Friday, May 18, 2018 at 3:30pm.

Location

Hayloft on The Arch

The ceremony and reception will be held at Hayloft on the Arch in Vernon Center, NY. The venue is a old dairy barn that was renovated in to a wedding venue in 2012, and sits on 18 acres of Central New York countryside.

5742 Norton Road
Vernon Center, NY 13477
315-761-7695
https://www.hayloftonthearch.com/

Ceremony and Reception

Dress code is semiformal. Look good party people!

The ceremony will start at 3:30pm, and with cocktails, dinner and dancing to follow immediately afterwards. Dinner will be catered by Dinosaur BBQ, a staple in CNY. Dinosaur BBQ also holds a special place in our hearts in that we (ehem, Laura) devoured a sweetheart meal (for 2) at Dino BBQ the day that we first told each other that we loved one another. https://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/

Full Timeline of Events

Thursday:

4:00pm - Wedding Rehearsal for wedding party.

5:00pm-5:30pm - Meet over at Creekside Inn

6:00pm - Welcome Dinner for all. Are you in town early? Come join us and say hi. Dress code is dressy casual!

Creekside Inn
3960 Sconondoa Road
Oneida, NY

Friday!

Ceremony at 3:30pm!

We will have a shuttle that picks up at Turning Stone Towers and Vernon Downs Hotel. It will be available at the end of night to return you to your spot. You can also drive and leave your car overnight! If you are drinking, no driving!

2:30pm - Shuttle Pickup at Turning Stone
2:55pm - Shuttle Pickup at Vernon Downs Hotel
3:10pm - 3:15pm - Arrive at Hayloft on the Arch

3:30pm - Ceremony

10:00pm - Reception Ends, Shuttle will return guests to Hotel

After party is at Turning Stone.

Saturday:

We have a house on Onieda Lake. Come say hello and/or goodbye, grab a bite to eat, and hangout!

11am - Hangout and Food

Hotel Options Available Below

Vernon Downs Casino & Hotel

Closest hotel to venue. Please call the hotel to book your rooms.

Group Name: Garrison - Demuth

Hotel Phone: 315-829-3400

Thursday - $119
Friday - $129

https://www.vernondowns.com/hotel/

Turning Stone Casino and Hotel

There will be no room block here. But Husband and Wife will be staying here on Friday. Book Early.

Rooms start around $239/night.

https://www.turningstone.com/

La Quinta Inn & Suites Verona

5394 Willow Place, Verona,NY 13478

There will be no room block here.

Rooms start around $175/night.

http://www.laquintaverona.com/

Getting Here

Syracuse Airport (SYR)

About a 1 hour drive.

Albany Airport (ALB)

About a 2 hour drive. Might be less expensive?

Our Engagement

Laura's Story

Dave's Story

Zion National Park is one of our favorite places, as we stopped there on my road trip to California in 2014. We hiked Angel's Landing, which is a break-taking view but not exactly an easy hike (a few people have died falling off, and it is probably the only time in my life where I thought I could die).

We went to Big Sur a couple weekends before we went to Zion National Park. My original plan was to do it there. And of course, there was so many great places to do it there - one of which Laura mentioned she thought I might propose. But since I had never set foot in a jewelry store before, things took longer then expected and ring wasn't done. (Com'n Dave!)

So when Dave suggested an impromptu trip to Zion for one night, of course I was down. In retrospect, I should've known something was up! We were with a group of friends the night before who all thought we were nuts for driving so far for such a little amount of time (you were right, guys!).

So shortly after that trip, I started to plant the seed of going to Zion National Park for another quick getaway weekend a few weeks later. I booked a campsite, lined up a hotel, and made sure the ring was ready. All without her knowning of course. It's a six and half hour trip, so leaving after work on Friday was out of the question.

We made the drive, and dropped Luna off at a doggie daycare (unfortunately, Zion is not dog friendly). We proceed to the Zion Adventure Company to rent our water gear for our hike in the Narrows.

We left at 4am on Saturday morning. Laura was a trooper and up at 3am getting ready. Here was the plan once we got to Zion National Park: Drop the dog off, rent gear for a hike in the narrows, go on said hike, and then set up campsite and tent. Eat S'mores, try to get some sleep. Wake up. Hike up Angel's Landing Sunday morning, propose. Hang out on top and celebrate by eating cheese and drink some beers. (Yes, I pack Coors Light every time I climb.) And then tell Laura about the dog-friendly hotel for Sunday night. EASY BREEZY!

The nice gentleman told us in so many words that we were crazy if we were going to do that hike that day, as the weather report was suggestive of flash floods that could leave us stranded for days or worse… NBD. When we were out of earshot, Dave suggested that we just rent the gear, and do it that day anyway. ARE YOU NUTS?

