Well, it’s done. Unbelievable as it may be, Ed and I have finally settled on a reception venue.

We’re heading up to Portland, Maine, at the end of September 2008. We’ll be getting married on a boat (the Casablanca), which will cruise around Casco Bay for two hours. After the actual wedding, guests will be able to enjoy the cruise and munch hors d'oeuvres at a cocktail reception. Once we get off the boat, we’ll head a block up the street to Bull Feeney’s, an Irish pub. We’ve rented the top floor, and we’ll have a casual buffet reception. Even better, the pub does live music at 9:30, so guests can stay, listen to the band and keep partying.

Portland is a really neat old, waterfront New England city – boats in the bay, old brick sidewalks, little shops and restaurants in alleys waiting to be discovered – a great weekend away. It’s a great city for a destination wedding, much closer than the Bahamas, so people can actually go, but far enough away that they have the choice to make a weekend of it.

More than anything, what makes Portland a great place for a wedding is the Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau. Their Web site, www.visitportland.com, has a special section for brides, and they offer all kinds of helpful planning services, from a wedding expo to vendor recommendations. The woman I spoke to, Rachel Cobb, has even offered to contact all of the area’s hotels and ask them to send me rates on a room block for guests.

While I expected to have to contact each and every hotel in Portland and try to hammer out the best deal for guests, Rachel took care of it all. She told them how many rooms I’d be looking to block off, dates of the wedding and my e-mail address. Now hotels can e-mail me their proposals and I can just sit back and review them. How easy is that?

Honestly, I feel like I got a wedding planner for free.

Nov. 16, Portland’s tourism bureau is having a trade show, full of the city’s vendors. If Maine is a place you might consider for your wedding, you can hop on www.visitportland.com and register to attend. And, even better, it’s free.

Well, it’s done. Unbelievable as it may be, Ed and I have finally settled on a reception venue.

We’re heading up to Portland, Maine, at the end of September 2008. We’ll be getting married on a boat (the Casablanca), which will cruise around Casco Bay for two hours. After the actual wedding, guests will be able to enjoy the cruise and munch hors d'oeuvres at a cocktail reception. Once we get off the boat, we’ll head a block up the street to Bull Feeney’s, an Irish pub. We’ve rented the top floor, and we’ll have a casual buffet reception. Even better, the pub does live music at 9:30, so guests can stay, listen to the band and keep partying.

Portland is a really neat old, waterfront New England city – boats in the bay, old brick sidewalks, little shops and restaurants in alleys waiting to be discovered – a great weekend away. It’s a great city for a destination wedding, much closer than the Bahamas, so people can actually go, but far enough away that they have the choice to make a weekend of it.

More than anything, what makes Portland a great place for a wedding is the Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau. Their Web site, www.visitportland.com, has a special section for brides, and they offer all kinds of helpful planning services, from a wedding expo to vendor recommendations. The woman I spoke to, Rachel Cobb, has even offered to contact all of the area’s hotels and ask them to send me rates on a room block for guests.

While I expected to have to contact each and every hotel in Portland and try to hammer out the best deal for guests, Rachel took care of it all. She told them how many rooms I’d be looking to block off, dates of the wedding and my e-mail address. Now hotels can e-mail me their proposals and I can just sit back and review them. How easy is that?

Honestly, I feel like I got a wedding planner for free.

Nov. 16, Portland’s tourism bureau is having a trade show, full of the city’s vendors. If Maine is a place you might consider for your wedding, you can hop on www.visitportland.com and register to attend. And, even better, it’s free.