Real Maine Wedding Bride Profile: Brad and Jodi

The wedding experiences of my clients can be enormously helpful to couples wanting to know what to expect on their wedding day. With that in mind, I’d like to introduce you to Bradley Randall and his wife Jodi. Brad and Jodi were married at French’s Point on May 21, 2011. They are both 22 years old and live in Orono, Maine, where Brad works in the Maine Army National Guard and at Staples and Jodi works at the University of Maine as an administrative aid. I asked them to tell me about their French’s Point experience, which included 70 guests from all around Maine.

How did you choose the wedding venue? How did you hear about French’s Point?
We originally were going to have our wedding at the Ornamental Gardens on the UMaine campus; however, after the reservation had been made, Jodi received an email saying there was going to be construction.  I was deployed to Afghanistan at the time. I had a friend Sarah Ripley from Staples, where we worked together before I was deployed, and she suggested French’s Point. Upon calling FP, we found out that our wedding date was the only weekend still available. After viewing the website and discussing it, we decided French’s Point was definitely the venue for us.

What elements of your wedding were the most important to you and why?
We wanted to have an elegant wedding. I wanted to give Jodi the dream wedding she would have wanted as a little girl. Having a more casual and laid-back atmosphere during the wedding was also important. Aside from that, we just wanted our guests to enjoy themselves and have everything go smoothly. The staff at FP was phenomenal and helped everything work out better than we imagined.

What elements were pleasant surprises to you? What were some of the stressors? Any tips for other couples?
The military and last-minute booking discounts we got were very pleasant surprises and resulted in our booking at FP. FP also threw in free hors d’oeuvres. The staff also helped us set up all of the tables and centerpieces.  Some of the stressors — the only stress we had was with contacting the DJ and making sure everything ran smoothly with that. For a tip: If you contact someone and they don’t get back to you right away, find someone who does. If you find a venue like French’s Point, get all of your questions answered in the initial interview so you know what to expect.

How did French’s Point make your wedding special?
The setting was perfect for a wedding and the staff did everything possible to personalize the wedding for our guests as well as Jodi and me.

Please describe your favorite memory of your wedding day. Why does it stand out?
Our favorite part of the wedding day was walking into the reception and seeing our decorations lit up with candles and our families sitting at the tables.

What tips would you give to future couples to make their wedding day the best it can be?
Try your best to enjoy the wedding when it’s happening because it will fly by faster than you could imagine.