Riverside Bride Places 2nd in Snowshoe Race

Riverside Couple (Wedding September 09) Sarah & Erik

It was a fantastic race day last Saturday when over 175 racers took to the field armed with sunglasses, snowshoes and cabin fever! It was a gorgeous, 40 degree and sunny day...perfect for snowshoeing in Vermont. The race consisted if rolling hills and some steep climbs on back country trails with terrain covering all the land from The Amee Farm (at one end of town) to Riverside Farm (at the other end of town). The "fun run 10k" was packed with great athletes as well as the half marathon and full marathon courses. For the complete slideshow go to:
http://web.me.com/courtneydesena/Pitsfield_Snowshoe_09/Pittsfield_Snowshoe_09.html

And with the wedding season right around the corner there was no surprise that we had a fearless "summer 2009" bride & groom out there on the course (as well as some "old brides" from years past- ha!). Congratulations to Sarah Michel who finished 2nd in the Peak Half Marathon. Sarah and her fiance Erik are gearing up for the Lake Placid Ironman in July. Nice job guys! Good Luck!

For info on other great races in Pittsfield, VT check out www.peakracces.com

Riverside Farm (12 pages) in April 2009 Bridal Guide Magazine

Check out our photos of Riverside Farm in the latest Bridal Guide Magazine! March/ April 2009 issue!

Here are some fabulous pictures of our meadow that lies in between The Red Barn and The Stonewell Barn...where many of our brides choose to have their ceremony. It's lovely anytime of year...but especially in the fall when the green from the mountains sharply contrasts the "wheat" colors of the leaves and grass... so gorgeous. I just love this first photo...cool dress too!



This photo is taken on the "Back Meadow" beyond the green grass, just over the hill, where we cut for hay. You can see our favorite barn in the background- The Garden Barn. It's just a small barn where we store garden tools. But there's a porch and benches and a small fire pit that we enjoy in the summers...

The Amee Farm stone staircase.... very cool...
The Pond at The Amee Farm

"A Winter's Tale" - Amazing Photo Shoot

View of The Stonewell Barn in background (most wedding receptions are here)



We had an amazing photo shoot this past November with the crew from Bridal Guide magazine. You can see their beautiful work in their most recent edition. We had some crazy weather while they were here...typical New England weather (remeber it's November, not July) snowstorms one day and sunny fall days the next. It made for some creative location scouting thanks to the talented photographers. We absolutely love the "Winter's Tale" photos and also "Earth Angel".

Thanks to Mary Cate and team for such amazing images.

We look forward to seeing them again!

View from the back porch of The Stonewell Barn



Dancing in The Stonewell Barn

View of The Red Barn in the background (most rehearsal dinners happen here)

Leaving the Bridal Suite to go on her honeymoon!

Covered Bridge

Happy New Year!

Congratulations to all of the newly engaged couples out there! Here at Riverside Farm we are celebrating the winter and the New Year with great anticipation of the upcoming wedding season. If you are planning a winter wedding and want to know what Riverside Farm looks like in early January... these photos will give you a good idea! As you can see by the snowy weather, we are having a blizzard today but we are still busy inside the Red Barn meeting with couples and planning 2009 & 2010 weddings... We look forward to sharing weekly planning tips and advice for your unique and fabulous wedding in Vermont. So stay tuned and stay warm!

