Why the Berkshires
We love the Berkshires. James’ family has had a house in Canaan, NY since 1974 when his grandparents bought an empty plot of land with a swamp and built a house and a pond on it. It's been a magical place to gather for James' extended family ever since, and is now the permanent residence of James' parents, Barbara and Jesse. We call it, creatively enough, "Country House."
We spend many a weekend and holiday upstate building snowmen, swimming in the pond, napping to excess, and, most of all for Zhenya, gardening.
When James and Zhenya moved to NYC from San Francisco, Zhenya started developing an unmowable part of the property into a small terraced vegetable and flower garden. Now it’s grown quite big and gives us lots of edibles in the summer. Zhenya has been documenting its development on his blog, feralgardener.com.
Country House is our happy place and we would like to share the things we enjoy most about the area with our friends and family.
Especially in June, the whole region blossoms with gorgeous flowers, early summer fruits, sunny but still breezy days, and the cultural activities of the Berkshires: arts, music, dance, theater, all going into high gear.
We hope our wedding will be a joyful midsummer escapade, with food that makes you happy, beautiful settings, and lots (and lots) of dancing. If at any time you're not sure what to do, please feel free to dance.
Check out our page of recommended activities to explore the many things we love about the area beyond our designated wedding locales.