont not only for its natural beauty but because it was neutral turf. "If we did it in Georgia, it would have been her thing,” says Adam Rodgers, 27. "If we’d done it in New Hampshire, it would have been my thing.” Adds his 29-year-old bride: "One of our families would be traveling anyway. We just felt that Vermont was so us.”
Like Adam and Kate Rodgers, 10 percent of the 2.3 million American couples who marry each year now exchange vows away from home in so-called destination weddings, a 200 percent increase from 10 years ago, according to The Knot, a New York-based wedding resource that includes theknot.com. While Hawaii and Las Vegas consistently rank among the top US locations for destination weddings – along with New England favorites like Cape Cod, the coast of Maine, and Newport, Rhode Island – Vermont is hoping to woo more couples who have decided to take their nuptials on the road.
Nearly one-third of the 5,532 marriages in Vermont in 2005 were between out-of-state residents, and 410 were between Massachusetts residents, according to preliminary statistics from the Vermont Department of Health. Already, several of the state’s reception sites are known as "I do” draws. In last year’s 100 Best US Wedding Destinations, New Mexico-based author Kathryn Gabriel Loving covers 24 states and names eight hot properties for destination weddings in New England. Half of them are in Vermont: the Shelburne Museum, the Woodstock Inn & Resort, the Hartness House Inn in Springfield, and the Lilac Inn in Brandon. "Vermont is definitely the leader in the clubhouse for destination weddings for all New England states,” says David Wood, president of the Association of Bridal Consultants, a trade group in New Milford, Connecticut. "The state has recently realized that the destination wedding is an official tourism category.”
Hoping to grow the destination wedding business even more, 14 months ago a group of photographers, florists, bakers, and others formed the Vermont Association of Wedding Professionals. In December, the group’s promotion efforts were helped by a $10,000 matching grant from the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing. The association estimates that weddings and same-sex civil unions bring in annual revenue of at least $252 million statewide.
Vermont ski areas are increasingly hosting destination weddings, so that their profits are less dependent on snow. Five months ago, one of them, Bolton Valley Resort, completed a 4,500-square-foot "great room” called The Ponds, which is already booked for more than 30 weddings between May and October.
Unlike traditional weddings, destination weddings typically span several days. "It’s not just see me at the church, come to the reception, and then go home,” says JoAnn Gregoli, the New York-based coauthor of the forthcoming The Knot Guide to Destination Weddings. "If you’re going to make people travel, you might as well make it a three-day event and spend time with the people you care about.” The Rodgerses obviously agreed, treating their guests to a wedding-eve nighttime cruise on Lake Champlain, while other couples have scheduled golf tournaments, mountain-biking trips, and sleigh rides. Try finding a sleigh ride in Hawaii or Las Vegas.