June 2008

"Absolutely gorgeous wedding. Totally relaxed but elegant..." - guest

Our Story- Courtney & Joe

In the summer of 2002 we came across this beautiful old farm here in Pittsfield, VT. It was pretty run down but still gorgeous. With lots of land, a covered bridge, old farmhouse and great old barns we just fell in love. Joe and I were engaged at the time and looking for our own wedding venue. Nothing was really jumping out at us...all the country clubs, Newport mansions and city spaces just didn't feel right. It was weird touring all these places and seeing all these pictures of weddings that were all exactly the same except for the color of the bridesmaid dresses. We wanted something different, something unique somewhere that we could create our own story that hadn't been done a million times. So after looking at lots of weddings places, we started to think that Riverside Farm could be our new home and our wedding location all in one. We still lived in Tribeca but spent every weekend traveling to races all over the world. Joe is completely into mountain biking and ultra running and Ironman races...so this Vermont property was the perfect "training ground" for him with endless hiking and biking trails. Sooo we ended up buying this historic farm (Riverside Farm) and fixed it up over the next year in time host our own wedding here in 2003. So the farm was never intended to be a commercial "wedding venue", it just sort of evolved into one. We renovated it with complete care and love and to us, this was our new home and start of a life together in Vermont. It was only about a month after our September wedding that people started coming to our front door wondering if we were serving breakfast and if we had rooms for rent...they thought we were a B&B! And people started hearing about our wedding (I admit that it was a tremendously fun blowout with fireworks and tons of people and an all around good time- HA!) and we had several requests to host other people's weddings. Parents of a bride who went to nearby Middlebury College who just love Route 100 and always loved the old farm (Riverside) would ask if we could host their daughters wedding. We had lots of requests... so finally we said "sure, why not". We had just planned our own wedding and had great research in local vendors so it wouldn't be very hard. he farmhouse and barns are very visibile from Route 100 (voted the best foliage drive in New England) and I think there had been lots of admirers of Riverside over the years. And many of these people enjoyed seeing us fix it up in a traditional way- we really worked hard to make it look like it could have 200 years ago. That was our goal. But more than that, the property really does work amazingly well for big parties. We have 2 giant post and beam barns that are perfect rehearsal dinner and wedding reception spaces. There are so many places to have an event here... so many buildings and spaces... it's pretty great. So not long after we started allowing other couples to throw weddings here at Riverside Farm, we decided to escape New York City for good and make a life together up here in Pittsfield, Vermont. Which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful places in the world and I consider myself lucky that I get to live here and plan parties for a living. And I'm sure we've added 10 years to Joe's life, getting him out of the city grind and moving to an outdoor paradise like Pittsfield. He bikes, runs or snowshoes ever day (weather dependent of course). We are completely grateful to be here. So that's my story. Mine and Joe's. That's how we came to Vermont and that's how we came to host weddings here. Now several weddings, 6 winters, 2 dogs, 2 boys and one baby girl later we are happier than ever. And we still think it's amazing that there are plenty of other couples like us who would want to host their wedding in an old Vermont Barn like ours. HA! It's no surprise that these same couples tend to be really wonderful and fun and become great friends of ours too, returning year after year with their families for reunions and getaways. It's truly an honor to have these couples and their families choose Riverside to host their wedding weekends...

Welcome to The Riverside Farm Blog!

Thank you for coming to check out our blog here at Riverside Farm. With the incredible weddings and events that we host and all the different themes and style we see, it makes sense for us to share with our future brides (you) all the ideas and creativity that we see all year long. So the purpose of this blog is to tell you about my "life on the farm"... sharing the experience of life in Vermont and the change of seasons... and also to keep you in the loop with fresh ideas, trends and real weddings that have happened here.

I absolutely love the weddings... each one is so unique and so specific to the style of each couple. We only host a limited number of weddings per year (the rest of the time is spent with our own family and friends) and having each event SO customized keeps it fresh and interesting and a lot of fun. When you come to visit the farm you will see that it just lends itself perfectly for big family parties and weddings. I warn you that we are not a wedding factory and there is no A, B or C choice to make. We love variety, we love creativity, we work best with brides or grooms with a real sense of what they want. That's not to say we won't plan your entire wedding for you if that's what you'd prefer. We have definitely thrown some fabulous weddings for couples who are finishing law school, building a home or running a business and don't have tons of time to devote to planning their own wedding. But we absolutely welcome creative people and couples with a strong style and sense of what they want. It's our job to make it happen.

I say "We" a lot because we have an incredible team here. First is of course my husband, Joe. He is the visionary behind all of this and the one with the construction know how. Secondly, is Liz, our event coordinator and true operator of our weddings and event business. She's amazing. After running her own catering business in San Francisco we managed to relocate her to Riverside Farm where she meticulously plans the weddings with each couple and handles every detail exceptionally well. Then there's Me, Courtney. I work all of the weddings with Liz and often tour couples around the farm when they initially come for a visit to our farm. I can tell you all about the history of the property, the renovation we did and where ever stitch of furniture and antique came from. I can also tell you from a bride' perspective what a wedding here feels like and anticipate some of your questions and concerns regarding a "wedding on a farm"...and "No" there is no manure-y smell... and your mother CAN wear heels on the grass (thanks to lots of walking paths). For more questions about the property and information on pricing please contact Liz@riversidefarmvermont.com or call her at 802-282-9880.

So thank you for visiting our blog. Feel free to send me messages or event ideas..I will be including photos from real weddings here and filling you in on what's going on here at Riverside Farm throughout the seasons. Hope you enjoy our blog!