No, not so easy. It didn't go as planned. Anything to avoid the water hike on Sunday morning. No luck.

This experienced guide is telling us that the conditions are unsafe. After duking it out for a little while, I won and we proceeded with a different hike that night before we camped.

Laura won. But wait! Just wait until tomorrow Laura when I suggest going up Angel's Landing after our all day hiking trip. :)

Little did I know that Dave was just trying to avoid having to bring the ring on the water hike!

All I was thinking about was falling down in the river, the bag going under, and the ring getting soaked. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW!

We got up early Sunday morning and hiked the Narrows (the water canyon hike with all of our rented gear).

Uhh, packing my daypack was a process in the morning. Main goal: Make sure this ring doesn't get wet if we go through deep water or I fall. I had to dump out the plastic silverware from the ziploc bag so I could put it in the ziploc. I think I even used the bag the bagels were in too. All wrapped in a grocery bag and thrown in the bottom of the daypack. And all without Laura getting suspicious.

We took a bit longer than expected, so when we got out, I suggested skipping Angel's Landing since we had to go pick up Luna and drive back to San Diego (and work the next day!).

After the Narrows hike, time for Angel's Landing.

Dave was super adament that he wanted to do Angel's Landing. "Let's just run up there, and run back down" he said… ha. ha. ha. Anyone who has done Angel's Landing knows that's not possible.

I was actually pretty tired but darn it, we were going up and I was proposing!

So begrudgingly, I started with Dave on our trek up Angel's Landing.

I won.

I was a big grump and miserable the whole way up.

Laura was a huge grump. And I was hiking very fast. JUST. GET. TO. TOP.

We got to the top, and proceeded with our summit ritual of beer and snacks. Dave rummaged around in his bag, and I started drinking my Coors Light (yup.) and gnawing on a block of cheese (double yup).

You're welcome.

I barely noticed that Dave was not drinking his Coors Light (weird) and hadn't stopped rummaging through his bag since we got there.

I was so focused to keep this ring dry that I hadn't figured out how to unwrap everything. This thing was buried. Crinkle, Crinkle, Crinkle. Damn it, too much noise!

Pressed for time, I just wanted to get down the mountain and get the dog. So I rushed us out of there and started the descent only to find that Dave was not following me. He was still at the top, frowning down at me.

Laura can chug a beer! She was so determined on getting back in time to pick Luna up. At this point, I had clammed up and was not saying much. I would wait for moments where Laura would turn away and dig deeper in the bag for the ring. I might have pulled the "Ooo, wow, look at the view over there."

This was about 5 mins before I proposed and 2 mins before she stomped off down the mountain. An attempt to occupy Laura while I dug for the ring out of my bag behind her!

"Are you coming or not?" I yelled up at him. "No. I don't wanna leave yet. I'm not ready to go" he says. Again… are you kidding me? Chop chop. We've got to get the dog by 5:45pm and oh yeah, that 7 hour drive we still have ahead of us.

She was ready to go and started to head back down. As she stomped off, I managed to get it out of the bag. I quickly caught up to her and got her to come back up.

Unwillingly, I trekked back up to the top a bit annoyed. We start aimlessly walking around the top of the mountain again, until BOOM.

The ring is in my pocket (it's in the ring case holder thing, so it's bulging from my pocket. I throw my phone in there to try and disguise it. And feel like I'm walking sideways, keeping the bulging pocket away from her.

Dave starts saying really nice things and then drops to his knee. I lost it.

I found my voice again and told her there was one more thing I wanted to do. I said some nice things(like 1 of the 5 things I rehearsed), dropped to a knee, and asked her to marry me!

Best Moment Ever.

Happiest time of my life.

But I had to keep it together enough to not fall off the mountain! And at 5790 feet in the air, I had a little swelling going on in the fingers. So the ring barely went to my knuckle.

I'm still smiling thinking about this.

We were able to get a passerby to get the post-proposal pictures for us! The descent felt like we were floating down the mountain as I just peppered Dave with questions about the whole thing.

There are several sections on the way down that have 1000 foot drop offs on either side. And we were on mile 10 of our 12 mile day. None of this bothered her on the way down. Laura is a trooper. And we had a lot to laugh at.

We made it down safely, picked up our little Luna (just an hour late) and headed to a beautiful little dog-friendly hotel in St. George, UT to celebrate for the night.

Just the way it was planned! :)

A day I will never forget!

A day I will never forget! (now that I wrote it down)

Jackpot!

W(TF) To Do In Vernon Center, NY

So, Vernon Center may not be the most desired tourist destination in the world, but there is plenty of CNY charm and beauty to enjoy here. If you are in town and have some extra time, here are some things to check out.