My daughter has decided on a destination wedding in Portland, ME between Christmas & New Year's of 2008. She wants to get married in a church in Portland, which I can arrange.

My question is, where should the reception be? She plans to have family & friends, totalling between 35-40. We would like an elegant venue with good food, since this is a wedding celebration. We're not sure about music, flowers, table arrangement, etc. yet since this is at the preliminary stages of planning. It's not quite a banquet but it may be too big a party for a restaurant.

Gotta love those "grand" ideas for your wedding!

Help!

We stayed at the Marriott Sable Oaks in Portland Maine, in September and they have a elegant room that would work for you and I gotta tell you that the food was outstanding!

If the wedding is to be a winter one in Portland, ME you should suggest that the reception be on a Carribean island.

A simple word of advice - when discussing reception with venues, they will likely say at first
"we don't do weddings for 40 people" - we ran into that many years ago. Tell them to think of it as a big dinner party rather than a wedding - they seem to get that concept.

Hope she is able to deal with the stress of watching the Weather Channel for a week before the wedding to see how many of her guests, or even bride and groom, will have winter weather woes and not be able to get there.

Portland has many wonderful restaurants; you just need to find one that can seat a party of that size. Also, try the Regency HOtel; it's a lovely place in the Old Port, and it's beautifully decorated during the holidays. As for weather, you just can't worry about it.