New Hampshire Wedding Magazine – the Cover Story!

by Kendal on January 15, 2011

Kendal J Bush Photography New Hampshire Wedding Magazine

Kendal J Bush Photography on the cover of New Hampshire Wedding Magazine

page 1 of {A Rustic Wedding} article in the New Hampshire Wedding Magazine

page 2 of Kendal J. Bush Photography in {A Rustic Wedding} article in the New Hampshire Wedding Magazine

page 3 of Kendal J. Bush Photography in {A Rustic Wedding} article in the New Hampshire Wedding Magazine

Just east of the Connecticut River in Southern New Hampshire, the rural town of Walpole is an unexpected wedding destination. With golfing, swimming, hiking, fishing, boating, skiing, vineyard and farms nearby, couples can plan their dream wedding while offering family and guests a relaxing rural setting with healthy activities and delicious attractions.

For the bride and groom who are searching for an idyllic country wedding, Walpole’s Inn at Valley Farms is a wonderful option. The 105 acre working organic farm can host intimate weddings with a maximum of 75 guests. The Inn accommodates up to 28 overnight guests in it’s B&B style rooms, cottages & farmhouse. Guests of the inn will enjoy delicious localvore style breakfasts with food produced on the farm. Valley Farms raises it’s own pastured meats, eggs and vegetables which inn keeper Jacqueline Caserta lovingly crafts in to breakfasts that look as good as they taste. The Inn is open year round and the barn and grounds are available seasonally for weddings May – October.

Literally, next door to the Inn at Valley Farms, is Alyson’s Orchard. With over 500 acres of rolling hills and apple orchards, Alyson’s is one of the most picturesque and well known wedding venues in the Monadnock region. Alyson’s Orchard is home to expansive landscapes with multiple outdoor ceremony sites. Couples may opt for a site overlooking the Connecticut River Valley, area farms, or choose from one of the Orchard’s scenic ponds. The indoor open concept reception area with deck overlooking a tree lined pond can accommodate 250 guests. With an atmosphere that feels more like a family estate than a typical wedding venue, Alyson’s provides an unlimited number of backdrop and photo opportunities for any wedding and is a virtual playground for wedding photographers. The rustic elegance and simple beauty of the orchard provides stunning surroundings and vibrant energy any time of year.

In traditional orchard style, Alyson’s offers a wedding wagon powered by a John Deere tractor to transport guests to the wedding sites. And for the bride who truly wants to feel like a princess on her wedding day, a horse drawn apple cart featuring purebred Belgian horses, courtesy of Keene’s Stonewall Farm, is available for rental. Alyson’s also boasts an airstrip which can be utilized with prior approval. On site, homestyle lodging is available at Alyson’s Rochambeau Lodge, or the Foster Farmhouse. Lodging at Alyson’s Orchard accommodates up to 38 guests, and offers limited lodging for well behaved Canine companions.

Emma & Ryan Dono travelled to New Hampshire in search of the ideal New England location for their wedding. Emma recalls her visit to Alyson’s, “As soon as we visited Alyson’s we realized that it was more than just your average apple orchard– perched atop a hill amongst a gorgeous landscape with amazing views, it had a wonderful function hall that exceeded our expectations for having a “country elegant” style wedding, and it had houses right on the property where we could have our wedding party and close family and friends stay. Fran Imhoff, the event coordinator at Alyson’s, was another reason why we instantly fell in love with the spot– she was so friendly, excited, and happy to work with us from day 1 until the big day, and she made wedding planning much less stressful.”

Brides like Emma, may opt to have the best of both worlds, by securing lodging at Alyson’s and the Inn at Valley Farms. As a guest of the Inn, Emma was able to prepare for her big day in one of the Inn’s antique styled rooms and was also able to utilize the great barn, silos and other gorgeous locations for wonderful wedding portraits before her ceremony at Alyson’s. Newlyweds Emma & Ryan look forward to revisiting the place where their marriage began – “Walpole itself is very charming and has great character, we felt like this could be a special place for us to get married at and keep coming back for years to come.”

Walpole, NH is located just miles from the Vermont Border, 120 miles from Boston, MA and Portsmouth, NH and 110 miles from Hartford, CT. For more information on weddings at either venue, visit alysonsorchard.com, and innatvalleyfarms.com