When B and I first got engaged, we both agreed that we wanted to have a smaller, more intimate wedding that would allow us to spend time with our families and friends. Along that same line we knew that most people would be coming from out of town (or at least pretty much everyone from his side) so we wanted to be able to create more of a weekend celebration where we could spend a fair amount of time with everyone. As a result we started thinking of an activity that we could do on Saturday as a group that would give people an opportunity to get to know one another and one thing came to mind – hiking. It’s one of the great outdoor acitivites in Upstate NY and it’s free, which was a huge bonus for us. We figured that since everyone was already paying for airfare, hotel, car rental, etc. a free activity was ideal.
Unfortunately, hiking is not for everyone and while the vast majority of our guests are physically active and in good health, there are a few that would not be able to make the trek. Rather than exclude them from the “group activity” and risk having them feel left out we found the perfect solution:
Prospect Mountain. Not only is it a relatively small mountain, there is a road that goes all the way to the summit for people to drive up! This works out perfectly because we were thinking that having a picnic lunch at the top of the mountain would be perfect, so we can send the food up with those guests that chose to drive instead of hike. Problem solved!
B and I (along with Momma D and fearless sister) hiked the mountain when we were in NY a few weekends ago to get a feel for it and make sure it wasn’t too difficult for our guests. Plus we wanted to make sure the views were worth it! The trail is pretty rocky, but certainly managable as long as you watch where you’re stepping:
I wasn’t in the greatest mood that day so I decided to “run” up the mountain to work out my frustration and reached the summit after about 30 minutes (I was moving at a pretty decent clip) and B showed up about 10-15 minutes after me. The views were spectacular and will definitely be incredible in September when the leaves have changed color.
Definitely a great setting for a picnic lunch!
We’re thinking it will take most people about an hour or so to hike up the mountain which I think is a pretty reasonable amount of time and hopefully it will give our respective families and friends a chance to get to know one another a bit before the “big day”. So far, everyone seems pretty excited about the idea and are really looking forward to it! Yay!!
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[...] wanted create more of a weekend experience for our guests most of whom were from out of town. Our original idea was to take everyone hiking the day before the wedding, which we did end up doing (more on that [...]