Kaaterskill Weddings

Nestled in the Catskill mountains, the Kaaterskill is your backyard wedding venue.

Check out this highlight reel of Rena and Mariam’s beautiful wedding by Visualanties.

Rena and Mariam

Rena and Mariam got married on a beautiful day in July captured in photos and video by Mike Bradley of Visualanties. Important to the couple was a locally sourced farm-to-table menu designed and prepared by ‘Cue Shack which included an assortment of tasty desserts served in mason jars. Event Planning and Design was provided by Love, Honor and Be Gay and featured potted fresh herbs, a colorful candy bar and bright yellow details throughout. A friend of the brides made their bouquets and their brothers walked them down the aisle. The brides wore custom made eyelet lace dresses from Kimera Design. Check out the Visualanties’ video highlight reel here.

Randie & Kim | September 18, 2011

Randie & Kim were married Sunday, September 18, 2011. They began planning their wedding months before marriage equality passed in New York, but then happily in September Randie and Kim were joined by family and friends to celebrate their legal ceremony. We asked them to share their story here, along with beautiful pictures by Dina Kantor of Sam and Gertie Photography. 

Randie & Kim (in their own words)

We visited a lot of venues. The Kaaterskill was actually the first place we visited after we got engaged. We loved it, but kept looking. After seeing a dozen other venues we knew we couldn’t top it. It had everything we wanted; a beautiful barn, views of the mountains, space for kids to play, animals to play with and gorgeous suites for our guests to stay in. We had three days of events on the property: a Beer, Brides and Billiards night on Friday, Saturday we had our rehearsal dinner followed by a Movie Under the Stars and bonfire and then our wedding on Sunday.


We were really inspired by mid-century Americana and images of farms from the 40’s and 50’s, but beyond that there wasn’t really a theme or motif. We made choices based mostly on sentimentality, we wanted our wedding to feel deeply personal and reflect us. We worked hard to make sure everything felt cohesive and most important that our guests felt well cared for.

 


We planned our ceremony, well most of our wedding, before we knew same-sex marriage would be legalized in NY so for us the ceremony was not just the symbolic representation of our union, but we considered it the actual binding contract of our marriage, and our witnesses (all of our guests) the binding force. It was long and involved a myriad of rituals. It began with a very private Ketubah signing in the reading den.

While we were upstairs signing our Ketubah our guests were welcomed with little bags of homemade rosemary cashews, ice tea and lemonade. They were given vintage handkerchiefs that we silkscreened with our initials and wedding date. They were also given pieces of vintage ribbon and asked to write a blessing on the ribbon and tie it to our chuppah. Our chuppah included a canopy made from Kim’s mother’s wedding dress and was decorated with 36 vases of alstroemerias to represent the “36 righteous ones” in Judaism.


 

For our vows we identified what we wanted to be the pillars of our marriage and had asked four pairs of people to write us vows based on those pillars. We did not hear the vows until our wedding, which not only kept us very present and in the moment, but also made for lots of laughter and tears.

After the ceremony our amazing band Astrograss led our guests down the aisle signing and playing their way to our cocktail hour.

Our reception was playful and casual. We had about 20 kids at our wedding and they ran around the farm all night, playing croquet and bocce ball and petting the animals, it was great!

   

Mason Jar mugs with guests names on them and wild fowers on the tables added to the farm theme.

 

Before the toasts we did a “pop and pour” and guests shot champagne corks out into the lawn.

Throughout the day, guests enjoyed relaxing by the pond and exploring the grounds.

The highlight for most people was when the ice cream truck arrived. Our flower girl came running into the barn, her face already covered in ice cream, yelling “There’s ice cream and it’s FREE!!!”

We also had five cakes made by Maxine at Bittersweet Bakers displayed on vintage cake stands.


We danced all night in the barn decorated with flag bunting, fabric chandeliers and party lights.

Our wedding was everything we hoped for. The Kaaterskill was absolutely the perfect venue for us and our guests. And we couldn’t be more grateful of all of our amazing vendors.

   

            

Caterers: Bridge Creek Catering

Photography: Sam and Gertie

Videography: Starlight Productions

Watch Video of Kim & Randie’s Wedding

Band: Astrograss

Rentals: Events Unlimited

Cakes: Bittersweet Bakers

Planning, Flowers & Decor: Love, Honor & Be Gay! (Kim’s company)

Kim is now the Venue Coordinator for The Kaaterskill Weddings.

DISCOUNT!!

GREAT NEWS!!! The Kaaterskill is now offeringa discount on available dates in 2012. Book any of our open dates in 2012 and get our two-day rental package including use of our 80’ X 30’ barn, 40 acres of lush grounds, pond house, welcome area, on-site parking and on-site coordinator for only $4,000. As always, you have the option to rent our Inn including a full kitchen, reading den, billiards room, common area and six luxury suites all featuring spectacular views and jacuzzi baths for an additional $1550/night (two night minimum).

The Kaaterskill has a never ending assortment of exotic art and decor to entice you, your guests and your photographer. Interior photos of The Kaaterskill taken by Lisa Schaffer Photography. Thanks Lisa!