Unique places for Cape weddings

Most brides want their wedding to be considered beautiful; some might call it a work of art.

But newlyweds Rebecca and Louis Gehrig took it a step further and celebrated their nuptials among the works of painter Aiden Lassell Ripley and Cape Cod artists’ paintings to be auctioned.

The Gehrigs had their reception in the two main art galleries -- the Fleet-Hunter Gallery and the Ocean Edge Gallery -- at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis last August. The ceremony was held at Gehrig’s Yarmouth Port summer house.

The Cape Cod Museum of Art is just one of many unique places on Cape Cod that couples can choose for their wedding or reception. From the art museum  to public monuments to private mansions, Cape Cod plays boasts some of the most beautiful and exclusive places for couples to tie the knot.

“We’re the only museum on Cape Cod that allows this -- and (we’re) one of the most unique spots to get married – one, because of the architecture and (two), the art that’s on the wall,” says Steve Calemmo, facilities manager and rentals director of security at the museum “What’s up on the wall makes it unique. Instead of just sitting there during cocktail hour, (guests) can explore the museum.”

The Gehrigs chose to have their cocktail hour in the Sculpture Garden, which is filled with flowers and plants as well as numerous free-standing sculptures of differing shapes, sizes and materials. They even added their own sculpture – one made of ice with two sea horses kissing, and adorned with jumbo shrimp along the bottom edge of the carving.

Laurel Palmer, the bride’s mother, says that she and her daughter were both art lovers. Because the family summered in Yarmouth Port, both thought the museum would be the perfect place to celebrate Laurel’s wedding.

“What better place than our own Cape Cod museum? My husband and I are members of the museum, and it’s a lovely setting,” Palmer says.

The museum hosts about 15-25 weddings a year and can accommodate as many as 300 guests outdoors in a tent and 125 indoors in a gallery. The cost ranges from $500-$2,500, and the most sought-after months are June and September. Calemmo says that couples usually make reservations a year in advance to ensure they obtain the space they most want.

For more information, contact Cape Cod Museum of Art, P.O. Box 2034, Route 6A, Dennis 02638. 508-385-4477. http://www.ccmoa.org/

Another unique spot where couples can marry on the Cape is the 49-acre farm of meadowland and woods which overlook Crocker Pond in West Falmouth.

More than 200 years old, the Bourne Farm in Falmouth was built in 1775. Although couples can hold a wedding cermeony in the barn (the farmhouse is not available for use), most opt for the spacious natural beauty and atmosphere of the surrounding land.

Katie Taylor has been the executive director of the Salt Pond Areas Bird Sanctuaries Inc. for 11 years, and says that her nonprofit, private conservation group schedules more than a dozen weddings a year at the Bourne Farm.

“It’s on a pond with lovely meadows with wildflowers that you can see - an outdoor venue, really. The grounds are just beautiful in a natural way,” Taylor says. “It’s not a manicured country club, golf setting. People are trying to do something different. (It’s just a) very natural, beautiful, rustic place.”

Couples should book reservations at least a year in advance and can choose to be married outside under a tent, inside the 18th century barn or at the edge of the pond. It costs $3,300 to rent the site for an in-season wedding (between Memorial Day weekend and Columbus Day weekend) and $2,800 for an off-season wedding.

“I think the setting attracts people. I think people like the idea that it is a conservation group - a good cause. So it helps us as a non-profit group to have weddings there,” Taylor says. “It’s a nice way to have people see the property and what types of properties can be saved from development.”

For more information, contact Bourne Farm, 6 North Falmouth Highway, North Falmouth, 508-548-8484, www.saltpond.info.

The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown stands tall as a beautiful and picturesque place for couples to tie the knot on Cape Cod.

Although weddings are not held at the top of the monument, the grounds below can be rented from June to October.

“It’s the most beautiful sight around,” says Ellen Burbank, administrator at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum. “It’s stunning. It overlooks the whole bay, and the sunset is phenomenal. And I think that’s why people like it.”

The Pilgrim Monument and Museum hosts about 10 weddings a summer and recommends that couples make reservations six to 12 months in advance.

“June and September are our busiest months, (because) I think people like to get married when it’s not the very height of the season,” Burbank says. “I think most people like to get married when the grounds are not as crowded, when they have more privacy.”

Burbank, who has worked at the Pilgrim Monument and Museum for five years, says only the outdoor space can be rented. It can accommodate between 25 and 175 people.

A daytime wedding (9 a.m.- 5 p.m.) lasting three hours ranges from $500 to  $2,000, depending on the number of guests. An evening wedding (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.) starts at $2,500 for three hours.

“People are always welcome to take a look and give me a call,” Burbank says. “Most people are very happy they end up here, especially (because of) the view.”

For more information contact Pilgrim Monument, High Pole Hill Road, Provincetown. 508-487-1310. http://www.pilgrim-monument.org/t3/index.php.

By Katelyn Harding