Our Story- Courtney & Joe

August 27, 2008


In the summer of 2002 we came across this beautiful old farm here in Pittsfield, VT. It was pretty run down but still gorgeous. With lots of land, a covered bridge, old farmhouse and great old barns we just fell in love. Joe and I were engaged at the time and looking for our own wedding venue. Nothing was really jumping out at us…all the country clubs, Newport mansions and city spaces just didn’t feel right. It was weird touring all these places and seeing all these pictures of weddings that were all exactly the same except for the color of the bridesmaid dresses. We wanted something different, something unique somewhere that we could create our own story that hadn’t been done a million times. So after looking at lots of weddings places, we started to think that Riverside Farm could be our new home and our wedding location all in one. We still lived in Tribeca but spent every weekend traveling to races all over the world. Joe is completely into mountain biking and ultra running and Ironman races…so this Vermont property was the perfect “training ground” for him with endless hiking and biking trails. Sooo we ended up buying this historic farm (Riverside Farm) and fixed it up over the next year in time host our own wedding here in 2003. So the farm was never intended to be a commercial “wedding venue”, it just sort of evolved into one. We renovated it with complete care and love and to us, this was our new home and start of a life together in Vermont. It was only about a month after our September wedding that people started coming to our front door wondering if we were serving breakfast and if we had rooms for rent…they thought we were a B&B! And people started hearing about our wedding (I admit that it was a tremendously fun blowout with fireworks and tons of people and an all around good time- HA!) and we had several requests to host other people’s weddings. Parents of a bride who went to nearby Middlebury College who just love Route 100 and always loved the old farm (Riverside) would ask if we could host their daughters wedding. We had lots of requests… so finally we said “sure, why not”. We had just planned our own wedding and had great research in local vendors so it wouldn’t be very hard. he farmhouse and barns are very visibile from Route 100 (voted the best foliage drive in New England) and I think there had been lots of admirers of Riverside over the years. And many of these people enjoyed seeing us fix it up in a traditional way- we really worked hard to make it look like it could have 200 years ago. That was our goal. But more than that, the property really does work amazingly well for big parties. We have 2 giant post and beam barns that are perfect rehearsal dinner and wedding reception spaces. There are so many places to have an event here… so many buildings and spaces… it’s pretty great. So not long after we started allowing other couples to throw weddings here at Riverside Farm, we decided to escape New York City for good and make a life together up here in Pittsfield, Vermont. Which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful places in the world and I consider myself lucky that I get to live here and plan parties for a living. And I’m sure we’ve added 10 years to Joe’s life, getting him out of the city grind and moving to an outdoor paradise like Pittsfield. He bikes, runs or snowshoes ever day (weather dependent of course). We are completely grateful to be here. So that’s my story. Mine and Joe’s. That’s how we came to Vermont and that’s how we came to host weddings here. Now several weddings, 6 winters, 2 dogs, 2 boys and one baby girl later we are happier than ever. And we still think it’s amazing that there are plenty of other couples like us who would want to host their wedding in an old Vermont Barn like ours. HA! It’s no surprise that these same couples tend to be really wonderful and fun and become great friends of ours too, returning year after year with their families for reunions and getaways. It’s truly an honor to have these couples and their families choose Riverside to host their wedding weekends…