Welcome

Welcome to our wedding website. We'll be posting information here as we get it, so check back often. Use the Quick Links on the right to search for posts that address specific topics. We look forward to celebrating with everyone on August 23!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Accommodation Information

We worked hard to get a good list of accommodation options for the wedding weekend. A few notes before the actual places/descriptions:

  1. The NJ shore will be beautiful but BUSY! Beach-goers are going to be streaming in from NY, NJ, Philly, and the World, and all those people are going to want to take your hotel rooms. So please, book rooms ASAP. Better yet, book them yesterday, if you can.
  2. If you're driving in, beware of the traffic. Although Sandy Hook is 1hr 15min away from NYC, it can take hours on summer Fridays or Saturdays.
  3. Buyer beware~ because of the demand, many hotels (referring to hotels, B&Bs, motels, etc) require a 2-night stay. There are some options on our list that don't, but be sure to ask if you're planning on staying for only Saturday night. Also, make sure you understand their cancellation policies with regards to getting your deposit back.
  4. We'll get you more details about this later, but we're planning an event for Friday night for everyone in town. We may throw something together for Sunday morning too.
  5. For the wedding, we're planning on organizing a shuttle from the main accommodation locations so that everyone who so chooses can take full advantage of the open bar. We'll solidify this later, but if you find other accommodations you may need to get yourself to the wedding or one of the pickup sites on your own. None of the accommodations is within walking distance of the wedding site as it is at the tip of the "hook" of the national park.
  6. The rooms that we have blocked off for the wedding will generally be released 1 month before the wedding, at which point you will no longer get a break on the price. That said, we still recommend booking NOW if you can as none may be left in July.
  7. We know some of you still have to figure out details of vacations and can't book yet. If you book late and are having trouble, email or call us to see if we have anything up our sleeves.

Here is the actual list:

Blue Bay Inn
51 First Ave., Atlantic Highlands, NJ
732.708.9600
http://www.bluebayinn.com/

This small boutique hotel is located in Atlantic Highlands, about 8 minutes from Sandy Hook. We reserved rooms here, so mention our names. We visited this hotel and it looks great, with a nice restaurant right next door. The rooms range from $199 (a Deluxe Queen) to $229 (a Deluxe Double, with two double beds) with a complimentary continental breakfast. On their website, they have AAA discounts, so ask them if you can combine the AAA with the wedding rate to save more. 2-night minimum stay

Directions to the wedding site.
Directions to the rehearsal dinner.
Directions to the brunch.

Sandy Hook Cottage Bed & Breakfast
36 Route 36, Highlands, NJ
732.708.1923
http://www.sandyhookcottage.com/

We haven't visited this B&B, but it looks nice and it's very close to both the beach and the wedding site. It seems like you could probably walk/ride a bike to the beach if you wanted to; if not it's not even a five-minute drive. Since it's a B&B, we couldn't block off any rooms, but they do still have availability: 2 rooms for $219, 1 room for $299, and a suite for $299. This B&B is going to be within walking distance of some important locations for the wedding. 2-night minimum stay

Directions to the wedding site.
Directions to the rehearsal dinner.
Directions to the brunch.

Fairbanks Resort & Marina
344 Ocean Avenue, Sea Bright, NJ
732.842.8450
http://www.fairbanksresort.com/

The term "resort" is a little bit of an overstatement. It's essentially a motel, but it is a stone's throw away from the beach - you literally walk across the road and you're on the sand - and it has beautiful bay views from the rooms on the opposite side. It's also close to the wedding site and compared to some of the other options it's relatively cheap: $120 for a single Queen, $140 for a single King, $170 for a two-double bed, $190-210 for the "suites". They don't really block off rooms for weddings, so these rates are the public rates. We visited this place in person -the hotel is definitely worn and is not luxury by any means, but it has a clean bed to sleep on . So if the words "cheap" and "beach access" appeal to you, stay here; if you're looking for a real hotel, try something else. 2-night minimum stay

Directions to the wedding site.
Directions to the rehearsal dinner.
Directions to the brunch.

Best Western Hazlet Inn
3215 Highway 35, Hazlet, NJ
732.888.2800
http://www.bestwesternnewjersey.com/hotels/best-western-hazlet-inn/

Now we're getting farther away from the beach. We blocked off 15 rooms here, all of which have either a single double or a single king bed (no two-double rooms available, sorry). They are giving us a wedding rate of $110 (double or king, doesn't matter), but only if we book 10 or more rooms as a group; otherwise the rooms are $159. When you call to book a room, give them this code to identify the wedding: "CGRYAN". This hotel is in a commercial area (highway with strip malls) and is a 20-minute drive away from the beach (and thus the wedding site). If you don't mind driving and don't mind the lack of scenery, this is the cheapest option we could find. NO 2-night minimum

Directions to the wedding site.
Directions to the rehearsal dinner.
Directions to the brunch.

Holiday Inn Express
294 Highway 36 East, West Long Branch, NJ
732.542.1234
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ex/1/en/hotel-directory/new-jersey/west-long-branch

This hotel seems fairly new. We blocked off rooms here, too, so mention our wedding to get the rate of $179 for the rooms with 2 double beds or $199 for the 2-room suites. The location of this hotel is fairly close to the Long Branch beaches (a 10-minute drive), but it's farther south than the other options above; it would take probably 25 minutes to drive to Sandy Hook. It's also on a busy highway. There is probably a complimentary continental breakfast. NO 2-night minimum stay

Directions to the wedding site.
Directions to the rehearsal dinner.
Directions to the brunch.

Ocean Place
1 Ocean Blvd, Long Branch, NJ
800.411.7321
http://www.oceanplaceresort.com/

This place is too spendy for us, but we mention it for all you high rollers out there. Ocean Place is a nice hotel/spa that is literally on the beach - no walking across the street required. The rooms are also upwards of $400 per night (no wedding discount). It is right next door to a mid-to-high-end shopping area with a number of good restaurants. It is a 10-15 minute drive from Sandy Hook. 2-night minimum

Directions to the wedding site.
Directions to the rehearsal dinner.
Directions to the brunch.



If we find any other good options, we'll update this post. There is a smattering of other B&Bs, motels, and far-away hotels in the general area, but these are your best bets. We're hoping that everyone will be concentrated in a couple of these places - to enjoy the communal atmosphere of a wedding weekend - so organize with your friends. And if you're having trouble or need further advice, please feel free to get in touch with us - we know the area much better now than we ever expected to.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Believe it or not, we're actually going to have a wedding

Well, it's now been almost 10 months since we became engaged and after lots of time spent alternatively a) looking at sites and not deciding on anything and b) doing absolutely nothing for the wedding, we finally have a date, a site, a caterer, and a photographer. Sara gets much of the credit for spending most of her two-week vacation in February trying to really answer some of the big questions in this whole wedding thing. And now, after writing and mailing no fewer than four different checks to vendors, we can officially say that we're getting married on August 23, 2008 in Sandy Hook, NJ.

I know, I know, six months isn't much time to plan a wedding. So I hope that in between panic attacks Sara really listens to and hears me when I assure her that we will be able to get everything done by then. Really, I think we can. Okay so maybe we'll have to forgo a spectacular skydiving entrance. And dance lessons. And an immediate honeymoon. But Sara will have a dress (we hope - fingers crossed) and we do have the rings and some wildly accommodating friends who will be able to join us on semi-short notice, so that's all we need. Well, that and free booze and uninhibited dancing (see caterer [check] and site [check] above). We'll post more details here as we get them, but for now wish me luck in finding affordable lodging for the aforementioned accommodating friends.