A Wedding at Wading River

A few months ago we received a wedding invitation from a former coworker/friend of Josh's, for his wedding out on Long Island, NY.  We assumed that we would be long gone by the time September rolled around, so it it kind of slipped to the back of our minds.  When we found out that we were going to be here through September though, we were super excited to head out there.

When the time finally came for the wedding, it happened to be only a few days after Josh had hurt his back at work, but he was a trooper and we were on our way bright and early Saturday morning.  We drove up the North Fork of Long Island, which was great because we had only been on the South Fork when we went to the Hamptons last fall.   We went straight to the Eastwind Inn, where the wedding was, to check it out.  As we drove up, we were amazed how beautiful and expansive the whole place was.  

We were amazed again, when we walked in to the huge chandelier and massive staircases.  The wedding was taking place at 6:30pm and we unfortunately weren't able to check in until 4pm so we decided to go exploring around the area a bit to pass some time.

We drove down some little country roads and ended up at the water.  It was beautiful, but unfortunately it was also a private beach, so we continued on.

By this time, we were pretty hungry, so we stopped at Jerry and the Mermaid in Riverhead, right on the shore of the Peconic River.  I had the soft-shell crab sandwich.  There is no fried seafood that even comes close to soft-shell crab!

We then drove down to Wildwood State Park to check out the beach.  It was a lovely area and the beach was dead besides a few people fishing.  We couldn't go to far as Josh was still having a hard time walking but it was nice just to see a beach and so few people haha.  I collected some of the millions of quartz rocks off the beach and we were again on our way.

I had been mentioning that I would like to stop at a winery (if you ever want to go to a place with a ridiculous amount of wineries and don't want to go to Napa Valley, go to North Fork Long Island, there are hundreds!  And there are shuttles and tours you can take to them all).  We stopped at one place that was supposed to be really good, but it was so packed there was not any parking and I think there was a wedding going on.  So we were going to go to one down the road, but we noticed Long Island Spirits Distillery and decided to stop there instead.  

We did some tastings of some whiskeys and vodka Sorbettas.  The Strawberry Sorbetta was so good, just like candy!  

By this time it was time to go back to the Eastwind to check in and get ready for the wedding.  We quickly changed and headed (literally) across the hall to Desmonds for a drink before the ceremony.  The wedding was supposed to start at 6:30 but at about 6:10 one of the employees involved in the wedding came in and told us that we were going to start at 6:15 because it was supposed to rain momentarily.  

Just as we got outside and got a picture taken, it started to spit.  then a little more than spitting.  eventually we were called back inside to a room that was all set up for such circumstances.

A few minutes later,  came the gorgeous Samantha down the aisle.  The ceremony was short (just how they should be) and beautiful.  Everyone looked great and did such a good job.

Chris and Sam hightailing it out after the ceremony!

We were ushered back upstairs to a waiting massive cocktail hour (we actually thought that this was dinner, so we ate a lot)  filled with free drinks and delicious greek and italian food.  Even a pasta bar! eventually we were taken to the ballroom for the real meal and to get the party started.

After the introductions, we were given more food, a Caprese salad (one of my faves) and eventually Prime Rib.  How exciting is that?  

We had so much fun even though we really only sort of knew a couple people.  We got to know so of Chris and Samantha's friends and had a great time.

Our horrible photo booth pictures, this thing was super unpredictable haha

We actually were asleep by midnight, so we got up early to get ready to leave and have some brunch at the huge brunch buffet in the hotel.

We found this room and needed to take some pictures.  I felt like a queen!

The buffet was absolutely massive with more food then you could ever sample.

and who doesn't love a chocolate fountain?

We packed up and were on our way.  Just down the road was Lewin's Farm Stand and Corn Maze.  I am totally in love with this place.  It was the biggest farm stand I have ever seen with every fruit and vegetable that can be grown in this climate as well as eggs, dairy and fresh baked goods.  We pretty much got everything!  

The scary scarecrows protecting the corn maze.

After this we started to make our way home.  We actually drive a short way across Long Island to check out Fire Island. I have always wanted to see it, mostly because of the movie "What about Bob?"  Unfortunately, it is only accessible to vehicles equipped with special tires and a first aid kit and a few other things because it is all sand!  So we couldn't go to far, but it looked amazing!  Traffic of course got bad on our way back, but we made.  I absolutely LOVE long Island, and I think Josh was a little shocked when I said we should live there haha!  It is somewhere with lots of exploring to do and so many hidden treasures!